Hey "Magnolia" Bashers - Wise Up!

[Yollam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZOUkSnGk0&search=wise+up

[Placebo]

1. Jesus Mary.

That was fucking painful.

Like I said, this movie is pure Art House trash.

[Yollam]

2. Methinks the Placebo fan doth protest too much.

"Pure Morning" was just a pop song!

:yoiks:

[Placebo]

3. Hey!

Even the band have since admitted that they themselves are embarrassed by that song and don't even know what the lyrics mean!

[MissMillie]

15. "the band" is Aimee Mann

and I defy you to find where she ever said that.

She is, without exception, the best song-writer post 1980.

That song and those lyrics and that scene w/ all those people singing along, is very powerful indeed.

[MissMillie]

16. Here's an interested essay written about Mann's Magnolia soundtrack

http://www.missouri.edu/~filmstud/courses/ger131/Magnolia.htm



At other crucial junctures in the movie Aimee Mann's songs are again integrally connected to the plot. In a particularly poignant sequence, the soundtrack music becomes eerily diegetic. Just after Phil has given Earl the dose of liquid morphine, the scene cuts to Claudia sitting in her apartment. As the song "Wise Up" ("It's not going to stop") begins playing, Claudia sings along softly. As the song plays from beginning to end, the film cuts from one main character to another and each of them sings along with the song in the same manner. In this sequence the film even temporarily assumes the musical genre mode, particularly in the scene at the Partridge house, where both Phil and Earl, lying deathly ill in bed next to him, sing along. This break in the film's adherence to cinematic realism follows the set of scenes where each of the main characters begins to breakdown under the pressure of the memories and lies they are carrying with them (the title of the chapter on the DVD containing these scenes is "Meltdown"). The message of Mann's song is an admonition to the main characters:

It's not what you thought

When you first began it

You got what you want

Now you can hardly stand it though

By now you know it's not

Going to stop

It's not going to stop

It's not going to stop

'til you wise up

The text applies to all the characters. To those who have become successful in the entertainment or promotion business


(Earl, Jimmy, Frank) it is the old theme of fame and wealth does not bring happiness, and often leads to deep unhappiness. But in some way or another it applies to all the main characters. And in doing so, it draws the question "what is not going to stop?" more broadly and marks it as a larger, philosophical question.



And a review: http://www.citypaper.net/movies/m/magnolia.shtml

This overwhelming lack of compassion is transformed in the film’s semi-finale, in which the principals, each in his or her separate scene, sing along with Aimee Mann’s "Wise Up," whose lyrics advise forgiveness for what seem unthinkable offenses. Mann’s delicately pained soundtrack songs hold the film together throughout. The tracks form more than a tie-in CD, demonstrating a mutually respectful collaboration among Anderson, Mann and music producer Jon Brion.

[ghostsofgiants]

4. Normally you and I are cool...

But Magnolia is a fucking classic.

[Placebo]

5. It's a fucking piece of trash.

I'd rather watch a slug slide around the back yard.

[pitohui]

6. quick question here

i lost the magnolia thread

i have always wanted to see this film and had asked if it was available in dvd, my local video store has only offered it in vhs which i no longer watch

did anyone know, you can PM me if you think i'll lose this thread too which wouldn't be too unbelievable this time of wine bottle

[Yollam]

8. It is available on DVD, but I don't know how widely...

...or when it was last released. You could try Netflix - a lot of people like to rent from them.

[pitohui]

10. great, thanks!

if it's on dvd the issue is solved, i don't want to join netflix because subscriptions are problematical where i live (hurricane country) but i will ask my video store to get it and if they can't i can just get it on amazon and then resell after watching

the last dvd i wanted the store ordered OK, i think they operate on the principle of if one person asks abt it, 10 others are wondering abt it

[Yollam]

11. Available now at amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CWTI/qid=1151046556/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6765924-4181645?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130

[pitohui]

12. my hero! EOM

,

[AngryAmish]

14. bittorrent

[Blue-Jay]

7. Is "Magnolia" the new "Corn Flakes"?

I didn't click on the previous thread because I haven't seen it (the movie), so I'm just wondering....

[pitohui]

9. what was the old corn flakes? EOM

,

[MissMillie]

17. I think that would be

cornflakes

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. No

It's the new Olive Garden which was the new corn flakes