Why I am not going to review MAGNOLIA anytime soon
Published at: Jan. 31, 2000, 3 a.m. CST by staff
I can't write about Magnolia personally right now. Not for any grand scheme reasons, but because... quite frankly... there is a point, at which I am not yet ready to emotionally bare myself. Currently I have a Grandfather dying... airhoses and such. On the other end I have a Grandmother dying of pancreatic cancer. I can not write about Magnolia without going into these things. And I am unwilling to write what it is I need to write while they still breathe. Why can't I just write the review minus my usual personal reflections... Because I'm not built that way. That isn't who I am. But I will not at this time exploit something this personal... and I may never. I put the film as my top live action film of the year. In quick... I found it to be emotionally raw nerves... A story of conflects between sons and daughters and parents and God. That there is a purpose in the direction of life that even if you first see it as being random chunks of discarded disparate moments of a hodge-podge assembly of living beings... it is not quite that. Am I cheating you out of my take? Am I chickening out? Whatever... I just haven't the stomach to draw and quarter myself any further at this stage in my life. I hope you understand. These illnesses are not the kind that 'get better'... It's the type that you just hope is as painless as can possibly be imagined. When thinking about this film... when sitting here getting ready to write about it. Recall the scene in the drug store. When talking about this... I'm at that stage of frustration and exhaustion. And for now... It is my belief that when I get on the other side of this current familial tragedy... My perspective on this film... after the frogs fall and the sky becomes merely partly cloudy... that I'll be able to write about the film. But please. Please don't ask when. In time. No dates. Just... when my own personal version of this type of film is over... then I'll write. No sooner... no later. Thank you and I hope you understand.
Harry
