Magnolia | 2000
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California;
- Nevada
- DIRECTOR |
- Paul Thomas Anderson
Like Boogie Nights, the director’s previous film, Magnolia is set in the director’s own neighbourhood, the San Fernando Valley, of Burbank, North Hollywood and Van Nuys, north of Los Angeles.
‘Magnoliafan’ is the ultimate put-down for Kevin Smith afficionados, but Valley boy Paul Thomas Anderson’s daring, multi-centred drama barrels through its three-hour running time with blistering energy, carrying a clutch of career-best performances on board.
There's a brief detour to Reno, Nevada, for the opening casino scene, and to Big Bear Lake, California, for the story of the diver found in a tree.
There's a glimpse of Downtown Los Angeles itself for the nine-story building where the unsuccessful suicide of the prologue becomes a successful homicide. It's The Bryson Apartment Hotel, 2701 Wilshire Boulevard was seen also in Stephen Frears’ excellent The Grifters.
The film is named for Magnolia Boulevard, one of the Valley’s main east-west thoroughfares, on which you’ll find the bar in which one-time Quiz Kid Donnie (William H Macy) declares his love for Brad the Barman. The Foxfire Room, 12516 Magnolia Boulevard at Whitsett Avenue is in Valley Village, north of Studio City.
I found the bar to be a friendly local bar, thankfully looking almost exactly as it did in the movie.
The rain suddenly clears as Aimee Mann's Wise Up draws to a close, and many of the characters' lives intersect at a crossroads – Donnie realises what he's done and does a u-turn – supposedly 'Magnolia Boulevard' (naturally) is actually the junction of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood, just north of the Captain Marvel 'Blockbuster' store.
Good-natured cop Jim Kurring (John C Reilly) is caught by the unexpected frog deluge as he drives along Reseda Boulevard.
The ‘Solomon & Solomon’ store, where Donnie works and in a moment of desperation, recklessly empties the safe, is LA Popular Alliances, 7216 Reseda Boulevard north of Sherman Way in Reseda.
During the 'rain of frogs', Kurring spots Donnie trying to climb a telegraph pole in a clumsy attempt to return the stolen money. And, yes, that pole is real, alongside the store on the side alley.
