One

Magnolia

(1999)

Following up my new favorite Wes Anderson film with my old favorite P. T. Anderson film, and what do I see but what appears to be Wes's (and Mr. Fox's) brown corduroy jacket on John C. Reilly?

Whether you go for the symphonic structure or the deconstruction of "coincidence" or the frogstorm, can you name a single actor in this film, from the always great Reilly and Bill Macy and My Future Wife Julie (as I now call her) Moore to the sometimes suspect Tom Cruise and the really-a-magician-not-an-actor Ricky Jay, who does not give the performance of his or her career here? OK, Felicity Huffman and Michael Murphy, I'll give you those two. But what a repertory of tours de force. Moore's scene at the pharmacy counter is a moment that breaks my heart from a distance, and every time I see it again, I'm stunned to discover that if anything, I've underrated it.

One of the great films of my time as an easterner.

Oh, and another thing: why do we see so damned little of Melora Walters? I guess I need to catch up on Big Love.