In honour of his 55th birthday we're screening Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling humanist epic Magnolia. Set over 24 hours in the San Fernando Valley, PTA's endlessly roving Steadicam follows threads of fate and circumstances— weaving through the lives of a woman about to lose her husband to illness (Julianne Moore), a lovelorn cop (John C. Reilly), a washed up former boy genius (William H. Macy) and a motivational speaker/Men's Rights Activist (Tom Cruise in terrifying Andrew Tate mode). Shifting perspectives form a whole story of everyday weirdness, as a lifetime of choices lead up to these moments of death, love, regret, forgiveness and a rain of frogs.

After the commercial and critical success of Boogie Nights, New Line Cinema offered PTA essentially a blank cheque to create what would become his most ambitious film to date: as divisive on release as today, Magnolia is a dizzying ensemble piece with career-best performances from some of the greatest actors of the 90s, including the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman. Of special note is Cruise as Frank "T.J." Mackey, a searing and vulnerable turn that shows just what Mr Movies is capable of beyond running away from explosions. Three hours of hurt people hurting people may sound like a downer, but Magnolia finds an ultimately hopeful thread of tenderness through the mess of their lives.