In Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 masterpiece “Magnolia,” there is a scene in which his network of lonely souls gently, then suddenly, burst into song.
Julianne Moore, William H.
Macy, Tom Cruise, John C.
Reilly and all the others stare out into the night and try and make sense of their desperate lives as they mouth the lyrics to Aimee Mann’s aching “Wise Up.” The scene comes out of nowhere, but, like so many of the best parts about that film, and about all the best films, it is simply a thing that happens.
You go with it.“Wise Up” plays through a car radio on a rainy evening in policewoman Su-jin’s (Doona Bae) car in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s bittersweet and complex family drama “Broker.” Mann’s timbre is unmistakable, and the “Magnolia” reference is acknowledged by this lonely cop trying to reach out to her own disconnected loved
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