Everything Everywhere All At Once

New film by Daniels, Michelle Yeoh starring, etc. Just saw an advance screening and you know what?

Film of the year. I will not be taking questions at this time. There's still nine months to go and if something else matches it in terms of what it did and what it pulled off, well then, fucking great because that means something else is THAT good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZhI2NuC-Fs

Still missing a UK release date AFAIK

Okay surely at least some of the other US crew has seen it by now.

gonna see it this week i think

...and did you?

Only heard of it through this thread. Wonder where I would be able to see it.

the two Nitehawk Cinemas in Brooklyn are showing it

This thread from Mr. Jenkins is correct.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is an absolute BLAST — a loud, craven, Evel Knievel thrill-ride of a movie with a BIG ASS HEART. The @Daniels have taken a generation’s love of ALL KINDS of cinema and folded it into the multiverse family saga we’ve all sorely needed. A THREAD👇🏿

— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) April 4, 2022

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for it to open here this weekend.

craven?

okay i see that was addressed elsewhere -- meant to type brazen.

Great interview with Ke Huy Quan

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/movies/ke-huy-quan-everything-everywhere.html

the two Nitehawk Cinemas in Brooklyn are showing it

J/k, I was there yesterday, although not to see one film. I will definitely go see something in that borough if my new bestie MUBI GO sends me there.

I'll check it out but I was already tired of multiverse movies right after that animated Spiderman

Thought I can see why it's a tempting device for writers

Still need to read that multiverse book mookieproof recommended.

Good thread from one of the Daniels here:

This film and all of us who worked on it are a product of our time. We learned VFX from Video Copilot. We learned shot design from Every Frame A Painting. The Martial Club (fight choreo) are youtubers with no formal training, and learned everything from watching HK movies. https://t.co/rjLCdGKedK

— Daniel Kwan (@dunkwun) April 7, 2022

All I will say about Everything Everywhere etc is: the fingers dimension stuff really, really unsettled me. (Once you see the movie you’ll understand.) And yet I’m glad I saw this.

really delightful. not really my thing totally but i can’t be mad at it

Film of the year.

I dunno, it seems like RRR is giving it a run for its money. (Haven't seen either yet.)

i saw it last night. the fingers dimension was especially powerful for me because in my pre-ILX days i used to have the most posts on radiohead/msgboard, and one of my many pseudonyms was "penisfingers". you have to forgive me for this, i was like 17 years old i think, but one of the qualities of the penisfingers character was that each of the penisfingers was 17 inches long. so, spoilers, when i saw the hot dog dimension, especially right after (i think) the scene where the guy with the pixelated genitalia, it immediately made me think that in this dimension, all of them had really, really long penisfingers, with some perhaps nearing 17 inches in length. it was like a really immature vision come to perfect life, and the part with the feet on the piano made me realize there was so much more to be found there

fingers dimension definitely my favorite part of the movie

they're not remotely similar movies trying to do the same thing but seeing memoria the night previous was prob a bad decision. reminded me i prefer movies that have a single iota of patience; this film has none. still, so fun, so who cares

i really thought the movie they were going to meta reference in-film would be The Matrix - my lips were saying it as the other words came out

i enjoyed the repeated references to “absolutely (story of a girl)”. my kind of silly a la the jennifer paige “crush” scene in the recent resident evil movie

I also think there's a lot of interesting stuff to be said about the different kinds of forces and themes and how they're reconciled, but hard to talk about without spoilers so waiting is probably in order

I saw this movie on the strength of the trailer and the amazing "Turn Down For What" music video (same directors). But I always have a problem with movies where the conflict is on a grand (multi-) universal scale. The more cosmic the stakes, the more the personal elements of the story feel trivial.

The movie deals with that tension in clever way, and gives the directors a perfect excuse to include every gag and visual idea they could ever want. But it also requires them to stuff the first half of the movie with exposition, and the second half with tedious emotional speeches. And it's all in vain, because ultimately the tension is irresolvable (for me, anyway). Either it's all too big for this one mother-daughter relationship to matter that much, or the conflict isn't as all-consuming as it's made out to be. I can't keep it all in focus.

I took that as a symbol that the personal relationships we have come to feel like the entire universe weighing heavy; sometimes a breakthrough in an individual relationship seems to affect everything else you know

I was waiting for one friend in particular's reaction to the movie -- among other things said friend's an author who also works as a translator between English and Mandarin -- and these threads say a lot worth considering:

I have never sit so still through a movie or laughed so fucking hard while watching anything alone as I did with #EverythingEverywhere, and oh my god it was a delight to understand the vast majority of the movie, I only didn’t understand the cantonese

— S. Qiouyi Lu 🧧 陸秋逸 (@sqiouyilu) April 9, 2022

I think we often try so hard to be hypermasculine because we know how much we’ve been emasculated by white supremacy, when really it’s like, the truest chinese masculinity is the one that completely exists outside white supremacist notions of masculinity and femininity https://t.co/NYWSYFsF6b

— S. Qiouyi Lu 🧧 陸秋逸 (@sqiouyilu) April 10, 2022

I still can’t believe they did this lmao like you don’t understand, traditional chinese homes typically have a courtyard where you enter through a round opening in the wall, and typically there’s a wall immediately behind the moon gate, and spaces to either side https://t.co/pWHZ9JDCRL

— S. Qiouyi Lu 🧧 陸秋逸 (@sqiouyilu) April 10, 2022

Good interview

https://gizmodo.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-interview-the-daniels-1848778652

This was fucking great

was amazed by the cast list when I first heard about this, and that's before I knew Santa Claus would be in it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHOSiFzcHJ8

loved this, and would love to see more of Ke Huy Quan now that he's back in the movies.

Yeah enjoyed this very much. Clever and not afraid to be silly. Interesting to see it shortly after I saw Encanto — both use fantasy-film trappings to interrogate intergenerational family trauma.

fuckabees

saw this today, what a blast. deserves to become the major movie phenomenon of the year IMHO.

saw this today & holy shit
fucking brilliant
felt so good to watch w an audience, like a feelings purge but w ecstatic joyful what the fuck is happening laughter

For darn sure. That advance showing I caught was rollicking

It was a blast even in a half-full theater. I can’t imagine seeing this for the first time on a laptop or something- wouldn’t be the same.

there were a group of teens in the back row & one of the girls was scream-laughing hysterically at almost every line & it was v funny

great movie. usually i'm turned off by the level of heavy-handed emotional manipulation that was going on in this movie but it worked for me this time. it made me cry a little and i almost never cry at movies.

saw the adult Ke Huy Quan in Finding 'Ohana a few months ago and while he basically had about sixty seconds of screen time in that I was like "damn he is super charismatic as an adult" so I'm glad he got a chance to really get a role he could sink his teeth into.

The climactic fight scene is one of the greatest things I've ever watched.

Last two posts otm

I've spent the last week looking at random things and saying "even this _________ could be kung-fu!"

everyone otm. I fucking hate papercuts though, that scene was worse for me than any horror/gore/squickfest

same. i have never squirmed so hard in my life

for a minute i thought the challenges were only going to escalate from there and the movie would turn into a mindblowing version of jackass

And Jeffrey Wells and Sasha Stone are in some kind of race to the bottom rn

Wells has been sort of an anti-woke wannabe edgelord reactionary for decades at this point.

This movie is Not My Thing x 10. It's like a movie made to impress people that have not seen a movie for 20 years. Though of course people legit love it, so who am I to say, etc.

Don't miss James Hong's SAG awards acceptance speech

FOUND IT. Here is #JamesHong's full #SAGAwards speech. he was all LET ME DO MY TIGHT 5! this guy knows! part 1...@allatoncemovie pic.twitter.com/rs6xgws7eB

— Jenny Yang (@jennyyangtv) February 27, 2023

Now that rules.

Yeah, that was fun. His list of credits is insane--IMDB lists 456. The Clark Gable movie he mentioned as his first role was Soldier of Fortune (1955). The same year, he was in Blood Alley with John Wayne and Lauren Bacall.

#tbt to one of my very first roles, acting with Lauren Bacall in "Blood Alley" in 1955 pic.twitter.com/lCyeibGdfz

— James Hong (@IAmJamesHong) August 24, 2017

Well worth a watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2DJjaB-xuY

Good profile I thought

https://www.vulture.com/article/daniels-daniel-kwan-daniel-scheinert-oscars-everything-everywhere-all-at-once.html

And this was fun too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/02/28/jamie-lee-curtis-oscar-nomination/

Still think Hsu should win it but I won’t be surprised or disappointed if it’s Jamie Lee.

Both my editor and I are absolutely perplexed how Hsu is the least likely of the four to actually win an Oscar when she's so clearly the MVP

bc acting oscars often reward lifetime achievement instead of actually good performances?

dunno seems pretty obvious to me

Except when they don't (e.g. Lauren Bacall, Sylvester Stallone, Ruby Dee, Mickey Rourke).

that nepo baby article really broke JLC's brain. every time she talks now she opens with NOT BAD FOR A NEPO BABY!!! lol

Hahah this is VERY true.

Hsu deserves it, but at least she's young and she'll have more chances. Also, counting her as a "supporting" actress is a bit of an award shenanigan anyway

Hsu is memorable, but Jamie Lee Curtis has been a film icon for my entire adult life, with many memorable roles starting with Halloween, and at age 64 this is her first nomination

I love Jamie Lee Curtis, and she's been an enjoyable part of some fabulous films, but I can't think of a single one of them that would be award worthy. Maybe A Fish Called Wanda, but would you have moved her in ahead of any Best Actress nominee from the class of 88? I wouldn't.

Deirdre in EEAAO was a good role. Joy/Jobu in EEAAO was a STUNNING role. My heart is with Stephanie Hsu, even though she'll have more chances in the future for her work to get noticed. (Also, really liked Kerry Condon, but I'd be surprised if she has an Oscar chance, BAFTA award notwithstanding.)

Freaky Friday maybe. I would've nominated her for Wanda.

would you have moved her in ahead of any Best Actress nominee from the class of 88?

i haven't seen anna and the cher and holly hunter performances are both v good but sure i'd be happy to sub in JLC's flawlessly timed screwball for glenn close as a rubber monster or meryl streep being Utterly Transformed

oh wait that's not how years work

on nepotism - love Lena Horne's comment during her '81 one woman show Lady & Her Music re allegations that she was only cast as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz, cos her son-in law Sydney Lumet was directing it "nepotism, nepotism, nepotism - if you got it - use it"

its how world works - everyone uses whatever links they have to get ahead (and obv lena horne wasn't cast in The Wiz just coz of her son-in-law) but there are so many more serious issues for ppl to think about (esp in Hollywood)

of course deeply amused by all the people falling over themselves denying they had no easy access/step-up - just acknowledge it

that said there is no excuse for, say, brooklyn beckham

oh wait that's not how years work

― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 4:03 PM bookmarkflaglink

clicked forward to the 1989 oscars to start all over again and imagine my surprise there at meeting glenn close and meryl streep

she'll have more chances in the future for her work to get noticed

I would've nominated her for Wanda.

And it's worth remembering Kline got his Oscar for supporting actor there.

Anyway less than a week to go until it hopefully wins everything (I can dream), and this is the most detailed interview with Hsu I've read yet:

https://ew.com/movies/stephanie-hsu-profile-everything-everywhere-all-at-once/

The Daniels did the opening for tonight's Colbert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23sRimLcTBk

awesome

Still need to read that multiverse book mookieproof recommended.

― Came Here to Roll the Microscope (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, April 5, 2022 1:38 PM (eleven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

which book Mookie?

i'm not really into this movie, representation politics can be kinda ridiculous, and i love JLC, but if JLC ends up being the only one to win from a movie with a predominantly asian/asian-american cast, that will not be a good look.

Good thing then that won't happen as Ke Huy Quan is as close to a lock as anything this year.

KHQ seems like a lock, and Yeoh has a decent chance. The movie is a enough of a success story and has given such visibility to the cast/crew/directors that even JLC wins a legacy Oscar (essentially) it's NBD

I was kind of surprised that the "directors who worked up from doing creative music videos" to movie pipeline ended up making a film so similar to the Spike Jonze/Michel Gondry era of twenty years ago

but it was a pleasant surprise

Roll on Sunday. Meantime:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-10/queer-movies-parents-family-coming-out-identity-sexuality

As I said on FB: I can sense that for those for whom the film didn't work it may seem that these kinds of pieces read as trying to force you into liking it, but I've seen plenty like this and heard similar and sometimes a piece of popular art just hits harder.

I tried to watch this with my most respected movie friend this past summer, and when the first action sequence at the IRS office came around he wanted me to turn it off.

I then watched it by myself and was somewhat put off by all of the chaos and cheesy effects, but saw that there was a story behind it

Watched it again recently and the story became much more clear and poignant. The movie is still a TikTok/Youtube/video game obfuscating mess, but I can now see how it is groundbreaking and has a very distinct aesthetic point of view

:-)

Ya. Glad this did well.

<3

lol I'd like to see this movie inspire a whole bunch of shitty knockoffs a la "Pulp Fiction." Imitators, start your engines! (Not you, OGs Spike Jonze/Michel Gondry, just keep doing whatever it is you are up to).

Get Morty

Wrong supporting actress won

Good title for what's happening now.

https://t.co/Y7WfQgfoU6 pic.twitter.com/VwRHMFWlsj

— Mr. Bedtime (@InternetHippo) March 13, 2023

I liked this piece by Justin Chang, who's ambivalent about the movie but happy for its success: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-03-12/oscars-2023-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-best-picture

Yeah I liked that as well. Obviously I feel much differently about the film but that’s a thoughtful disagreement there instead of whatever screed Wells has.

Good piece, sticks the landing with a quality Dad-pun. In theory I like the idea that more than prestige Oscar-bait films can win best picture; they don't need to because people can already tell they're prestigious. So while I can't imagine ever seeing this movie a second time and struggled with it the first, I like the idea of it winning more than I like the movie itself. Even if somewhere in the multiverse murk I feel it moves us one step closer to Pomplamoose winning an Oscar.

Wrong supporting actress won

I agree with this on paper but ... seeing Hsu unabashedly cheering for JLC's victory was a nice consolation

Even if somewhere in the multiverse murk I feel it moves us one step closer to Pomplamoose winning an Oscar.

LOL, they're totally going to EGOT now

Meantime most of the core cast is in this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAeemjfVvM0

speaking of fwiw I've seen next to no comic book movies.

Good thread

I liked EEAAO a lot, think it’s the best action comedy since Hot Fuzz etc. but I also think it’s an interesting adaptation of the fantasy of fixing our problems by exploiting another land that we see in things like The Tempest and earlier 20th c sci fi.

— Isaac Butler (he/him) (@parabasis) March 13, 2023

I was hoping that someone would have thanked Kathleen Malone of the 2005 Cincinnati IRS office.

_Still need to read that multiverse book mookieproof recommended.

― Came Here to Roll the Microscope (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, April 5, 2022 1:38 PM (eleven months ago) bookmarkflaglink_


which book Mookie?