Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#26 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:29 pm

This is expanding nationwide again on 7/29 with a director’s introduction and 8 minutes of outtakes

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swo17
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#27 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:15 pm

You all overhyped this a little, or perhaps the Daniels did with that title, as this is really only ever four or five things at once. It only felt like more than that (like what we were seeing at the moment was truly just one random option from a universe of limitless possibilities) a few times like
SpoilerShow
Jobu Tupaki's introduction or especially the one-off buttplug/fly snorting scene. Contrast this with the stuff about the hot dog hands or Raccacoonie, which aren't so much weird randomness as somewhat tepid metaphors for life that the film keeps trying to hammer home. Still funny and inspired, but the more the film returns to them, the more we remember that the Daniels' ideas are finite.
I recognize that I'm holding the film to an impossible standard, but such is the danger of ambition, for the closest thing to being everything and everywhere of course is to be nothing and nowhere. That being said, Ke Huy Quan's role in this (his performance of it, sure, but even just its existence) is an absolute treasure and he deserves all the awards, all at once

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#28 Post by Mr Sausage » Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:36 pm

Your point about the ideas being finite reminded me of this tweet, and I kinda agree.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#29 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:49 pm

I watched it on disc a few weeks ago and definitely experienced diminished returns on a second viewing, for similar reasons. Definitely the kind of movie that was crucial to see in a packed, enthusiastic theatre, and I’m glad people are still going to have that opportunity with an expanded release (though this is still playing in the larger screening rooms in some arthouse theatres around here, which is the longest run I can remember for places like the Coolidge, including when a new PTA comes out..)

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swo17
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#30 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:12 pm

I actually just watched Swiss Army Man in preparation for this and might have preferred it. Now there's a film trying to be nothing and absolutely killing it. Having Paul Dano helps too, obviously

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#31 Post by feihong » Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:31 pm

The main thing I felt aware of while I was watching this movie was the social pressure I felt to like it. But I never ended up liking it. The bloviating about the meaning of life didn't work for me, and I never laughed at any of what was happening. None of the frenetic and fussy business of the film ever seemed funny to me. And for a movie about an ostensibly intimate conflict, it was incredibly loud and stressful to watch.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#32 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jul 20, 2022 7:23 pm

swo17 wrote:
Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:12 pm
I actually just watched Swiss Army Man in preparation for this and might have preferred it. Now there's a film trying to be nothing and absolutely killing it. Having Paul Dano helps too, obviously
Oh, see I think Swiss Army Man is absolutely trying to be something and it becomes that in the most challenging possible way. The Daniels find, refine, and master a means to use flatulence and dick jokes as jumping off metaphors for the struggle toward self-actualization; dumbing down social cues to detail and then inform an existential epiphany about the self-constructed obstacles we develop and imprison ourselves in, unconsciously and ubiquitously. It's one of the most creative trajectories any movie has taken to bring me to authentically raw emotional self-examination regarding the debilitating dysphoria we experience in response to a nebulous and overwhelming social world, completely juvenile on the page and yet incredibly mature in practice. It's quietly ambitious about its themes, while this follow-up is very loud about what it's trying to do (also reflexively working with loud material in contrast to a small island setting), so maybe that audience-grabbing is partly where it loses people.

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knives
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#33 Post by knives » Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:37 pm

swo17 wrote:
Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:12 pm
I actually just watched Swiss Army Man in preparation for this and might have preferred it. Now there's a film trying to be nothing and absolutely killing it. Having Paul Dano helps too, obviously
I really hope I’m not in tune with you then. Swiss Army Man and The Death of Dick Long both did not work well for me.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#34 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:56 pm

twbb, I probably could have worded my sentiment better since I basically agree with you. Swiss Army Man is trying to be nothing on paper but in execution surprises with how much meaning it's able to wring out of its own farting, bloated corpse. In contrast, I think EEAAO wants to be everything on paper but falls disastrously short by merely being a B+ creative writing assignment.

knives, I wouldn't fault you or anyone else for disliking these films. There's a reason it took me this long to even give SAM a chance, and part of me is disgusted by the part of me that liked it!

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#35 Post by knives » Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:07 am

Honestly I just found them not particularly well developed. Nothing about grossness.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#36 Post by TheChubbyEmo1991 » Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:19 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGFin8fasf8

I made a quick reaction as a second generation Taiwanese American. I think

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Black Hat
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#37 Post by Black Hat » Mon Aug 01, 2022 11:34 pm

Pretty good video, you have an excellent voice, but the two notes I'd give you is to never present an idea and end on "for so so many reasons". Second, the most compelling part of your narrative was what's lost with personal growth, however, you left it hanging, tell us what's lost. That said, you should do more of these.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#38 Post by TheChubbyEmo1991 » Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:54 pm

Black Hat wrote:
Mon Aug 01, 2022 11:34 pm
Pretty good video, you have an excellent voice, but the two notes I'd give you is to never present an idea and end on "for so so many reasons". Second, the most compelling part of your narrative was what's lost with personal growth, however, you left it hanging, tell us what's lost. That said, you should do more of these.
I really appreciate the feedback. I agree with your critiques, that there is a lack of explanation here. I found the movie's themes compelling enough that I wanted to say something, but not enough to really take it super far, so I think what we wind up approaches more of a hot take than an essay. I honestly don't have a better excuse other than that I really gave it my all with a recent essay over Boyhood, which resonated with me so much that I think that Everything Everwhere just paled in comparison as far as the family dynamic exploration goes. I'll do better in the future. Find the right topics for me.

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knives
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#39 Post by knives » Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:03 pm

I mostly liked it, the Daniels film I’m most I tuned with, but I think it becomes thematically overwhelmed resulting in some awkward moments I doubt were intended such as the incredibly uncomfortable antisemitism and the legitimizing of the nostalgia brigade. If it stayed focused only on the family dynamics I think I would have liked it a bit more.

That said seeing James Hong in such a prominent role made this a very easy sell to at least have affection for.

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Computer Raheem
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#40 Post by Computer Raheem » Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:45 pm

knives wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:03 pm
I mostly liked it, the Daniels film I’m most I tuned with, but I think it becomes thematically overwhelmed resulting in some awkward moments I doubt were intended such as the incredibly uncomfortable antisemitism and the legitimizing of the nostalgia brigade. If it stayed focused only on the family dynamics I think I would have liked it a bit more.

That said seeing James Hong in such a prominent role made this a very easy sell to at least have affection for.
I'm a little confused by what the "legitimizing of the nostalgia brigade"; are you referring to the Raccacoonie sequence? If so, I'm trying to figure out what you mean; I didn't really pick up on any real nostalgic pandering (if anything, at least to me, it felt a bit like a poke at such pandering and reference-baiting in modern cinema, similar to the 2001 riff in the hot-dog-finger world)

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#41 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:06 pm

I'm more confused about the charge of antisemitism

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Computer Raheem
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#42 Post by Computer Raheem » Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:36 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:06 pm
I'm more confused about the charge of antisemitism
I'm certain that's in relation to Jenny Slate's character - her original name was Big Nose, in reference to an insult Evelyn throws at her towards the third act. Given that Slate herself is Jewish, you can see where the charge is coming from.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#43 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:45 pm

Oh, okay, that makes sense. She also more overtly fat-shames and is homophobic and says and does many other problematic things, so it's an interesting thing to single out as a problematic derailment. I just thought the point was the insensitivity as part ingrained and unchangeable and also acknowledged as a fault that can be worked on where one can, which fits with the thematic urgency to recognize generational dissonance that leads to trauma, validating the challenges in enacting personal change while also stressing its necessity- something the Daniels have passionately talked about in their interviews. It would be really weird and uncharacteristic of the film if we were meant to identify the body shaming and sexism and homophobia as all critiques rather than endorsements, but the antisemitism taken at face value. Then again, maybe because it's not being discussed as overtly, it evades the opportunity for commentary that the other bolded takes allow for?

That is itself an interesting conundrum here: When you're making a movie ostensibly about EVERYTHING, how do you actually touch on every issue, and if you're going to throw in antisemitism in a half-measure, would it be best to make the film longer to investigate it properly, or would that distract people with one too many issues. But then, is it best to not acknowledge that class of bigotry amongst the palette at all, to omit it from 'Everything' in a film about generational trauma? Where does one stop, when excluding one group might save an uncomfortable moment but invalidate its value under the ethos of the film?

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#44 Post by Computer Raheem » Wed Aug 24, 2022 12:23 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:45 pm
Oh, okay, that makes sense. She also more overtly fat-shames and is homophobic and says and does many other problematic things, so it's an interesting thing to single out as a problematic derailment. I just thought the point was the insensitivity as part ingrained and unchangeable and also acknowledged as a fault that can be worked on where one can, which fits with the thematic urgency to recognize generational dissonance that leads to trauma, validating the challenges in enacting personal change while also stressing its necessity- something the Daniels have passionately talked about in their interviews. It would be really weird and uncharacteristic of the film if we were meant to identify the body shaming and sexism and homophobia as all critiques rather than endorsements, but the antisemitism taken at face value. Then again, maybe because it's not being discussed as overtly, it evades the opportunity for commentary that the other bolded takes allow for?

That is itself an interesting conundrum here: When you're making a movie ostensibly about EVERYTHING, how do you actually touch on every issue, and if you're going to throw in antisemitism in a half-measure, would it be best to make the film longer to investigate it properly, or would that distract people with one too many issues. But then, is it best to not acknowledge that class of bigotry amongst the palette at all, to omit it from 'Everything' in a film about generational trauma? Where does one stop, when excluding one group might save an uncomfortable moment but invalidate its value under the ethos of the film?
I did also find the (very mild, might I add) controversy odd given that Evelyn's character is clearly meant to have regressive views on a lot of matters - not overtly nor maliciously, but enough for it to be called out. My guess is that a lot of audience members took it at face value, especially given that the film has some baggage (mostly thanks to the hype machine) as a progressive film - it appears hypocritical to those who may not have picked up on those nuances. As someone who has a lot of immigrant family, I saw these moments as the Daniels subtly critiquing the ways that regressive worldviews and attitudes are almost seen as givens by the younger generation (see: Joy's defensive attitude toward Evelyn's homophobia vs. Jobu's pointed barbs). It never struck me as an active defense of such attitudes, intentional or not. The only way I could see it being perceived as such is if you divorce it from the context that character has - as an extension of the meta-joke of how all the white characters in the film are portrayed in highly stereotypical ways (mirroring both the film's focus of an Asian-American family in a genre film and the larger dehumanizing and stereotypical ways in which Asian and Asian-American characters have been portrayed in media's past). Either way, they changed the character's name for the digital release, so I guess this controversy is a moot point now

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#45 Post by tenia » Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:21 am

Wow, I didn't realise some don't realise that Evelyn is a flawed character and that the movie shows her going through an initiatic journey allowing her to get some kind of a slightly better person, in particular in treating her daughter is a less discriminative way.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#46 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:36 am

Unless I'm missing something, I think everyone has acknowledged that is the point, but I am curious how knives sees the subtler jab of antisemitism as separate from this theme. As I outlined before, there are certainly discernible ways to see this elision as its own kind of ostracizing action in the formal approach, and I don't think changing the character's name changes much there- at least from my point of view, labeling her one way vs the other in the credits doesn't alter the directors' humanistic outlook, only how she's identified within the scope of the film, which from Evelyn's perspective may still be Big Nose. The question becomes whether including less space to obviously recognize the flawed behavior here, compared to the body shaming, homophobia, etc., can be conflated with ignorance of the antisemitism, or endorsing it by not treating it with audience-winking consciousness that the other issues get. But that then might be holding the film accountable for actually commenting on everything, everywhere, all at once... which is the title, but I don't know if that's a fair expectation either

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#47 Post by Never Cursed » Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:57 am

In the digital version, does Evelyn still say "Big Nose," or is it literally just an alteration in the credits? Don't think it's even slightly antisemitic of the film either way (qualifier: I am Jewish and partially a product of Hebrew schools), but I'm just curious

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knives
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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#48 Post by knives » Wed Aug 24, 2022 5:43 am

Saw the Blu-ray and it’s just a credits change
Computer Raheem wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:45 pm
knives wrote:
Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:03 pm
I mostly liked it, the Daniels film I’m most I tuned with, but I think it becomes thematically overwhelmed resulting in some awkward moments I doubt were intended such as the incredibly uncomfortable antisemitism and the legitimizing of the nostalgia brigade. If it stayed focused only on the family dynamics I think I would have liked it a bit more.

That said seeing James Hong in such a prominent role made this a very easy sell to at least have affection for.
I'm a little confused by what the "legitimizing of the nostalgia brigade"; are you referring to the Raccacoonie sequence? If so, I'm trying to figure out what you mean; I didn't really pick up on any real nostalgic pandering (if anything, at least to me, it felt a bit like a poke at such pandering and reference-baiting in modern cinema, similar to the 2001 riff in the hot-dog-finger world)
Its a small moment at the beginning I’m referring to that totally threw me off. At some point Waymond Alpha asks Evelyn in a sort Matrix parody if she’s noticed things getting worse, clothes getting tighter, the world harsher. That scene in that moment did take me out of the film because they had not yet built up that separate perspective from Evelyn enough to make it clear they didn’t agree. I think with it, as well as the big nose thing which could have easily been solved by a different actress, had they worked initially rather than later on showing Evelyn and the alphas as flawed these wouldn’t have thrown me out of the movie so easily which is what I meant by them overwhelming the film.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#49 Post by Mr Sausage » Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:17 am

knives wrote:That scene in that moment did take me out of the film because they had not yet built up that separate perspective from Evelyn enough to make it clear they didn’t agree.
Really? I thought the very first scene with her already did that, showing the negative effects of her personality on her family and showing how she retreats to insult and dismissal when angry (eg. she sees she's hurt her daughter terribly, but can only blurt out "you're fat", sealing the rejection, because she fears showing weakness). One of the virtues of the movie is how well it sets up the stakes and the characters in that opening scene.

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Re: Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniels, 2022)

#50 Post by knives » Wed Aug 24, 2022 10:23 am

I didn’t take it as distanced with the opening setting her up as distracted and overwhelmed so that she makes social faux pas, but nothing that necessarily would undermine audience identification yet. So it sets up well the complications of her externals, but the matrix scene is seemingly about her internal thought process which the film hasn’t explored on yet.

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