Everything Everywhere All At Once - 4/4 Stars
It's been a while since I've watched a movie. I'm pretty sure the last one was The Matrix Resurrections back in December of 2021. (Saw that one in the theater with J. 4/4 Stars)
I'm glad I picked this one as the re-entry. It's so good. After I watched it, I learned it won a bunch of Oscars. Not sure which ones, but I can see why it got acclaim.
Expand this to read more (includes story details)
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Damn this was good.
I finished watching at midnight. I immediatly watched two YouTube react channels of folks watching it to hit the high notes again.
There's very few movies I'll watch a second time. This one is an easy addition to the list.
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I'm writing this the day after watching it. Thinking back on it, I like it even more.
Like, it was so good I couldn't take it all in at once. (and no, I didn't mean to reference the title when I wrote that)
- There have been enough multiverse movies that the concept isn't novel. They spend a little time explaining it, but it fits perfectly with the story since it's a character learning about it. I like that the response is more like "what the fuck" than a big "wow, my mind is totally blown" tone. It's just like part of the thing that that's great.
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Stephanie Hsu is great, Ke Huy Quan killed it, and Jamie Lee Curtis is a delight.
Michelle Yeoh is a fucking master.
- I'm really glad I read The Buddha Walks Into a Bar on recommendation from my therapist a few years ago. I got more out of the film because of it.
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I've never seen anything in film that comes right out and says "Nothing matters" like this. Much less one that does so as a main theme.
I wonder how many folks started asking themselves meaning of life questions after the film that never had before.
I wonder how far along the path they got. It's not something you only spend five minutes on unless you just eject from thinking about it at all.
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The rock scene was amazing. Going from the chaos to the calm. That's been done before, but never this well. And never with the existential reflections.
- I wonder how many folks focus on "Just be a rock" as a defense mechanism against the jump into "Nothing matters".
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As much as the "Nothing matters" hits, the "There are no rules" singe to me louder.
This is my favorite image from the movie.
alt text
A photo of a smooth, dark rock that's about the side of a grapefruit with googly eyes on it. It's resting in sandy dirt overlooking a canyon in the background. There's text above the rock that says 'There are no rules!' -
The though that Nothing Matters can, of course, be dark. Like, really dark. I've gone down the path of "what's the point?" until I ened up in the psych ward for my own protection.
But, that was different. That was bipolar depression. Weirdly, "Nothing matters" is easier for me to think about than "What's the point". But, now that I've been down to the darkest parts they're both easier to deal with.
The film doesn't leave you hanging with the thoughs. This exchange is perfect:
Jobu Tupaki: Here, all we get are a few specs of time where any of this actually makes any sense.
Evelyn: Then, I wil cherish these few specs of time.
It's the corralarry to the question Mary Oliver poses in her poem The Summer Day:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life? -
It's funny to think that a sci-fi kung-fu movie would be the thing that turns folk to thinking about the meaning of life, but I love it.
Put the message where the people are.
Outro
I hit this movie at a perfect time. My mind is clear of lithium. The cocktail of chemical I use to defend the highs and lows of bipolar disorder is threading the gap. I'm comfortable I'm free to move as I see fit. Taking photos holds interest again.
Since nothing matters and there are no rule, I get to make the moments of time I want to cherish.
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