Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
April 1, 2022 7:58 AM - Subscribe

An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American science fiction action comedy film written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The film stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
posted by BlahLaLa (190 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
Holy. Moly. We saw it last night -- me, Mr. Blah, & our 18yo son -- and we freaking LOVED IT. It's a long movie, and we were on the edge of our seats the entire time. Michelle Yeoh -- okay, obviously she's amazing, and she's wonderful. But Ke Huy Quan feels like a revelation. He gives an incredibly moving and versatile performance. Just loved it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:59 AM on April 1, 2022 [19 favorites]


I have a sad. This appears to only be in art theaters, none of which are anywhere near me.
posted by Karmakaze at 8:42 AM on April 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


I have a sad. This appears to only be in art theaters, none of which are anywhere near me.

Me too!
posted by dhruva at 8:57 AM on April 1, 2022


Saw it last weekend and have spent a lot of time thinking about Jobu Tupaki.

Recommending reading: On Being Trans and Watching Everything Everywhere All at Once
posted by roger ackroyd at 9:11 AM on April 1, 2022 [13 favorites]


I have to think they're gonna open it wider at some point? I sure hope so, you guys. It's beautiful and deserves to be seen on a big screen.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:12 AM on April 1, 2022


Yeah, from what I understand there's a wider release coming in a couple weeks time.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:42 AM on April 1, 2022


Coming back to say I see their campaign says it opens wide on April 8th.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:10 AM on April 1, 2022


Nearest showing is 40 miles away right now, hoping for closer soon
posted by one for the books at 1:22 PM on April 1, 2022


Ironic that "Everything Everywhere All At Once" has limited sites.
posted by SPrintF at 4:38 PM on April 1, 2022 [21 favorites]


I was so surprised it came out here (Malaysia) on the 25th already, considering it's an A24 film, even if Michelle Yeoh is the lead. Ahhhhhh so happy to manage to find a good time to watch it! It's almost like you can make it a double feature with Turning Red, and where you are in your life journey likely will influence which movie and which character resonate most, which in my case, it's definitely Evelyn nowadays.

I really hope this movie will mark an era for Ke Huy Quan on film again. He needs to be more things.
posted by cendawanita at 3:14 AM on April 2, 2022 [8 favorites]


(also my friends and I aren't used to seeing codeswitching bilingual Mandarin English the way we are -- seeing and living it -- with Cantonese, so that was fun! Though at first, we were like, did American scriptwriters take to heart all the jokes we've made about Firefly or what.)
posted by cendawanita at 3:17 AM on April 2, 2022 [10 favorites]


I saw some reviews that it had come out March 11, freaked out that I was going to miss it in theaters, and then bought the one showing I could find - a Wednesday evening Imax showing where the tickets were $20.

(the day after I bought the tickets, I noticed the wide release April 8)

I'm still glad I saw it in Imax - the movie was a lot emotionally (some whiplash between laughing and crying and chekov's buttplug) but the visuals were so good and the costuming and I'm glad I got to see it on a big screen.

Apparently the Daniels got their start in music videos, which makes sense, and I hadn't heard of Swiss Army Man before this, but apparently this being the same director duo explains a lot, too.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:44 PM on April 2, 2022 [2 favorites]


One of the Daniels, Daniel Kwan, just watched Turning Red as well, and:

This is going to sound weird but I feel like my long lost twin sister made and released a movie at the same time as me (about a very similar subject matter) and this was the universe's way of letting me know. Cannot believe this is her first feature! What a win for Pixar.
posted by cendawanita at 12:09 AM on April 5, 2022 [23 favorites]


Phenomenal film. I relate a lot to Jobu Tabaki's nilhism and life experience, and I found this film so uplifting. It feels cliche to say a movie will make you laugh and cry, but this is that movie, plus so many other emotions, all at once.
posted by Emily's Fist at 9:03 AM on April 6, 2022 [8 favorites]


So, is A24's deal "we're going to pick up all the money and Oscars Hollywood has left lying around by just making movies about everybody else?"
posted by praemunire at 6:08 PM on April 7, 2022 [18 favorites]


Found this Boing Boing link to a GQ interview with Michelle Yeoh talking about several of her roles (including EEAAO) and she's even more delightful than I thought possible.
posted by sapere aude at 10:49 AM on April 8, 2022 [2 favorites]


I adored this. I would love to read something about verse-jumping as metaphor for code-switching - how living in multiple languages and multiple cultures is both an expansion of possibilities and the burden of managing multiple selves.
posted by Jeanne at 8:05 AM on April 9, 2022 [13 favorites]


Super fun and constantly surprising. Just loved Ke Huy Quan - hope to see him in more. So much bonkers creative energy flowing through the veins of it. So great to see immigrants and women and over-50 women especially getting to be whole, flawed, heroic people on a giant screen.

I did not find the emotional core of the movie to be earned - I feel like the daughter needed to be developed in the beginning as depressed or suffering more in order to explain the meaning of her multiverse selves. And the message - we just need to love each other and be nice - is pretty politically hollow. But hey, loving each other and being nice while making a lot of jokes about fucking and nostrils and whatnot is still an improvement over our grim, single-verse reality.
posted by latkes at 9:44 AM on April 9, 2022 [19 favorites]


Five stars out of five. My cheeks hurt from smiling.

I wondered from the trailer why Jamie Lee Curtis would take a role as the dowdy auditor. But oh man, she gets plenty to do too.

Having JLC in your movie is the genre film equivalent of having Beyonce bless your track.

(Obviously the real stars are Yeoh and Quan. Wow.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:36 PM on April 9, 2022 [4 favorites]


If Charlie Jane Anders and Chuck Tingle had a baby, and the baby was a movie, this would be it. I adore the whole experience.
posted by Silvery Fish at 3:43 PM on April 9, 2022 [11 favorites]


There was a book I read many years ago, "The Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch, that takes on the idea of a multiverse and, among other things, tries to wrestle with the question of how we can come to terms with the idea of a cosmos in which everything that's physically possible actually happens, somewhere. Like, not just the idea that are an infinite number of different versions of you, but that some of them will have made choices that you would find morally reprehensible. Some of them will have had biographies that render them so different that you wouldn't recognize them as "yourself". Some of them will have endured tragedies that you can't imagine...and some of them will have avoided tragedies that you can't imagine not being in your past.

There's a very real sense in which a form of nihilism can start to seem inevitable if you take the idea seriously: if everything happens, how can anything matter, particularly? And Deutsch makes it pretty clear that the idea should be taken seriously, because there's plenty of physical evidence to suggest that it's all true.

I don't think the film is suggesting "we just need to love each other and be nice". That's a pretty radically oversimplified version of what's going on. I think it's suggesting, rather, that in a cosmos that seems to be mechanistically grinding out every possible history, there's no higher authority to define for us how we should live, there's no external source of meaning for the things we live through and endure. There's only the sense we make of them ourselves. That love and kindness retain their power to make that existence tolerable isn't at all a trivial conclusion.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:03 AM on April 10, 2022 [83 favorites]


This Twitter link has Michelle Yeoh speaking about how much the role meant to her.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:00 PM on April 10, 2022 [11 favorites]


I loved this. The Daniels also made the short Broomshakalaka, which has some of the same manic earnest energy.
posted by oulipian at 5:01 PM on April 10, 2022 [3 favorites]


I just learned that Jamie Lee Curtis's character's full name is "Deirdre Beaubierdra."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:21 AM on April 11, 2022 [20 favorites]


I loved this movie... so much. It was 200% my kind of movie. Yes, the first act could have been 10 minutes shorter... but it didnt need to be. I can't wait to watch it again.

That said... I found some of the emotional ending to be frustrating and dissapointing.

I've struggled with being not-understood by my mother/parents, not loved in a way that feels good and comfortable to me, so the fact that the "reconciliation" was still full of microagressions, still falling back on "we're family, I love you, that's all that matters" hurt me.

Evelyn didn't try to understand why Joy was withdrawing, or what she (Evelyn) could possibly have been doing (other than denying Joy's queerness) to push her daughter away. Maybe this was the more realistic ending (and therefore better). I just wish that Joy was given more space to express *herself* and see if what Evelyn had to say was really good enough for her--with or without the cultural constrains of familial loyalty. Blood is not a reason to allow yourself to be constantly and casually disrespected.

Fortunately, the thigns I loved vastly vastly override those things I didn't like. I was crying through much of the movie, both from laughter and from other emotions, and I can't wait to go through that wringer again.
posted by itesser at 10:55 AM on April 11, 2022 [17 favorites]


I loved Ke Huy Quan in Mr. Chow mode.
posted by hototogisu at 2:51 PM on April 12, 2022 [8 favorites]


I've struggled with being not-understood by my mother/parents, not loved in a way that feels good and comfortable to me, so the fact that the "reconciliation" was still full of microagressions, still falling back on "we're family, I love you, that's all that matters" hurt me.

I know what you mean, it felt like an odd choice for the film. But on reflection, it's a good and bold one.

People don't change overnight. They'll still have all their bad tendencies and may still act and speak in terrible ways. But given time, they can learn and more fully change. THe film is too subtle on this point, but it's where I think it went.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:52 PM on April 12, 2022 [40 favorites]


Saw this last night and my wife and I loved it. We'll likely see it in the theaters again we liked it so much.
posted by schyler523 at 11:55 AM on April 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


That was really well said, Brandon. Totally agree.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:59 PM on April 14, 2022


I've been wanting to see this since my friend raved after the opening what feels like ages ago (she's already seen it three times!). I am SO GLAD I finally got the chance to go, I absolutely loved it. Some of the points made above make a lot of sense, and I can see the minor criticisms about the denouement, but it worked for me. Possibly because it hits the sore points of not having any family left alive for me, of feeling that sense of being adrift that Joy struggles with or that frustration Evelyn has. I've often said that I would gladly listen to my twin sister insult me or bicker and quibble with me all the time if it meant I could have her back again. The resolution for the mother-daughter relationship isn't perfect, but man, I felt it, so so much.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:45 PM on April 15, 2022 [9 favorites]


The resolution for the mother-daughter relationship isn't perfect, but man, I felt it, so so much.

Agreed. I think that in this movie, the opposite of regret for ghost lives is being present in the current life, however imperfectly.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:58 AM on April 16, 2022 [11 favorites]


Oh god this movie. I laughed and cried - so, so good. The way they explored multiple lives felt very relevant to my covid experience. I spent a lot of time thinking about what could have been, and my life choices up to that point. And accepting that this path I have is a good one, and it’s because of the people around me.

One of the most unique movies I’ve seen in a long, long time. Will be seeing it again.
posted by glaucon at 1:16 PM on April 16, 2022 [2 favorites]


I haven’t seen this yet, so I’m not reading comments. The description left me kinda meh. But I saw the trailer in the theater and it made me excited. I want to see Michelle Yeoh save the universe thanks to her other selves!
posted by Monochrome at 6:09 PM on April 17, 2022


The movie was bonkers in a good way. It was every genre bending this way and that with hysterical call backs like Kubrick's 2001 and the rise of the hot dog fingers. It was daring, bold and put to shame much more expensive films with its measly budget of 25 million. If someone asked me where I think the science fiction bodhidarma was from in this film it comes more from Douglas Adams than Frank Herbert/Isaac Asimov.

Every actor was a amazing. Every. actor.

Entertainment Weekly Around the Table with cast and directors

Public Q&A Group after premiere during SXSW 2022

Group interview with cast and directors SXSW 2022
posted by jadepearl at 10:33 PM on April 17, 2022 [4 favorites]


My take on the ending wasn't so much love and family conquers all, but that nihilism isn't/doesn't have to be innately negative.

Joy sees all possible variations and comes to the conclusion that all happiness is fleeting and ultimately doesn't matter, so why not just end everything?

Evelyn sees the same variations and comes to opposite conclusion, all happiness is fleeting and ultimately doesn't matter, and that's why each moment of joy does matter.

If both choices are equally valid in the face of an utterly indifferent universe(s) where every possible variation will play out...why not embrace that and actively choose the kind path?

Everyone already has this power already, of course, we just can't see the effects of the alternate paths we might have chosen. But who cares? Ultimately, even in real life, nothing really matters, so why not actively choose kindness?
posted by Eddie Mars at 7:27 AM on April 18, 2022 [79 favorites]


I'm in awe of this movie's tonal range. It goes from profoundly silly to profoundly touching, sometimes in the same scene.

It feels like an antidote to Rick & Morty's multi-universe nihilism, for reasons Eddie Mars articulated well in the comment above this one.

"There's only one rule that I know of, babies-'God damn it, you've got to be kind.'"
posted by JDHarper at 7:57 AM on April 18, 2022 [26 favorites]


Thank you, I had also thought of the Vonnegut quote when Evelyn's husband told her that he had made kindness his weapon. Just a lovely movie.
posted by Eddie Mars at 8:08 AM on April 18, 2022 [7 favorites]


Just because: ten minutes of Michelle Yeoh fight scenes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:57 PM on April 18, 2022 [2 favorites]


I've seen it twice and picked up so much more of the stuff I only caught a whiff of in the first viewing. Then I sought out a metafilter post about it.

It's my favorite movie. Flat out. No contest.

It's a sci-fi movie where superheros save the multiverse. It's a dramatic movie about a multi-generation immigrant family dealing with financial, marital, and parent-child issues. It's a deeply philosophical movie that explores nihilism, suicide, and the role of violence & empathy in conflict resolution. It's a movie about being gay and only having your mother's threadbare-tolerance. It's a beautiful martial arts movie with creative choreography. It's a comedy that has buttplug jokes, and a cop gets beaten to death with massive rubber cocks.

It's a movie where all but two of the main characters aren't just not-white but Asian. Ke Huy Quan's performance ranges across multiverse versions of his character: a goofy and wimpy dad, a martial arts multiverse hacker scientist, a high-class successful businessman living with quiet longing for a woman he loved but lost, and then that same goofy wimp dad who turns out to have a inner strength that has been supporting the family without a demand for thanks or recognition.

It has an everything bagel blackhole that represents the (Joju Tobaki alphaverse) daughter's desire to commit suicide and the (original universe) daughter's desire to separate from her mother (reproducing the separation of the mother to her own parents), and how connections to our loved ones are things that actively need to be maintained.

I love how it subverts the "violence and domination is the only way, and empathy is naive and weak" trope in other mutliverse stories (cough cough, Marvel and Rick & Morty). The first universe split happens between Evelyn going home from the IRS office and hosting the Chinese New Year's party, and Evelyn punching the IRS agent and getting the cops called on her and attracting the notice of Joju Tobaki.

It's not more realistic, mature, and grounded to use violence to solve problems instead of empathy and relationship-building. In movies, violence is the only way to triumph over the bad guy. In actual real life (and this movie), punching the IRS agent won't solve anything and only made things worse.

There's so much blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff in this film. Martial-arts-universe-Evelyn has a kung fu mentor who tells her "even a cookie can be kung fu" while original-universe-Evelyn laments that her too-soft husband gave a box of cookies to the loathsome IRS agent, without realizing that this helped soften the IRS agent to allow them more time to prepare for their audit. The cookies lead to a solution, not kung fu.

It's a multiverse movie that is so chaotic and random and weird and yet the themes and plot are 100% coherent.

It's my favorite movie.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:18 AM on April 20, 2022 [82 favorites]


The cookies lead to a solution, not kung fu.

I definitely loved the dad's "kung fu" the best. I'm also glad they spelled it out the way they did. I also loved that actor and I'm surprised to learn he hasn't acted since he was a kid. He did such a great job!

I think that if the mom and dad roles had been gender-reversed it would have been less interesting. Traditionally moms/ wives get the "let's embrace non-violence and learn to appreciate relationships" role.

When the movie first started, I was intrigued to see Michelle Yeoh in a non-badass role.

Sort of off topic: I read a story once in which the main character was brought into the world of a woman who had been institutionalized due to a psychotic break that had her fighting monsters, and abusing and shunning loved ones in order to drive them away to keep them safe. It turns out that it was all true and, once inside her world, the "psychotic" one was the strong one because she'd been a warrior in this world for decades already. Now it was the narrator who was shying at shadows and cowering in corners while the institutionalized woman protected him.

In Everything Everywhere All at Once's box cutter scene I was afraid that's where it was headed but thankfully it turned out to be more pure Sci-fi than Twilight Zone.
posted by small_ruminant at 1:13 PM on April 20, 2022 [7 favorites]


"It's my favorite movie."

I said the same thing walking out of the theater the first time I went to see it. I felt silly, because I've loved so many great movies over the years, but it felt true. Perhaps because it felt like it incorporated and combined so much from other movies that I like (e.g. if you could stretch the mood and style of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind around the wireframe plot of It's a Wonderful Life, etc.). Glad to see someone else had the same reaction.
posted by mabelstreet at 3:09 PM on April 20, 2022 [9 favorites]


If you have Shudder, an interesting chaser to this is "You, Me, and Her" the second "episode" of the first season of Etheria. Nominally an anthology series, Etheria is really more like a collection of genre and genre-ish short films, which I believe are mostly or all done by young female directors from AFI.

Anyway, the premise is:
When 30 versions of one person pass through the wormhole at the Department of Parallel Resettlement, Anna discovers she is the worst possible version of herself.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:55 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]


Revisiting this after a second viewing. The film is still overwhelmingly awesome. I still laughed a lot (especially with catching details I missed the first time), and cried a lot, since the relationship between Evelyn and Joy *is* incredibly compelling.

I went for a second screening to more closely examine the criticism I had around the ending. I think a lot of my feelings come from the tension between the movie being Evelyn’s story and my life being Joy’s story. The movie shows the details of Evelyn’s experience—why she is the way she is and why she makes the decisions that she does. I (selfishly) wish there was more nuance for Joy/Jobu’s history. As it is, I’m gutted when Joy chooses reconciliation because it’s not an option for me. I wish there were more indications of Evelyn and Joy having a *good* (or even up-and-down) relationship in any universe, that Evelyn helps things make sense for Joy, not just pain. The karaoke clip in the mirror at the beginning is the only hint of that, and presented with such a sense of distance that it doesn’t feel connected with Joy’s experience.

I guess my “criticisms” are more a reflection of the fact that a film is not a substitute for therapy.

I don’t buy physical media anymore, but I’m going to make an exception for this one.
posted by itesser at 6:30 PM on April 22, 2022 [15 favorites]


This movie is everything The Matrix Resurrections should’ve been
posted by Apocryphon at 8:13 PM on April 23, 2022 [23 favorites]


I saw this yesterday afternoon and yes to all of the above posts. It was amazing, and yet I also agree that the resolution felt a little unearned and easy. But that earnestness is also kind of endearing?

The scene with Michelle Yeoh's face flickering through hundreds of realities really blew me away.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:31 AM on April 25, 2022 [3 favorites]


Saw this over the weekend and I loved it; better than I had any hope for.

I appreciate the criticism of the "love conquers all" resolution, but although the script can be viewed as fitting that pattern, I didn't get the same impression about the focus. If I remember right, the script avoided using the word "love" completely. That's not a free pass, of course, but that was a choice, and I think it must mean something.

Indeed the new thing Joy receives from Evelyn may be simpler: Her undivided attention. Which Evelyn had found so much harder to offer.

The Midwestern multiplex theater I saw this in was basically empty on a Saturday night. I can understand the decision to start with a limited release, I guess.
posted by Western Infidels at 6:42 AM on April 25, 2022 [7 favorites]


As it is, I’m gutted when Joy chooses reconciliation because it’s not an option for me.

I loved the movie, but I started crying just before the end of part 1, and hit full on ugly-sobbing with the rocks. I ... may have allowed it to hit me too hard in the mom feels, maybe because it's easier than wrestling with the philosophical questions or maybe because it's stupid Mother's Day season and this year is ten years since I lost my chance at working anything out with her and I'm just real deep in those feels right now anyway.

I have a feeling this will turn out to be an Important film, between the concepts and performances and artistry. I can't wait to see how that happens.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:31 PM on April 25, 2022 [11 favorites]


watching it as a queer trans asian woman rapidly approaching middle age, i didn't know who i related to more, joy or evelyn.

i'm still processing it and thinking through it, weeks later.
posted by i used to be someone else at 1:21 PM on April 26, 2022 [8 favorites]


Just realized the googly eyes and the everything bagel were inversions of each other and I love the movie a little more.
posted by dinty_moore at 3:25 PM on April 26, 2022 [62 favorites]


I don't think I have "enjoyed" a movie more in a long time. Enjoyed is in inverted comma's since I am still trying to process it. My immediate summary: "WTF am I watching - I am so happy to be watching this".

Wife and I went and saw it in the local multiplex and while she thought it was OK, it is the only film I can remember that we have had multiple, hour long conversations about, in the week ofter seeing it.

This thread and the links here have changed my thoughts of maybe watching this agin with my adult non-binary child to: "I will watch this again with them".
posted by dangerousdan at 6:28 PM on April 27, 2022 [7 favorites]


I went tonight with a new friend, we were two of four people in the theatre, it was FAAAABULOUS.

HOT DOG UNIVERSE
RACOOCCOONIE
posted by sixswitch at 1:21 AM on April 28, 2022 [19 favorites]


I read at least one blogger saying: please see this in the theater, it's amazing. So I deployed my P100 respirator and my carbon dioxide monitor and watched a pre-noon showing of this (like 10 people in the theater) so I could go see my first in-theater movie in 2 years while minimizing COVID risk. I laughed, I cried. I can tell I'm gonna watch this again on the small screen, so I can pause and think about details.

I already enjoyed Stephanie Hsu from Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and am glad to see her getting good work. Always great to see Harry Shum Jr. (who was such a love-to-hate-him jerk in Love Hard). And I admire Ke Huy Quan's slow revelation of Waymond's character.

And it was such a treat -- unfortunately getting rarer on the US silver screen, as I understand it -- to watch an original scifi movie that wasn't based on a pre-existing book, podcast, comic, movie, or toy! (Honestly the last big spectacular ambitious sf movie I remember that wasn't based on anything else was maybe Jupiter Ascending?) Yet this is an intertextual movie that reflects how modern people live and think -- overtly with the Ratatouille explanation and the Racoccoonie universe, and a little more subtly with the 2001: A Space Odyssey homage and the Wong Kar-wai nods, all the way to the fictional (Evelyn watches on TV) fantasy of the two singing lovers.

The "do something incredibly unlikely to charge up the mechanism to connect to an alternate you" tool is (a) SUCH A COOL METAPHOR for how we need to get out of our ruts to take the first step to changing identity and building capability, and (b) even better than the Infinite Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide because it's an active choice a character can make. (Kind of makes me want to reread Kris Straub's Starslip webcomic.)

The idea that someone who's missed SO MANY opportunities is actually incredibly well-placed to step forward and grow and rise because there's basically nowhere to go but up -- what a useful way to think about it. And Evelyn's love-based approach late in the film, that fight up the staircase where she defeats her opponents by caring for them and healing them and giving them what they need -- fantastic to watch, glorious and brave. (If you liked that, you might like Ryan North's run on the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic from Marvel; Squirrel Girl often defeats opponents in a related way.)

The rocks! SO MOVING! And when they started moving! And when Joy's rock went off the cliff! And when Evelyn's followed it!! (If you liked that bit, consider reading Jon Bois's 17776 which has pretty high levels of pathos and humor emerge from plain text dialogue between inanimate objects.)

I love that you see these tiny glimpses of other realities, and then sometimes you get WAY MORE of them, and you cannot predict which of them will go that way, or in what direction. In general it's so great that this film goes in SURPRISING directions!! Yes! Please do things I don't know are going to happen next!
posted by brainwane at 4:26 AM on April 28, 2022 [53 favorites]


Loved this so much, still thinking about it days later, hard to list all the good and thought-provoking things. Thank you to everyone in here for comments that have made me remember more things about it; it delivers on so many levels. Their marriage, I don't even know what to say but it is a lot to think about.
One little thing that occurred to me is, I feel like (?) it's unusual to see Michelle Yeoh having a character stage that is kind of incredulous comically out-of-her-depth (and where she has to kind of rise to the occasion), eg the way she looks at Waymond during the fanny-pack fight... it's not a mode I remember seeing her in very often. It reminds me of a character arc I associate more with Jackie Chan (early in the movie he finds himself out of his depth, pulling comic faces, "oh no, holy crap, I'm just barely dodging out of the way", then we see him improve as a fighter and handle situations more competently) and it's a fun reversal to see it from her.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:29 AM on April 28, 2022 [9 favorites]


Saw this last night with my son and we both were blown away. Loved every costume change for Joy, loved the fights scenes (so inventive with the fanny pack!), loved the soundtrack.
Son (18) was most affected by The Rocks. My thought was that MCU only thinks they've made a movie about the multiverse, and now Dr Strange is going to have to live in the shadow of this movie.
Can't wait to see it again.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:57 AM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]


My thought was that MCU only thinks they've made a movie about the multiverse, and now Dr Strange is going to have to live in the shadow of this movie.

I love me some MCU and have already bought my tickets to Dr. Strange, but you're 110% right. This was a mindblowing and moving look at how our individual choices could be different in multi-verse.

Hats off to the Daniels, who I read somewhere turned down working in the MCU and honestly the world is so much better for it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:15 AM on April 28, 2022 [4 favorites]


It's back in IMAX for a week, in the US.

It looks like the home release date is June 14.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:31 AM on April 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


I just watched it in a theater with four other people at 11:50am on a Thursday. It's the first time I've been in a movie theater since The Rise of Skywalker and I have to say this was a much more satisfying experience. I've been describing it as "a live action martial arts movie that combines the parts that matter from Turning Red and Rick & Morty" which is very much up my alley and, uh, not a movie I expected to ever actually get to see.

I'm kind of obsessed with the universe where people have hot dogs for fingers? I would watch a whole movie about Evelyn and Deirdre. Loved their matching haircuts so much and loved the discovery that even the hot dog hands universe gave Evelyn a skill she could use - so much of parenting is just realizing that there's not a single thing you've learned to do in your whole life that you can't bring to parenting and that realization felt extremely true and profound to me in the moment. I hope they become friends after the audit.
posted by potrzebie at 5:28 PM on April 28, 2022 [8 favorites]


I just keep thinking about Evelyn saying, "Give me back my Joy!" and hoo boy, haven't we all felt/said that in the last few years?

Daniels nailed it: Love is the only way to effectively fight depression or the urge to give up on life and embrace nihilism.

Two screenings down in the theater, and I know I'm going to watch it again soon. Each new viewing makes me see and realize something interesting I missed before!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:12 AM on April 29, 2022 [6 favorites]


What a fun movie! Enjoyed this quite a bit. It's kind of a mess and I had some frustrations with the pacing at times but overall really loved everything about it.

This film reminded me most of the Wachowski films, if those filmmakers had gotten to a level of relatable excellence. Lots of The Matrix in this, but also Cloud Atlas and even a touch of Speed Racer in the visuals and silliness of it all. But setting all this looniness in a Chinese-American family really takes it in its own direction. And then the cast is phenomenal. (I'd naively thought more of the cast was from Hong Kong cinema but really they're all American actors except Michelle Yeoh, and she's now transcended any one country's film industry.)

The visual sequences where they were cutting every single frame were fantastic. It is very difficult to do that and make anything look coherent. And the brief glimpses we get of all these other scenes and settings, just wild creativity. Also that's a sequence that's going to suffer greatly in home streaming. I'm glad I got to a theater for it.
posted by Nelson at 8:21 AM on April 29, 2022 [2 favorites]


Man, somebody should definitely win an Oscar for the Jobu Tupaki costumes, holy moly. But honestly I don't think I can be coherent about how ambitious, creative and beautiful this film was. Mind blowing in the best way.
posted by emjaybee at 10:02 PM on April 29, 2022 [17 favorites]


This movie is a strange, beautiful, chaotic thing and I loved every second of it. All I knew before I went into the cinema was that it had Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan (yay!), had a multiverse (probably cool), and was by the guys who made Swiss Army Man. I didn't love Swiss Army Man but I was intrigued by it and had made a note to see anything else they made next.

Has anyone made or seen a list of any Easter eggs or Asian film references yet? Or will that be easier once it starts streaming?
posted by harriet vane at 4:01 AM on May 1, 2022


This Vanity Fair article has the highlights of the movie references. It's not a meticulous examination of every single easter egg though. Worth reading just because it reminds us about Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love.
posted by Nelson at 8:00 AM on May 1, 2022 [5 favorites]


I just learned that Jamie Lee Curtis's character's full name is "Deirdre Beaubierdra."

Middle initial "D" no doubt. For Dierdre.
posted by Naberius at 12:04 PM on May 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


Or maybe her middle name is "Bananafana."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:35 AM on May 5, 2022 [16 favorites]


I’m astonished by how efficient the production design is

Yes! And at the start of the movie, I thought quirky things were for the sake of being quirky and was prepared to find it tiresome but no- everything was there for a reason.

There's something so satisfying about a movie whose direction is trustworthy. It's like dancing with a fantastic lead dancer. At the end, I didn't feel like they'd lead me around just because they could- there was a goal in mind.
posted by small_ruminant at 12:23 PM on May 5, 2022 [13 favorites]


round trip, I spent 3 hours on the highway and I'm pretty bagged at work this morning after seeing the late show.. went with my partner and sister.. I'm sure anyone reading this thread is a member of the choir, but any praises about this film are earned imo
- haven't felt like re-watching a movie since forever, I already have a friend I want to arrange a viewing with and I was thinking that through much of the movie last night
- haven't been so hyped for a film, and then have it so fully satisfy me
- it's a wonderful film, it does what films are supposed to do
posted by elkevelvet at 7:29 AM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]


OK, I need someone to fill in a gap in my memory. There's the big scene in the IRS office where Joy chooses not to go into the everything bagel, and then they're in the laundromat, and I honestly can't remember what the transition was. I got so absorbed by that scene visually that I may have entered a different state of consciousness. How is the chaos at the IRS office resolved?
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:03 PM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


There's the big scene in the IRS office where Joy chooses not to go into the everything bagel, and then they're in the laundromat [...] How is the chaos at the IRS office resolved?

I recall those scenes being in different dimensions. There's a dimension where the family gets in a huge battle in the IRS Office. And a more mundane dimension where Waymond negotiates another day to work on the taxes so they go home.
posted by Emily's Fist at 8:45 PM on May 8, 2022 [4 favorites]


Yeah I feel like it's resolved by resolving the domestic conflict during the party in the laundromat?? But honestly it's a blur for me as well.
posted by latkes at 8:56 PM on May 8, 2022 [2 favorites]


I caught the movie at its last showing in a suburban theatre. I was blown away by it. From Jobu Tupaki's costumes (the Everything Bagel Wedding Gown was, well, everything) to Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan smouldering at each other under In the Mood for Love-style lighting in the universe where they were happiest and most successful because they hadn't been together - it was perfect.

My take on the ending wasn't so much love and family conquers all, but that nihilism isn't/doesn't have to be innately negative.

To me, it's about the triumph of absurdism over nihilism. Absurdism is inherently hopeful, because it's all we've got. It also really spoke to me about living with ADHD and imposter syndrome: what if I'm too everywhere to be useful in this universe?

Oh, and googly eyes.
posted by scruss at 7:53 PM on May 11, 2022 [15 favorites]


Miracle Work: a note from Daniels (the directors).

I told Jackie Chan, your loss, my bro!

The west misses the point
posted by Coaticass at 3:10 AM on May 16, 2022 [13 favorites]


I finally got to see this. I disagree with the point above that Joy's disaffection wasn't earned. One of the scenes that hit me hard was early on when Evelyn ran out to stop Joy from leaving and what she wanted to say turned into "You need to stop eating so much." I could hear that she was saying "I love you*" in the only language she could access, but of course Joy could only hear the text because (a) humans are not mind readers and (b) that is a severely dysfunctional way of communicating. We can see that Joy has been experiencing Evelyn's attempts to show love as a series of cruel attacks. We can read between the lines that Alpha-Evelyn saw Alpha-Joy's talent and instead of just saying as much**, pushed Alpha-Joy harder and harder to excel until she broke.

On some level, Evelyn even knows what she's doing because she recognizes she is doing to Joy what her father did to her, but can't make herself stop.


* I love you -> I love you and want you to be well -> I want you to be well and take care of yourself -> Take care of yourself in this specific way -> I will make you take care of yourself in this specific way by hitting a sore spot.

** "I will support you in developing how amazing you are" just reads as "you are still not good enough"
posted by Karmakaze at 6:44 AM on May 17, 2022 [31 favorites]


I also managed to see Multiverse of Madness on Saturday and Everything Everywhere All at Once on Sunday, for a jarring comparison. I think I can note without spoiling the Marvel film addresses some of the same emotional points re: infinite multiverses with much less depth and intimacy. It's notable, especially given the "The West Misses The Point" article above that in both cases the needed perspective shift comes from an Asian man.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:51 AM on May 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


I am so glad this finally got released outside the US! What a fantastic film, will definitely watch it again. Some links:
Daniels Unpack the Everything Bagel of Influences Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once [Vulture/Archive]
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Is a Queer Masterpiece of Colossal Sincerity [Autostraddle]
How Stephanie Hsu Brought One of the Year’s Best Queer Characters to Life [Them]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:49 PM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]


This is both the best and most movie I've seen in a long while.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:00 PM on May 18, 2022 [11 favorites]


Dressing for the Multiverse: The actress Stephanie Hsu talks about how clothes convey the full range of character in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” [NYT/Archive]
posted by ellieBOA at 3:51 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


Finally saw this last night, after being excited with this comment here at MeFi.

It was... AMAZING. Beautiful, haunting, absolutely bonkers.

Hands-down the best movie I have seen in a very long time - easily the best sci-fi movie in recent memory.
posted by rozcakj at 4:56 AM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]


We saw this last weekend and I'm still putting together my thoughts. I loved Jobu Tupaki's costumes beyond measure, and I'd watch it again just for those alone. The first scene with the rocks just killed me. The timing of the dialogue was perfect.

I loved all the tiny details I caught as well. In the living room under the TV there's a stack of board games. You can't really make them out, but one of them is called Happiness. Dierdre has the carpal tunnel brace on her wrist when she's an accountant, and then has one on her ankle in the hot dog hands universe. And just how many places they stuck circles in the art direction.

The only thing that bothered me is how much they circled it around the mother-daughter conflict without referencing the dad's role in their dynamic at all. I understand that this is their story, and that that's what drives the plot. But he's right there and has been Joy's whole life - no matter how Joy felt about how here mom treated her, there's a triangle here and it doesn't make sense to ignore that. Even a simple throwaway "no wonder he wants to leave you," would do it. It felt like (forgive me) a hole in the story that made his relationship with Evelyn less solid as well. He felt like less of a fully formed character and more of a foil for her growth. But it's a small quibble - Ke Huy Quan was fantastic and any problem I had with the writing / treatment of his character was more than cancelled out by his performance.
posted by Mchelly at 8:10 AM on May 19, 2022 [6 favorites]


Lots of things to say, sorry if I'm just repeating something written above, I'm not copying, honest, we just think alike.

Firstly, the first thing I did was text a friend to say to go and see it: "It is astonishing, ceaselessly entertaining and often beautiful".

Secondly, it's one of those things that the universe is now divided into before it came out and after. For reference, the last film I remember changing everything so instantly was Fury Road.

Walking home from the cinema I felt an urge to burst into tears without knowing why, exactly.

I was very reminded of two aphorisms: "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" - Benjamin Franklin; and "After the ecstasy, the laundry" - which I attribute to Jack Kornfield, though he may be quoting someone else. Perhaps also, because he's been on my mind after the thread on the blue, "There is no enemy" - Thomas Dolby.

I find it quite moving that they create a character in Dierdre who's is designed in appearance, role and behaviour to be unlovely and carefully and subtly show her beauty.
posted by Grangousier at 8:13 AM on May 19, 2022 [10 favorites]


Oh, and one more thing, is this the first appearance of Portsmouth Sinfonia in a mainstream film?
posted by Grangousier at 8:52 AM on May 19, 2022 [6 favorites]


That "West Misses the Point" article is very interesting- thank you for posting it, Coaticass!
posted by small_ruminant at 1:24 PM on May 19, 2022


All at Once: An Interview with the Makers of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (Film Freak Central):
"[W]e're shielding ourselves from experiencing art, because we're just trying to pick it apart, understand it, label it before we even have a chance to let it move through you. This movie was very engineered to scramble all those wires, all the intellectual pieces of language you might have to describe a movie are thrown out the window, so early on you have no other choice but to feel and to experience."
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:28 AM on May 21, 2022 [5 favorites]


Mrs. Example and I just saw it, and enjoyed it a lot. Also, whatever the fight choreographers were paid, it wasn't enough.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:04 PM on May 21, 2022 [1 favorite]


I joined All Access A24, the A24 fan club and they sent me a minibook by the Daniels called Tax Season full of tax trivia and tax jokes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:11 PM on May 21, 2022 [5 favorites]


This weekend was the first unbearably hot weekend of the not-yet summer in the mid-Atlantic, so it was the perfect time to sit in a cool, dark theater and finally see this. It was great, very glad I didn't wait for streaming, although I'm sure I'll watch it again at home.

I personally completely lost it at the first use of the Absolutely (Story of a Girl) lyrics - just so random but also instantly recognizable to me - but I only caught the RV country cover later, missing the other 2 versions completely. I love that I know I'm going to catch so many other missed details in this in future viewings.
posted by the primroses were over at 1:41 PM on May 22, 2022


The scene with the two rocks in the "lifeless" universe, where right next to the Joy rock there's a tiny tuft of dry grass?

That had to have been deliberate, right?
posted by flabdablet at 4:20 AM on May 26, 2022 [9 favorites]


Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett would both have enjoyed this film.
posted by flabdablet at 5:00 AM on May 26, 2022 [11 favorites]


I was so distracted by that, flabdablet.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:06 AM on May 26, 2022 [2 favorites]


This has finally had a release in the uk, so I got to check it out. I loved this film! The combination of incredible invention and wit in exploring the concept to its fullest, and the decision to ground the whole thing in a family drama playing across the multiverse is just perfection.

I do think this may be my new favourite movie. I mean, just to pick one of many incredible moments, the reveal of the "racacoonie" chef after the set up earlier is honestly one of the best jokes Ive seen in a film in a long time.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 11:19 PM on May 26, 2022 [10 favorites]


I rewatched this movie this evening, and I still think it has at least one epiphany/climax too many, but I was able to pay more attention to Ke Huy Quan this time through, and, gosh, he was good. Wonderful subtle work.
posted by praemunire at 11:47 PM on May 28, 2022 [1 favorite]


The movie is amazing and I want to watch it again.

Everything Everywhere All At Once directors are glad to talk about 'Big Nose' controversy -- I'm not seeing this mentioned in the comments so far and it feels like an important thing to recognize.
posted by curious nu at 9:11 AM on May 30, 2022 [12 favorites]


I was in fact bothered by the Big Nose thing, and I'm glad to see that article discussing it.
posted by suelac at 10:58 AM on May 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


Thanks for sharing that article about the Big Nose situation. I was going to recommend the movie to a Jewish friend, but I was oblivious to what Big Nose implies because I've only heard it used as a joke by Asian-Australian kids many years ago. At least now I can give my friend a heads-up about it!
posted by harriet vane at 6:24 AM on May 31, 2022


It's releasing on streaming tonight! At 9pm Eastern / 6pm Pacific, it's in the A24 Screening Room (tweet), with some ambiguous special pre and after show stuff. That's $20, same as in town the pre-order.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:02 AM on June 6, 2022


Grabbed this on the US iTunes Store because I’m in Japan (no release at all!) and iTunes doesn’t do any IP checking when you switch stores. You guys… turns out, this movie… it’s pretty good actually
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:33 PM on June 11, 2022 [4 favorites]


What a fun and surprising movie. Sometimes it felt cartoonish in the best possible sense, just capturing the pure absurdity and novelty and energy, utterly free of constraint. The next moment could be anything at all. If someone told me they didn't like this, I'd want to ask them, do you actually like movies?

I didn't love the family focus, but I did love the nihilism discussion. I don't think the movie comes to any too-simple conclusion about things.

I'm a crouton petter at heart, so it's not really an accomplishment to get me to cry at one rock trying to move towards another rock. Points for actually doing it though.

Agree with what a lot of people say above, but triplie underlining any praise for Yeoh's acting.
posted by fleacircus at 11:46 PM on June 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


Just occurred to me that Evelyn needing to tell Deidre that she loves her to verse jump isn’t just a weird enough thing to knock her out of her current routine, but also serves as foreshadowing for the hot dog fingers timeline
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:40 PM on June 12, 2022 [10 favorites]


What a bold choice, to have a movie where almost all the action takes place during a single meeting in an IRS office .

...

I loved it.
posted by meese at 10:28 PM on June 19, 2022 [2 favorites]




Racacoonie is one of my favourite parts of this film, but let's be real: the entire film is my favourite part of the film.
posted by invokeuse at 10:56 AM on June 20, 2022 [3 favorites]


Oops, I just ran across a draft comment I never posted!

I’ve loved Daniels, the directors, since Swiss Army Man, a movie that, uh, fart comedy then fart drama, maybe?
posted by Pronoiac at 1:12 AM on June 22, 2022 [1 favorite]


Finally watched this last night. I've managed to avoid spoilers all this time so, other than the trailer, I had no real idea what to expect.

During the sequence where Jobu is bringing Evelyn to the bagel and explaining things, I had to pause and excitedly tell my girlfriend about an old Larry Niven story, "All the Myriad Ways", about traveling the multiverse of choices and how knowing that every decision ever made is made every possible way somewhere affects people. Jobu's nihilism, coming from a place of knowing everything in every universe, really felt as if it had come from that story.

I loved watching every second of this movie. Michelle Yeoh's ability to move is transcendent. Ke Huy Quan, seamlessly and beautifully transitioning from character to character, is a joy to watch. And Stephanie Hsu pulled out SO MUCH emotion to display for us, it was dizzying. The cinematography was stunning and, yes, the rock scene made both of us cry.

There is so much going on in all the small details, and I can't wait to rewatch it and find more.
posted by hanov3r at 7:59 AM on June 24, 2022


Edgar Wright interviewed Daniels, the directors, for Sight and Sound, the BFI (British Film Institute) magazine.

> The director of Last Night in Soho and longtime Daniels admirer Edgar Wright sits down with the filmmakers to talk maximalist cinema, the creative benefits of impostor syndrome and ADHD – and their exhilarating Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Lots of interesting quotes from everyone.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:52 AM on June 28, 2022 [6 favorites]


I cried when Kwan said Wright's films inspired them. Lovely.
posted by brainwane at 11:29 AM on June 28, 2022 [2 favorites]




Ridiculous!!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:23 AM on July 9, 2022




The film's now out on DVD and Blu-Ray, and in the US is available for streaming purchase or rental on many platforms.
posted by brainwane at 1:57 PM on July 11, 2022


So, copies of “A Vast, Pointless Gyration of Radioactive Rocks and Gas in Which You Happen to Occur” appear to be sold out on the a24 web store.

I’d very much like to read it (having just seen the movie, and adoring Ted Chiang). Any idea how one could get a copy?
posted by nat at 2:11 AM on July 13, 2022


About the book: I'm in a similar situation. There's one on eBay for $250.

Secondhand word is that A24 will restock; I've emailed A24 about that and ebooks. I've signed up for notifications at the A24 shop, Thriftbooks, and eBay.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:16 AM on July 13, 2022


Writing that made me think "oh, maybe I should look for a more specific email address," and that garnered a very quick response:
We'll be doing a restock of that item in the Fall. We do not have plans to do an ebook at this time.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:46 AM on July 13, 2022 [1 favorite]


Daniels' short tweet thread
we’ve heard from many people, especially children of immigrants, who wish they could share the film with their parents, but aren’t sure how to start the conversation

So in honor of our film being available to watch at home, we asked the incredible Walter Chaw @mangiotto to help craft a simple message to help prepare your parents for the wild ride that is our film and place it in a context that might make more sense to them.
Click through to see the images. It amounts to an artist's statement about the meaning of the film, particularly about children of immigrant parents.
posted by Nelson at 12:29 PM on July 14, 2022 [10 favorites]


That Twitter thread is beautiful!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:04 AM on July 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


it's morbin raccacoonie time

tweet by DANIELS
Back in 800 U.S. theaters next weekend!

It’s pretty fun in a theater.

Just be clear: it’s the same movie. Same edit.

But if you stay through the credits y’all get some good old fashioned bloopers and outtakes like a classic Hong Kong flick.
posted by i used to be someone else at 8:12 AM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]


HOLY
FUCKING
SHIT
THAT
WAS
AWESOME

I
WAS
HOOTING
LIKE
AN
OWL
ON
METH
posted by lalochezia at 6:33 PM on July 24, 2022 [16 favorites]


The book's available for pre-order again, expected to ship in September.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:38 AM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]


I have read every review, every essay I can find, every comment here, tumblr posts and tweets and and and I still don't have words for this film.
posted by tzikeh at 7:29 PM on July 29, 2022 [3 favorites]


The Blu-ray has commentary from the Daniels as well as outtakes. I haven't bought a DVD in... I can't even remember the last time I bought a DVD, but I'm buying this one.
posted by tzikeh at 7:39 PM on July 29, 2022


It’s also available on Delta Airlines.
posted by carmicha at 9:55 PM on July 31, 2022 [1 favorite]


I don't know if I'd watch it on a plane, but that's because I try to avoid crying in public
posted by JDHarper at 1:59 PM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Still watching but Chekhov's Pizza Pizza sign twirler is getting me rofl
posted by mephisjo at 8:45 PM on August 14, 2022


POEE proposes the countergame of NONSENSE AS SALVATION. Salvation from an ugly and barbarous existence that is the result of taking order so seriously and so seriously fearing contrary orders and disorder, that GAMES are taken as more important than LIFE; rather than taking LIFE AS THE ART OF PLAYING GAMES.

If you can master nonsense as well as you have already learned to master sense, then each will expose the other for what it is: absurdity. From that moment of illumination, a man begins to be free regardless of his surroundings. He becomes free to play order games and change them at will. He becomes free to play disorder games just for the hell of it. He becomes free to play neither or both. And as the master of his own games, he plays without fear, and therefore without frustration, and therefore with good will in his soul and love in his being.

- Principia Discordia (1963)
posted by churl at 1:11 AM on August 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


The "do something incredibly unlikely to charge up the mechanism to connect to an alternate you" tool is (a) SUCH A COOL METAPHOR for how we need to get out of our ruts to take the first step to changing identity and building capability, and (b) even better than the Infinite Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide because it's an active choice a character can make.

As an anime fan, my immediate connection was to the contract remunerations of Darker Than Black: supernatural powers come at a weird and unsettling cost. Obviously the two shows are tonally different and it doesn't make any thematic point regarding those remunerations. But the paper cut scene was like a comedic version of the series' opener Louis who pays for using his antigravity powers by breaking his own fingers. Darker also features a number of other remunerations, but they're all mundane compared to doing a pantsless somersault into an assplant on Chekhov's butt plug.
posted by pwnguin at 1:40 AM on August 28, 2022 [1 favorite]




In the UK at least this is now on Amazon Prime Video.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:46 AM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


I’ve been at DragonCon this holiday weekend, happy to report that there have been a bunch of people doing Everything Everywhere All At Once cosplay — Jamie Lee Curtis’ character the most (regular and hot-dog-fingered), but some Racoonie guys and the mother-daughter-rocks and Waymond & Joy too. There was a fan discussion panel, but the room filled to capacity before I made it inside.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:49 AM on September 5, 2022 [9 favorites]


a box and a stick and a string and a bear: "If you haven’t seen the Turn Down For What music video, you’re in for a heck of a treat."

I'm sure those of you familiar with this music video noticed, but in case you didn't: Sunita Mani who plays the female lead in Turn Down For What has a small role as the Queen in the TV musical.
posted by komara at 6:43 PM on September 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


Finally got my DragonCon photos uploaded to Flickr -- here are the Everything Everywhere All At Once shots: link.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:24 AM on September 17, 2022 [14 favorites]


Great photos of some excellent costumes, thanks for sharing and hope you had fun!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:07 PM on September 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Jamie Lee Curtis's pot belly was not a prosthetic: "I said I would not suck my stomach in for the entire movie, I'm a 64 year-old woman."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:13 AM on October 18, 2022 [16 favorites]


A nice interview with Ke Huy Quan in today's Guardian.
posted by Coaticass at 1:12 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


The series American Born Chinese is mentioned as an upcoming reunion for Ke and Michelle Yeoh in the (great) interview, I saw a trailer for it, and am looking forward to it!
posted by ellieBOA at 6:41 AM on November 14, 2022


I just watched Swiss Army Man and went to read the Fanfare discussion, and this comment by mediareport about SAM's ending was too good not to share:

"...as if the writers knew they had to end it but wanted everything both ways, or all the ways at once, or something"
posted by Rora at 11:49 AM on November 27, 2022 [3 favorites]


This movie is everything The Matrix Resurrections should’ve been

Title: Every Matrix, Everywhere, All Resurrected

It's 25-odd-years after the events of Revolutions. The uneasy truce between the humans and machines has persisted, and in the interim, the technology running the Matrix has improved. Via a combination of branch-prediction, speculative execution, and AI modeling, the Matrix can run multiple possible futures ahead of time efficiently in parallel, to avoid the kinds of visual glitches (like rippling buildings and pavements) that occur when people suddenly take unexpected actions and the simulation can't keep up. This has, in essence, created a sort of Matrix MultiVerse (MMV).

Neo and Trinity awaken in the MMV what seems to them mere moments after their respective deaths in the real world, having been resurrected by the machines. Morpheus (later revealed to be an AI simulation) informs them that their daughter (bred from their genetic material collected posthumously), has, through a combination of extreme intelligence and resentment for having being abandoned by her parents, figured out how to manipulate the MMV, choosing the best outcome from all universes and appearing all-powerful to those who are stuck in one universe. This universe-hopping has caused her to become a nihilist, and she wishes to bring the MMV into an invalid state, forcing a hard reset and killing all humans and machines that happen to be connected.

The reality-bending combat skills of Neo and Trinity are no match for their daughter, and even gaining rudimentary universe-jumping skill is to no avail. The pair realize that they must use their new-found abilities to kill their daughter with kindness, and show her that life can have meaning even in a multiverse where anything is possible.
posted by The genius who rejected Anno's budget proposal. at 7:39 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]


Song Exploder (podcast) Episode 245: Son Lux (feat. Mitski & David Byrne), discussing the song “This is a Life” (the end credits song for Everything Everywhere All at Once).
For this episode, I spoke to Ryan Lott from Son Lux, as well as the Daniels. Ryan tells the story of how the song was created, with his bandmates and Mitski and David Byrne and Daniels all adding to it and shaping it.
I enjoyed the moment when Lott said he received the script to read, and the plot/setting jumped around so much that he initially thought perhaps the PDF he'd gotten was broken.
posted by brainwane at 8:33 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]


Just had second watch, this time on BluRay. Did I imagine it that on the big screen in the office kitchen fight scene with Jenny Slate, the (very fake) small dog ended up in the microwave rather than in the fridge? 'Cos it was the fridge on the BluRay.
posted by scruss at 6:51 PM on January 22, 2023


I've only seen the blu-ray and a quick review suggests there's not even a microwave in the kitchenette, and it makes sense that it flows into chugging a 2 liter from the fridge whereas IDK what a microwave would lead to.
posted by pwnguin at 7:04 PM on January 22, 2023


The little (fake) dog went into the fridge on the big screen too.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:28 AM on January 23, 2023


chalk one up to my nonexistent memory, thanks!
posted by scruss at 7:26 AM on January 23, 2023


If you haven’t seen the Turn Down For What music video, you’re in for a heck of a treat.

Reportedly, during an early meeting or rehearsal or whatever, Jamie Lee Curtis confessed to Dan Kwan that "I'm having a really hard time trying not to think about your penis whenever I look at you."

i love literally everything about this movie, that is all
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:38 PM on January 23, 2023


By the way, I donated copies of the Vast, Pointless Gyration of Radioactive Rocks and Gas in Which You Happen to Occur coffee table book and the Tax Season Zine to the Internet Archive. They couldn't say when they'd be scanned - or if, they're fighting a lawsuit about that - but they should end up readable in their library at some point.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:35 PM on January 23, 2023 [2 favorites]


I might note that I liked the artbook and zine less than the movie, but then, I looooved the movie.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2023


Yo this film cleaned up with the Oscar nominations this year!

* Everyone knew that Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Kwan were pretty much shoe-ins for their performances.

* It was a little more of a toss-up about Best Supporting for Jamie Lee Curtis, but she got the nomination. And - so did Stephanie Hsu.

* It got a lot of technical stuff like Costume Design, Score, Screenplay, Original Song, and Editing.

* The Daniels are nominated for Best Director.

* It's up for Best Picture.

...I notice that the only acting nomination it didn't get was for Best Actor, which is convenient since that should be going to Brendan Fraser for The Whale and so now I'm crossing my fingers for a Fraser/Kwan/Curtis/Yeoh mashup at the top here.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:01 AM on January 24, 2023 [6 favorites]


Oh no one of them will have to lose Supporting Actress! I'm guessing Curtis is more likely to get the Supporting Oscar just from folks voting it as a career achievement award. Hsu was magnificent, though.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:10 AM on January 24, 2023


The Oscars do sometimes allow for ties for an award....

My own current personal Oscar fantasy involves all the EEAAO actor nominees winning along with Brendan Fraser as Best Actor for The Whale, and then when they all get to the press pool afterward it turns into this massive five-way group hug and party with Brendan and Ke hugging each other and crying their eyes out and reminiscing about Encino Man and then Michelle hugs him too and they reminisce about The Mummy Dragon Emperor, and then Jamie Lee Curtis glomps on to them whooping in delight and then she grabs Stephanie Hsu and the others all glomp onto them as well, and no one is able to speak for a good five minutes because they're crying and laughing and whooping and cheering and hugging.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:48 AM on January 24, 2023 [4 favorites]


I am not sure if Jamie Lee Curtis is gonna get the Supporting Actress Oscar, since Angela Bassett is in this category and is also due for a career achievement award too. Either way, phenomenal that they both got nominated!
posted by yueliang at 11:19 AM on January 24, 2023 [1 favorite]


I've long had a theory that Oscars often don't go to the Best xxxx in whatever category, they go to The Most xxx. Like, costume design is important and there are plenty of realistic modern movies where very specific choices in costume illuminate characters and serve the story and create a sense of place and time, but they're always very subtle choices. And the Oscar always goes to a movie that has The Most Costume Design; some grand period piece or whatever. And a ton of detailed costume work goes unnoticed.

Anyways, my hope is that this trend goes the right way for once, because if ever there was a film that deserved to win an Oscar as The Most Picture, it's this one, which is just The Most Movie crammed in possible. It may be The Best Picture, but it's definitely The Most Picture.
posted by Superilla at 5:55 PM on January 24, 2023 [7 favorites]


Okay, I finally just got this off ITunes. Can someone explain to me how I paid $20 for the movie and downloaded the newest version of iTunes, yet I can't access the extras because it wants me to HD purchase? Because (a) thought I had, (b) don't see the option to?

Anyway, this is a very interesting movie that I'm going to have to go look everything everywhere all at once about now, lol.

I think the rock conversation might be my favorite thing, I took pictures of it off my screen. "God! Please. We're all stupid! Small, stupid humans. It's like our whole deal."

I'm already working on my 2023 Halloween costume but am now considering the pink hair Elvis outfit for 2024, hahahahah.

I have no idea how you'd write this movie. NO clue. Feel free to pass me any and all explanatory links you find, as I'll be working my way through the thread tomorrow.

I feel like the Evelyn who's a complete loser, so can I get all her powers?

Waymond is sweet and I really like Alpha Waymond and his fanny pack.

I sorta wish I could show this to my mom for the mom/daughter issues, but she does not do sci-fi and would not get that AT ALL.

I was all, "Are those butt plug awards?" (why yes, yes they are) and "Would a movie let a lady that frumpy do flying through the air action scenes?" and "WAIT THAT'S JAMIE LEE CURTIS?!?!"

Raccoontouie!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:42 PM on January 25, 2023 [1 favorite]


Jed Hartman on Mastodon:
> ... there’s a scene that shows a whole lot of Evelyns in quick succession. Someone has taken stills of all those Evelyns and posted them.
> (The title of the post says “Every version of Evelyn,” but I think it really just means every version in that particular sequence.)
posted by Pronoiac at 11:08 PM on January 25, 2023 [6 favorites]


I sorta wish I could show this to my mom for the mom/daughter issues, but she does not do sci-fi and would not get that AT ALL.

I thought the same way about my own mom, but I gave it a go anyway - I told her a little bit about it, with a very brief explanation of the whole modal reality theory as well; the idea I'd had was that I'd just seed some interest and then we'd all watch with Dad when I was visiting for Thanksgiving. But the idea intrigued her so much that she and Dad watched a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and she LOVED it. She admitted that the sci-fi stuff was momentarily confusing, but that the film did a good job of explaining things as it went along.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:13 AM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


I seriously thought "maybe just show her the one scene outside the laundromat at the end," that might do it.

I did have a thought that maybe Evelyn didn't want to out Joy to Gong Gong because Gong Gong had previously disowned her for marrying Waymond, and she suspected he might do the same to Joy. That's a reasonable fear, right there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:16 AM on January 26, 2023


Have we mentioned that EEAAO is back in theaters tomorrow?
posted by hanov3r at 2:08 PM on January 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


Oooh, I was considering doing that, but it looks like I'm busy at every single time offered in theaters (either doing a show or at work), darn it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:26 PM on January 26, 2023


Saw this finally, wonderful film.

I think the rock conversation might be my favorite thing


Same. It felt like a live action Jon Klassen book, which was absolutely not something I expected, though the unexpected (not random, which is terribly uninteresting) is a big part of the film’s whole thing, obviously.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:28 AM on January 29, 2023


I tried watching this today (it's streaming on Prime in the UK) and made it through just over an hour before giving up. I had no effing clue what was going on, I couldn't get invested in any of the wholly unlikeable characters, it was just one fight sequence after another, and I stuck with it for as long as I did because it of all its nominations.

As a 63-yr-old woman who last saw a superhero film in the days when Christopher Reeve was Superman, I am probably not the target audience. But I can honestly say I thought it was one of the worst films I've ever tried to watch and I really don't understand all the Oscar hype.
posted by essexjan at 3:05 PM on February 11, 2023 [1 favorite]


Now you kids get off my lawn.
posted by essexjan at 3:24 PM on February 11, 2023


Essexjan- ordinarily I would let things be because this is a matter of taste, except that you stopped watching at PRECISELY the moment before things start to get explained more and they start to introduce the emotional angle that wins everyone over.

If you want to give it another go, or have questions about WTF is going on before trying again, hit me up, I am perfectly serious.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:57 PM on February 11, 2023 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the offer, EmpressCallipygos, but I hated what I saw of this film so much that I couldn't bear the thought of wasting any more of my life on it.
posted by essexjan at 8:38 AM on February 12, 2023


Fair enough!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:00 AM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]


The Oral History of Raccacoonie, the Most Beloved Universe in Everything Everywhere All At Once [Inverse]
posted by ellieBOA at 1:48 PM on February 15, 2023 [5 favorites]


A24 is auctioning off props tomorrow to benefit the Laundry Workers Center, Transgender Law Center, and Asian Mental Health Project.
posted by Pronoiac at 4:49 PM on February 22, 2023 [2 favorites]


I am honestly shocked that the Auditor of the Month Trophy (the buttplug) is not selling for more. Current bid is $14000.
posted by rmd1023 at 1:25 PM on February 25, 2023 [3 favorites]


Final prices are up on the auction site. The buttplug sold for $60k
posted by rmd1023 at 6:14 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]


Final prices are up on the auction site. The buttplug sold for $60k

And the only thing that went for more was Raccacoonie at 90k! Everything else went for a lot less.
posted by ellieBOA at 5:44 AM on March 4, 2023


I wonder if Raccacoonie and the buttplug was bought by the same person.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:18 AM on March 4, 2023


"I don't know what you've got planned for tonight, but I want no part of it."
posted by Mogur at 8:49 AM on March 4, 2023 [9 favorites]


An Appreciation of Everything Everywhere All At Once on SF fansite File770.
posted by Coaticass at 10:53 PM on March 5, 2023


^^ so good!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:03 PM on March 6, 2023


It looks like the auction raised over half a mil.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:24 AM on March 9, 2023 [1 favorite]


Opinion: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ saved my relationship with my mom [LA Times]
posted by ellieBOA at 8:51 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]


I used the Oscar wins as a way to convince my wife to watch it. She laughed a lot during it but afterwards said it was the weirdest movie she'd ever seen. I'd watched it in the summer on an airplane and it seems like there were extra scenes when I saw it last night but it's also possible that I briefly fell asleep when I saw it on the plane.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:13 PM on March 15, 2023




I saw this last night on the big screen. I had watched it in December on an inflight tiny screen while sleeping intermittently and so last night's post-Oscar viewing was really the first time. It's great. Everybody's great in it and it really pulls a Marvel-esque universe into something for everyone.

One thing I think I spotted was Stephanie Hsu's character, in the fight scene in the woods, at the start of it when she is pulling her sword out of the infinity of other things it could be, and those things are flashing through her hands, I am pretty goddamn certain that one of the things is an Oscar statuette. Or did I just project that?

Aha, I see that I didn't!
posted by chavenet at 4:36 AM on March 18, 2023 [6 favorites]


Finally saw it. So good! Interlocking fingers to peek through and see the Bagel was major vagina symbolism. Can’t wait to rewatch.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:56 PM on March 25, 2023


It was the first time a movie with a queer woman main character won Best Picture at the Oscars! [source Autostraddle]
posted by ellieBOA at 5:56 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]


Essexjan, I wish I could plus 1 your comment more. I tried watching it last year, got about 1/3 through, and I don't give a fuck.

But everyone raves about the movie so I gave it another go today, got about 2/3 through, and I'm still not giving a fuck. How long is this fucking movie?

It seems so far way too clever and gimmicky and cute. The performances are good. I absolutely love the idea of pairing James Hong, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and Jamie lee Curtis. But I have no idea what it's about, and there's nothing making me care. It's silly and humorous, but I'm not laughing. It's full of crazy action, slow motion bullshit, and I really don't give a fuck about crap like that.

FWIW, I've never seen The Matrix (or any sequel), which seems to get compared to this. I've never heard a discussion about those movies that made them seem appealing to me, so maybe that was a warning. I think it compares somewhat with Slaughterhouse 5. If that had been done as a Marvel superhero picture.

I don't think a big screen viewing will save his one for me. Maybe in another few months I'll gather the patience to sit through it whole. And maybe I'll be wowed by what's been eluding me so far. But as of now, this is easily the most overrated movie of the last few years. As far as I'm concerned, this is A24's biggest pull-the-wool-over-your-eyes stunt they've pulled yet.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:18 PM on April 13, 2023


Thank you 2N2222! I've not seen The Matrix either (tried watching it a few months ago and, nah, not for me). I actually went back and finished Everything Everywhere just to make sure I wasn't deceiving myself and I wasn't. It just didn't say anything to me or lead me to change my mind that this is this year's Emperor's New Clothes.
posted by essexjan at 1:20 AM on April 14, 2023


Calling this the Emperor's New Clothes implies that there's nothing there, and that everybody who thinks there is something there must be faking that just to fit in with the crowd.

I knew nothing about this film on first viewing. It turned up in the list of new offerings at my favourite piracy site, I downloaded it along with two others, watched them all, and this one was absolutely the standout. I've watched maybe twenty movies this year, and EEAAO is still the only one I've felt motivated to sit through more than once. Four viewings so far and there will surely be more.

EEAAO is a romp. It's huge, it's absurd, it plays with genre in ways that are frankly unhinged, and every time I get to the end I do so with a massive grin on the front of my silly head.

You may well not be seeing the fine tailoring that you're accustomed to looking for. The rest of us are just grooving on how gorgeous the Emperor looks in the buff.
posted by flabdablet at 4:10 AM on April 14, 2023 [8 favorites]


Movies aren't for everyone. I had to tell my mom a few times she'd hate this movie because she can't do sci-fi.

We all probably have at least one popular thing we can't stand. I think LOTR is interesting characters but is essentially books/movies about walking and thus are boring, for example, but most people would say I'm an asshole for thinking so.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:38 AM on April 14, 2023 [4 favorites]


So I think EEAAO is pretty fabulous, but there are certainly people (e.g. my dad) I wouldn't recommend it to.

I think it is interesting how it seems pretty polarizing. Some people (me) love it, and some people really dislike it. Maybe just those of us with opinions either way are noisy, and many people feel "blah" but dont' come to say so.
posted by nat at 2:09 PM on April 14, 2023


I don't think a big screen viewing will save his one for me. Maybe in another few months I'll gather the patience to sit through it whole. And maybe I'll be wowed by what's been eluding me so far.

If you made it through "Everything" (aka The First Part) and weren't interested in finishing the movie, I'm not sure you'll find a lot to like. In the film appreciation class I took on it, one of the themes we discussed was how the film reflects internet culture, with memes and Twitter jokes and TikToks and shit posts and all the rest of it. We also discussed that the movie was made by 5 (5!!!) people, which is frankly mind-boggling.

So yeah, it can't be appreciated by everyone but there's a lot of layers to contemplate while you're not liking it.
posted by fiercekitten at 10:57 PM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]


Finally rented this one through Amazon Prime, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My partner on the other hand, was in essexjan and 2N2222's camp. Just too much silliness for him, and he bailed just before the halfway point. If he thought it was silly even before getting to the hot dog fingers and Raccoonie parts, not going to force him to watch the end if it's not his cup of tea. Although I may put the DVD on my Christmas list just to tweak his sensibilities.
posted by weathergal at 10:52 AM on September 22, 2023


Ohhhh, Decoding Everything Everywhere All at Once looks amazing!
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:27 PM on December 21, 2023 [3 favorites]


The Decoding page just says that "the desktop works better for this page, sorry" for me and doesn't load. And I'm looking at it on Desktop. Do I need to do anything weird to get it to load?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:15 PM on December 21, 2023 [1 favorite]


My apologies. Found and posted from a desktop! I am getting the same error on my phone and don’t have a handy workaround.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:29 PM on December 21, 2023


Yes, but I AM using a desktop and still get that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:18 AM on December 22, 2023 [1 favorite]


Argh. Still on phone, so I can’t check, but maybe try linking from this description of the project?
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:10 AM on December 22, 2023


That did it, thanks!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:05 AM on December 22, 2023 [1 favorite]


Just watched this. In two sittings. The bloody penis beating was almost too much for me, but then my husband reminded me of Kung Fu Hustle and it all clicked into place.

Loved it.
posted by Zumbador at 8:48 AM on January 4


Just watched this last night (on the same day that I did my taxes, which was a weird coincidence because all I knew about this movie was 1. Michelle Yeoh 2. having to do chaotic things for some science fiction reason 3. some people on the internet loved it.

Holy shit, I loved it. :D

I managed not to cry until "I'm learning to fight like you do," but I sure laughed a ton :)

If Charlie Jane Anders and Chuck Tingle had a baby, and the baby was a movie, this would be it. I adore the whole experience.

I was kind of thinking "what if The Matrix, except instead of 90s edgy it's The Fifth Element, dialed up to 11"? But YES, this fits too.
posted by Foosnark at 8:47 AM on April 1


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