W I L D C I N E M A
Note – check out another fantastic review of this film on ViralHare courtesy of Drew Tavares: https://viralhare.com/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-review/
Man, that was something. And it mostly lived up to the hype. I’ll be thinking about this one for some time. It’s got some of the next examples of directing and editing in a long while. Not only is the story inventive, engaging, hilarious and fun – but it’s sincere, deliberate, and emotional. It tackles heavy themes that moved me to tears and really made me think. To the point that I had to take a few hours to process it. Don’t think I’m done doing that, actually.
The performances, score, and writing are all top notch. So is the fight choreography (even if they go overboard on the shutter speed action-y look at times). As much as I want to give it the full 5, I had some small quibbles that keep it from that, at least for now.
It desperately needs subtitles. The first 30 minutes of the movie or so, and some even later – bounces back and forth between Chinese and English quite frequently. So your brain has to keep up, while also processing incredibly heavy accents in the English that can make fast, quippy, and sometimes exposition heavy dialogue tough to absorb fully. The exposition is so quick, in fact, for a few minutes I was a smidge lost (I was admittedly really tired during the showing, too). However, once it really delves into the plot, this lessens but the film throws SO much at you in its frenetic pace that it is exhausting. For better or worse.
It may be a tad too long, as there were a couple points (one intentional) that it felt like it was wrapping up only to keep going. This is more of an observation than a complaint, but it was felt. Not sure what I’d remove other than maybe trimming a bit off the front end.
Lastly, while I appreciate the breadth of themes it explores, some are very modern, cliche tropes that have been beaten to death in recent years at this point. The worldly ideology is readily apparent in the philosophy of many of the character decisions and motivations – ones that are encountered often as a Christian cinephile. That being said, the major message I can get behind.
I could see this being more rewarding, each and every time on a rewatch. So good to see Short around again too. What a beast!
UPDATE: As of 11/24/22, I have rewatched this film. And more rewarding it was indeed. This experience I had with my wife watching it, I will never forget. So glad we saw it together this time. Subtitles were a help, everything clicked, and the overall themes were clearer than ever. I do still think some of the messaging leans heavily into 2022isms, but that hard hitting thematic overtone is moving. I echo all the above thoughts, but almost all of my problems were reduced to quibbles. Previously at 4.5 stars, so this is getting bumped up. Where it should’ve been all along.
5 out of 5 stars
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