Everything Everywhere All at Once

[extrapenguin]

I watched it yesterday and absolutely loved it. I agree with the colleague of mine that said it's best approached completely blind, so if you somehow haven't heard of it yet, I 100% recommend it.

It's a movie about a family who love each other in a realistical fashion and are bad about it in realistic ways. The mother is the POV character. It's also a multi-genre-mixing work with a multiverse that's a teensy bit experimental.

I cried at the everything bagel IRS lobby scene's conclusion. It's just- I love that the movie foregrounded a mother-daughter relationship, and also that it was love and kindness that solved the apocalypse. Evelyn is far from perfect as a mother, wife, and even human being, and also not a villain protagonist; her flaws are common enough and the fact she does actually love her daughter, a lot, makes the ending really heartwarming.

My favorite bits were in the rock world, especially when rock Evelyn got googly eyes and chased after rock Joy, movie star universe Waymond's speech about how he too is a fighter, even if he fights by being kind + his statement "I would've been happy just doing taxes and laundry with you", and the fuck-taxes universe moment when Deirdre the IRS auditor has a moment with Evelyn, bonding over doing dumb shit due to getting divorced, and the transition from her there saying "Us unlovable bitches make the world go 'round" into IRS lobby fight club scene with Evelyn saying "You're not unlovable".

Actually the IRS lobby everything bagel fight club sequence in general. Evelyn's arc of pulling her head out of her ass and stopping the people with kindness, not just kung fu, and then rejecting the family dynamic her parents had with her in favor of not letting Joy go away into the void + introducing Becky as Joy's gf to her dad. Plus the gradual lessening of her contempt at Waymond, first via liking Alpha Waymond and then falling back in love with her own husband. The kiss at the end was sweet, as was the family cohesion there, even after Evelyn stood up to her dad:

I can't, Father. I am no longer willing to do to my daughter what you did to me. How did you let me go? How on earth did you do it so easily?

It's okay if you can't be proud of me, because I finally am. You may see in her all of your greatest fears squeezed into one person. I spent most of her childhood praying she would not end up like me. But she turned out to be stubborn, aimless, a mess. Just like her mother. But now I see, it's okay that she's a mess. Because just like me, the universe gave her someone kind, patient, and forgiving to make up for all she lacks.

Father. This is Becky. She is Joy's girlfriend. Girl. Friend.

But yeah. I cried. I cried at the rocks. I cried at the IRS lobby everything bagel fight scene. I am so glad I watched this movie and its resolution of positive nihilism and kindness.

Comments

[galaxyofroses]

I cried so hard at the rocks. Such a fantastic film and a proper epic with a grounded, human center. And hotdog fingers.

[extrapenguin]

IKR? I read someone point out that as many laughs as there are, they never use humor to undercut the emotions, and yah, that's accurate and a large part of why the movie works.