We’ve had my review of what seems to be my favourite film of this year.
We’ve also had my sibling review of the very same film! So inspired by the feature, they had to write down everything it made them feel. And do you know what’s happened? A friend has written one too.
I was lucky enough to spot an early preview screening for the feature at Academy Cinemas and simply had to usher myself along to it again. And I took a friend! They’d already heard a lot about it, and it’s always nice to have company when you think you’re probably going to bawl your eyes out again (I did). We further digested the film as I dropped them off before I headed home myself.
Once I got there and started doing my social media checks because smart phones and social media has ruined us all, I saw they had done a short review on their Instagram story. And much like my siblings review, it is even more succinct and far superior to mine. So here’s another review of Everything Everywhere All At Once:
So I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once.
For all of its absurdity and pathos, one errant blink and you could just as easily be in a Sixth Generation Chinese production helmed by the surprisingly haunting Stephanie Hsu. Unapologetically bizarre, it cuts the deepest when it draws inspiration from Michelle Yeoh‘s real life, and when it interrogates the minutiae of your own.
Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis perform so precisely that the unraveling of their characters feels almost like open-heart surgery – just a few of the many necessary but excruciating conclusions that this film forces you to arrive at.
(Directors) Kwan and Scheinert‘s narrative slinks through drama, wuxia, and whimsy before turning excoriating. Caution: Your mileage may vary depending on how difficult your relationship with your parents is.
You’ll definitely laugh. You’ll probably cry. 10 OUT OF 10.
If you’re the firstborn child of a traditional Chinese family, put your therapist on speed dial before watching.
