Everything Everywhere All at Once

Shred

Ah cool, I'll get a look at it over the weekend so!

gandalf

Well that was one hell of a watch. Excellent film and in some places very out there. I'll never be able to look at hotdogs in the same way!

yerwanthere123

Think I'm the sole person on the thread so far who didn't like this 🫣 Thought it was a bloated, confusing mess in all honesty and I couldn't wait for it to end. Maybe a Thursday night when I was already quite tired wasn't the best time to settle into the film, but it really wasn't for me.

Glebee

Trying to watch this at the moment, not a clue whats going on and what all the hype is about. Completely over my head anyway.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305322#Comment_120305322

Stay with it. I didn't get it for the first half, maybe even more, but in the end I thought it was absolutely brilliant

Glebee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120305517#Comment_120305517

Got to the end, not a clue what that was all about.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311034#Comment_120311034

Ha ha, sorry!

I'm still not entirely sure I know what it was about, but I loved it all the same

pixelburp

I mean, if you want to strip it down to basics: it was about a Mother and daughter struggling to connect; an immigrant parent, sacrificing her own happiness to fulfil her sense of "duty" to family, all the while struggling to understand why or how her child mightn't share this path.

The butt plugs and martial arts were just a fun & incredibly bananas facade to something fundamentally human and relatable. Which is what great film and comedy does: presents something ostensibly silly, insane even, but underneath there's heartbreak and tragedy at a human level. But also love and empathy, if we just learn to open ourselves up to that possibility.

And the fact it cost under $25 million, yet still had such fantastic visual flair, set-pieces and martial arts fights, puts the vast majority of Hollywood Blockbusters to shame.

JP Liz V1

The big winner at the Spirit Awards

The DayDream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120315365#Comment_120315365

Long odds on to take best picture, best director(s) and supporting actor at the Oscars according to Paddy Power. Blanchett and Yeoh are neck and neck on the best actress odds, I might take a punt on Yeoh, Cate won the BAFTA but with the Oscars making a big push to be diverse recently I say she has a great chance.

I admit I watched the 1st 1/3 or half and couldn't get into it at all. And I have loved everything A24 has done! I'll have to give it another go.

YourBoyCaesar

What a masterpiece of a film

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120315378#Comment_120315378

The first half does a lot of the heavy lifting with regards to setting up the whole multiverse side of things and the overall premise of the film, and can kind of drag a bit in places, but it's definitely the second half of the film where it all comes together and there's more focus on the personal story of the characters. Ultimately there's no real need to try to follow the rules or premise of the multiverse. Just enjoy the craziness and comedy of the first half, then enjoy the second half is where the film gets truly special.

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120316115#Comment_120316115

The Academy thought so too, 7 Oscar wins including best film

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119711589#Comment_119711589

Am I so out of touch? No. It's the Academy who are wrong.

Glebee

I did not like it either, no idea what was happening in it.

Lefty2Guns

Where can you watch this film?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120352329#Comment_120352329

It's on Amazon UK/IE at the moment.

Lefty2Guns

Thanks. I'll have a look at it during the week.

Anyother of the Oscar winner films on Amazon/Netflix do you know?

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120352766#Comment_120352766

All Quiet On The Western Front is on Netflix

https://www.justwatch.com/ie is a handy website, you can search for any film or series and it'll tell you what it's on

Greyfox

Watched this last night and found the film to be an utter mess, had to give up half way through it.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120353003#Comment_120353003

It's not a film you can judge at the halfway point, I really believe that

I love it. It's not perfect (I don't think it needs the hotdog fingers or buttplugs 🤣) but, at its best, it's imaginative, original, joyful, heartfelt

I don't think it deserved 7 Oscars, that is a sign of a weak year to me, but I'm delighted it won them all the same

johnny_ultimate

There are very few films that can be judged comprehensively based on half the film, but this is definitely one that is very purposefully wild and disorientating for much of its running time. What allows it to work beyond just being a wacky multiverse action-comedy is how smartly the filmmakers pull everything together to offer up a coherent, charming and often moving family drama amid the wild multiverse goings on.

As I said in my original post for the film, I do have my reservations around the film. But it's one of the more refreshing Oscar winners of recent times - it would have been inconceivable not so long ago that a film this unusual would've won awards like this. A world - or indeed, several multiverses - away from your typical 'Oscar bait'.

Greyfox

You certainly can make a judgement at the halfway point, a film should not be confusing at that point

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120353084#Comment_120353084

Wouldn't that then discount a great number of Mystery and Whodunnits though; whose entire premise is built on confusion, then surprise? Manys a film is intentionally baffling til the final act and the pieces put into place.

Celmullet

This one wasn't for me. I love an absurdist film but thought this was bloated, it didn't make me care about the characters.

johnny_ultimate

Call me old fashioned, but I do think watching a film through is the bare minimum engagement to have much of a response to it. If you turn it off midway through, fair enough, that's your right - but you basically surrender your ability to have much of a take on the film as a whole as a result.

TBH, I don't think the film is that confusing. Yes, it's disorientating at times, particularly in its first half - but that largely reflects Evelyn's confusion at being thrown into this new, wild reality. What's made the film go the distance with audiences I think is that the core themes of the film are very straightforward and relatable - it is quite a big-hearted, sentimental film about family underneath all the alternate universes and butt-plug kung-fu shenanigans.

Penn

I think the issue is in trying to follow the logic of the multiverse etc, when it's actually entirely irrelevant. The second half of the movie shows that it's really the personal story of Evelyn's relationships and even of her own self-worth and the multiverse stuff is just a delivery service of that but amped up to the nth degree. It's designed to not really make sense or be important, and it's resolved through the personal relationships of the characters rather than any kind of solution.

The movie throws so much strange stuff at you in the first half that it can be hard to follow, and even on rewatches I've kinda tuned out for sections of it (because I know what it's leading to), but the second half is just so good that it makes it all worth it imo.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120353338#Comment_120353338

But then you could watch a different film, if this film was badly written or the acting was terrible then 45 mins would be plenty of time to conclude that it's a poor film.

jeremyr62

Couldn't finish it. I am amazed it has won what it has. I didn't like The Whale either, but at least I could watch that to the end.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120353084#Comment_120353084

Oh right so films like The Usual Suspects, Inception or Sixth Sense, to name but a few are all rubbish to you?

mailforkev

I'm going to have to make an effort to re-watch this, I started it on a flight last year but gave up in the first half hour.

I have to go back to 2020 to Parasite for a best picture winner that I had any real love for.

I turned it off after 35 mins, total rubbish.

I watched it long enough to see Jamie Lee Curtis play a grumpy IRS agent with a performance that would be at home in a Police Academy movie. How that was Oscar worthy I have no clue.

Heraclius

I'm delighted to see this film win so many oscars. It wasn't perfect but overall it was a lovely film to watch. I'm surprised how negative people are towards it.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354301#Comment_120354301

...how negative people who didn't watch it all are towards it 😉

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354217#Comment_120354217

Well you hadn't seen all of her performance so it's hard to take your criticism seriously.

I don't often agree with the Oscars, but in general rubbish films don't get nominated and certainly don't sweep the boards like this did so maybe , just maybe your 35 minute opinion is wrong.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354034#Comment_120354034

And where did I say that? All 3 of those films are brilliant, the difference is those 3 films have an excellent and engaging first hour with great acting, EEAAO has a weak first hour.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354532#Comment_120354532

I saw 5 minutes of Jamie Lee Curtis put in a standard/forgettable comedic performance sitting at a desk in the IRS building.

Are you saying she turns in a drastically better performance later in the movie? If so tell me the timestamp and by all means i'll check it.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354601#Comment_120354601

Timestamp? Grow up and watch the movie, or don't. but don't be criticising when you barely saw a quarter of it.

Ficheall

I watched all of it. Regretted not turning it off half-way through.

Giving up on a film (etc) half-way through is perfectly reasonable.

It struck me as a good kid's film, but with too many tedious fight scenes for my liking.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354623#Comment_120354623

Giving up on a film halfway is perfectly reasonable, your time is your own and not liking what you've seen is fine

But watching half and saying it's not a good film, and arguing with people who watched it all, and say it all comes together in the end, is ridiculous

(Not aiming that at you, of course. You watched it all, so I respect your opinion)

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354601#Comment_120354601

Funny enough, yes - the meat of that particular performance is very much later in the film. I don’t even think it’s a particularly awards-worthy performance, (other than as an acknowledgement of JLC’s long and excellent career) especially within the context of this film and its other excellent performances . But you really haven’t seen the substance of that performance if you’ve only watched the first hour.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354611#Comment_120354611

I have never seen a movie that bored me for 35 minutes and then became amazing subsequently.

If the first few bites of a steak taste horrible would you insist I eat it all before passing judgement?

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354679#Comment_120354679

Depends if it was cooked on a stone or not. The first bite might not resemble what the last bite would be like.

ie, the film makes many departures after 30 minutes. No one will take your criticism seriously having watched less than a quarter of it.

joe40

I enjoyed the film reasonably well, but certainly didn't think it was great.

It was definitely overly long in parts and got a bit tedious.

I didn't mind the whacky storyline, but for me certainly not worthy 7 Oscars. Best actress yes, but not best movie.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354679#Comment_120354679

You’re literally judging an actors performance based on about 3 minutes of partial screen time at the time you dropped out… like, what’s the point in that?

if you were entirely unengaged after the first 35 minutes, then it’s probably just not for you. That’s fine, different people get different things out of movies (and all art). It’s enough time for someone to say ‘nah, don’t fancy this’… but probably not enough to actually offer meaningful critique of the movie.

(the steak thing is a weird analogy… it would be more accurate to say you tried and didn’t like the steak, and therefore just assume the carrots and potatoes are bad too)

Ficheall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354662#Comment_120354662

All what comes together? It wasn't a particularly complicated plot.

If someone said the ending was crap, and hadn't watched the ending, then fine, that's ridiculous. One doesn't have to finish all three courses of a set menu to decide the menu is not for them, not matter how good the dessert might be. And in this case, the dessert was absolutely not that good.

Penn

It's pretty ridiculous that Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress for this film; Stephanie Hsu definitely gave a better performance imo and would have been a worthy winner. But it's a legacy thing. She won because of her career and so many people in the industry wanting her to win, rather than her performance in EEAAO.

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354757#Comment_120354757

"One doesn't have to finish all three courses of a set menu to decide the menu is not for them"

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354766#Comment_120354766

Absolutely, Stephanie Hsu was brilliant in it. In fact, I'd say she and Ke Huy Quan were the two most deserving of wins for this.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354757#Comment_120354757

Yeah, like someone can decide it's not for them, they just don't get to be judgmental about the food they haven't eaten...

It's a confusing one for me... to decide not to waste one's time on watching the movie, but to then spend time repeatedly complaining about that movie online.