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Everything Everywhere All at Once
Sam Hawksmoor review
Written & Directed by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis
‘Now, you may only see a pile of receipts, but I see a story. I can see where this story is going. And it does not look good. It. Does. Not. Look. Good.’
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Where to begin? If you’re old enough to have been going to the movies in 2000 (that’s a whole 23 years ago) there were two movies that took your breath away. Magnolia and Being John Malkovitch. You came away from the cinema thinking Wow, this is the future of cinema’! They were original, emotional rollercoaster stories. My God, one took place on the seven and half floor of a New York office building with a manic John Cusak and the other had Tom Cruise at peak power channeling incel paranoia about how take power over women. You were thinking that this is the start of something … but instead we got a thousand Marvel movies about people punching each other ad nauseum in EVERY single movie. Cinema died, even Indies movies died. No one seemed to care.
Everything Everywhere starring Michelle Yeoh is that 2000 moment all over again. It’s about the multiverse but don’t compare it to that wasted space that Dr Strange produced, this is the real deal 1000 multiverses movie. It’s as if someone, the writer/directors actually sat down to think about what it all means. All those second chances you could have in other universes all playing out simultaneously – all at once. What the hell would it be like?
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I’m not going to rehash the plot – just know that if you are ever going to be audited by the IRS you really don’t to come face to face with Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis playing the role of her life and rightly nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress). In addition, if you are acquainted with ADHD in any way this is YOUR movie. Pay attention now, you really don’t want to miss anything. |
Everything Everywhere doesn’t have to make sense all the time. I remember I used to watch a whole bunch of Hong Kong movies back in the 80’s in Vancouver and they were hilarious and a lot of fun. That’s what this is. Michelle Yeoh is having a whole lot of fun trying to fulfill her potential in the mulitiverse and just maybe find a way to finally notice her daughter. Go See It! It richly deserves all the Oscar nominations and Michelle should win if there is any justice in this universe. |
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© Sam Hawksmoor May 20th 2022 *amended 1.25.23
Author of The Repossession of Genie Magee
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