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The Nextlander Watchcast 038: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
🕑 Added 2023-03-27 19:21:53 +0000 UTCWe close out Michelle Yeoh March by celebrating the film that won her the Oscar in 2022's madcap multiverse action comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. So bust out your butt plugs and chomp down on some chapstick, because it's time to rescue Raccacoonie (and also save the universe).
CHAPTERS:
(00:00:00) - NOTE: Some timecodes may be inaccurate in versions other than the ad-free Patreon version due to dynamic ad insertions. Please use caution if skipping around to avoid spoilers. Thanks for listening.
(00:00:51) - Intro.
(00:05:48) - Talking about Everything Everywhere All at Once's Oscar run, and the Oscars in general.
(00:13:30) - Who made this crazy movie, and how did it come to be? Also, some discussion of the current fixation on multiverses.
(00:19:21) - Talkin' about our cast.
(00:27:31) - Getting into the film itself.
(00:33:18) - The IRS and the multiverse.
(00:40:58) - Who or what is a Jobu Tupaki?
(00:45:24) - Break!
(00:45:40) - We're back, and picking up the conversation on the film's special effects and what went into creating them.
(00:52:44) - Heaps of praise for Stephanie Hsu's performance.
(00:56:18) - Raccacoonie and Wong Kar-wai.
(01:03:18) - Digging into some of the nuances of Yeoh's performance.
(01:06:09) - Curtis' IRS agent and Hong's Gong Gong.
(01:09:42) - On another subject entirely: dildo fights.
(01:16:22) - The couple of notes that maybe didn't quite land toward the end.
(01:27:40) - The final "battle".
(01:36:13) - Some final thoughts on the movie.
(01:43:27) - Final thoughts on our theme for the month.
(01:46:36) - Unveiling the films for next month's theme: video game movies!
(01:52:22) - Outro.
Comments
Matt M.
Honestly surprised to hear how much praise was lavished on Stephanie Hsu, and later criticism of Jamie Lee Curtis. (and thanks to the freaking Oscars has kind of turned the broader conversation into one actress versus another, which really sucks) I had the privilege of seeing this film before the hype train really came in and, like Brad, had avoided most information about it. Stephanie Hsu was very good but I walked away thinking hers was the weakest performance of the principle cast. She was great in the dramatic parts but flatter in the wacky villain scenes. When I found out that the role was originally intended for Awkwafina I immediately thought "Ohhh, that makes a lot of sense." Even though, ironically, I don't necessarily know that Awkwafina would have been as able to carry the more emotional scenes as the daughter. (Also, kind of funny that Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, and Stephanie Hsu were all in Shang Chi together -- directly preceding the release of Everything Everywhere All At Once) Different opinions and all that, great performances all around, just surprised at the seeming consensus on the podcast when the group I watched the film was more blown away by Jamie Lee Curtis... But in terms of being blown-away we were *especially* shocked by Ke Huy Quan. Unreal that he hadn't been in a movie in decades and he was the heart of that whole thing. Really incredible performance.
Daniel
Also (sorry to keep commenting), because the movie is so dear to me I've looked up a bunch of interviews about it. Essentially the frantic nature of the editing is because (at least) one of the Daniels has very bad ADHD and that lends itself to their editing style. But he also wanted to make the movie like that to give a depiction of how overwhelming ADHD can feel at times, and I think they nailed it.
