Filmmaking / Directing : Why is Everything Everywhere All At Once such a hit? by Richard Fitzwilliams

Hey, Richard Fitzwilliams. I haven't seen the movie, but I think people like it so much because it's different/unique.

Richard, I am in agreement with you and it appears that you and I are in the minority on this opinion. I really struggled with the storytelling in each of the acts. I commend the cinematographer and the directors, but I just cannot connect with the film. I’m trying to understand the hype. Maurice I could totally see what you mean, but I was totally lost with the hotdog hands and half of the crazy shit that was in it. I felt like I was on an acid trip without taking acid.

Amanda-I couldn’t connect. Absolutely my experience too. I wasn’t involved. It wasn’t telling a story for me. Or for BAFTA where it only won Editing. Yet it’s won at DGA. As Sam Holdeyn said “Include me out”. Maurice if you don’t feel like seeing it, why go?

It does tap into surrealism and also parallel worlds/time-slips. It has its own kind of structure, and as Maurice points out, it is unique, rather as films like 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' are.

Julia This I totally appreciate. I admit I didn’t go for Eternal Sunshine and totally accept that as we all have our favourites so we all have our flaws in appreciating different films. Fair enough except that compared with All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, Elvis etc why is it better? It’s being rooted for fanatically. It may well win Best Picture though not in London tonight.

Julia - I love Malcovich and Eternal - I thought both were so innovative. You have great parallels with the surrealism. EEAAO didn’t hit the same mark for me. I felt like EEAAO was like a student experimental film. The performance in TAR was stellar and I loved Banshees which was so layered and complex. I liked not loved Elvis (liked more for the performance) and I haven’t seen Western yet so can’t comment. But throw EEAAO up against any of those films and I feel like it’s not even a comparison. Loving this thread, hope we can get more people to discuss. Enjoying the perspectives!

Yes this is the point I was trying to make. Even if I had liked EEAAO, it isn’t a patch on films like Tar which is a masterpiece, All Quiet which is also amazing, Banshees with its fascinating characters, yes Elvis has a truly great central performance, but comparing them as one has to do for Best Picture. It’s a gimmick. Fair enough, say it came off, the multiverse, the two Daniels, but it’s not a poetic work of genius. It’s fans extol it as though it were.

Did you guys see EEAAO won the producers guild awards tonight?

Yes. It seems like the SAGS will be next & then the Oscar’s. It’s made a lot of money, thd first “sci-di” winner etc. it’s a shame.

If I could sum up EEAAO, it would be to compare it to one of those crazy amusement park rides where you are thrown about in a hundred different directions at what feels like a hundred miles an hour. And all you can recall of it in the end is - well - not much at all.

Elvis It surely isn’t Best Picture material. But it’s going to win & win really big at Oscars.

It brings a super complex theory to the layman in a fun and engaging way. It missed the mark for me though. Joy should have disappeared into the bagel. The film drew a perfect metaphor for existential crisis and really went there and then backpedals and ties it all up in a basket of rainbows. Which is rarely anything anywhere, ever.

Yes. Tonight will see it crowned Best Picture. I think it overrated. I just couldn't concentrate on it but that part of the "fun" I guess.

Richard Fitzwilliams oh dear, Richard.

Personally, I would like to see All Quiet… get the best picture Oscar, Michelle Yeoh the Best Actress.

I think what makes a EEAAO a great movie is the way they combine science fiction with a basic story about mother-daughter relationship. Michelle Yeoh's character is so tired about life and here we can see her with an option to see everything in a different way. I love this movie!

Woof. This post aged poorly as of the last hour; Oscar Night.

"Everything Everywhere All At Once" is if Post-Truth and the Fear of Missing Out had a baby. There's never been a film so overwhelming and underwhelming at one and the same time.

Mr Mason the Oscar’s do make mistakes Crash vs Brokeback Mountain. Coda vs Power of the Dog….it was bound to win sci fi, made money diverse & a cult movie.

Yes Michael. I can only be honest “Inclyde me out”.

Will the EEAAO best picture win age as well as A24's last win for Moonlight?

Can you imagine trying to pitch this film as a script? As soon as you get to "multi-verse" you're finished. No? Producers by and large look for emotional content - a multiverse is the absolute last thing they're interested in.

This film was made and won on the strength of its Female-led Asian-American talent and the aura of inclusivity and prestige that diversity brings to a studio. Nothing wrong with that. But let's not kid ourselves. This production checks all the right boxes. Without that diversity of talent and what that brings - this film doesn't get made.

Richard Fitzwilliams “there was no cohesive narrative”. Well, I think that’s the point of a ‘multi-verse’. I watched it in my local cinema, where there were lots of laughs. After about an hour and a quarter though, I wondered where we where and how are they were going to resolve it all. It was a roller-coaster ride and the point of such a ride is to have fun. I have to say that the folks at my local just had fun. You’re not meant -I think- to connect with it in the usual emotional way, but go along for the ride. I did. I enjoyed it, there were some great performances, but did the Earth move? Were my perspectives on life and the Universe challenged? No.

I think this is fair comment. It’s made money. It’s unusual. People are having fun. That’s what we want..It’s unfortunate as I did not connect at all and I think if you are totally immune to it’s appeal, obviously as with any film you feel alien from, you can understand why you cannot wait for it to end. What I think Is a pity is that the likes of Tar & All Quiet on the Western Front we’re passed over but its in fashion.

Michael You are absolutely right and Michelle Yeoh being the first Asian undoubtedly helped in her duel with Cate Blanchett too. That must have been so close as Blanchett is brilliant. Also it’s sci fi, no such film has ever won before. Even Space Odyssey only won for visual effects.

@Michael Arturo - Yup. Diversity huge plus in getting this made. But also being in the A24 club is part of it. Very much an insider's deal.