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shadowkatFinished watching Everything Everywhere All at Once starring Michael Yeoh, and directed/written by Dainel Kwan. It co-stars an unrecognizable Jamie Lee Curtis. [It's now available for rental or purchase on "On Demand", Amazon, and various others.]
The description doesn't quite fit the film. "When an interdimensional rift ruptures reality, a hero must access her newfound powers and set things to rights."
That's not it. I mean it is? But not really? And it is admittedly a very hard film to describe. I amazed it got made, I can just imagine the pitch.
Chidi (coworker) didn't like it, nor did his friends. And I get why. But I ...found it to be surprisingly comforting. It kind of made me feel better?
It is a film that most likely does not work for literal thinkers or anyone who thinks in a concrete matter of fact sort of way. But I don't think like that - I think metaphorically, and in patterns, so it worked for me? I don't know. It just did.
It's a long film. Funny in places, and moving in others. With lots of action and visual jokes, some that are rather crude and phallic in a pseudo-feminist sort of way? But at its heart is a mother/daughter story, about two people who feel very alone and isolated, finding each other somehow.
At any rate - it poses the existential view - "if nothing matters, if we are just specs in a multi-universe, rocks on a cliff, than nothing we do matters - and we should just cease to exist" - then provides the counterpoint, that within all of that are particles of joy, of meaning, of connection. That none of us are truly alone, and there are people who will always love us and care for us. And there are other ways to fight - through kindness. You can let go, but also follow and hold on tight at the same time. And you can feel everything all at once.
At any rate it comforted me. Which was unexpected. I thought it would give me a headache.
***
Mother has informed me that she thinks my father will die this week. My brother has made arrangements to fly up or rather down on Wednesday. But she doesn't want me to come yet. There are reasons for this - unlike my brother, I don't get much time off. I have three weeks of vacation time left, two personnel days, and three bereavement days. She doesn't know when they can have the funeral and she wants me to come at Christmas time (she doesn't want to spend Christmas alone.)
Mother: Your Aunt K said that you might both need to come down to say Goodbye to your father, but I told her that you'd kind of already done that - you at Christmas and your brother in April.
Me: Would he know we were there now?
Mother: I doubt he knows I'm there. He's sleeping mostly and not that cognitive. Also he's on morphine for the pain, we're just trying to keep him comfortable.
Me: Would it help you if I came down too?
Mother: I don't want to tell you not to come - but, I don't need you both, and your brother is calmer emotionally than you are, it's different. Please don't take that...I don't want you to feel bad or guilty about it.
Me: I know. It's okay. It's just the situation.
Mother: Also, I don't know when we can do the funeral...and your brother went through this already with his wife's mother, so..
So.
I really could use a couple of real hugs about now. Tight warm hugs. The type that knocks the wind out of you.
I read an article today that explained why I've been feeling kind of ill the last few weeks. Upset stomach. IBS. Headaches. Fatigue. Hot flashese, more than usual. Low energy. Lack of focus. Irritable.
Apparently ... There are Physical Effect of Grief. I guess this is kind of obvious. But I didn't realize it. Also my Dad's still here so why...but I guess I'm losing him and well, grief.
Many people mistakenly believe that grief is a single emotion, but normal grief is actually a powerful, multifaceted, and often uncontrollable response that human beings experience following a personally painful or traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one.1 Grief can affect us not only emotionally but also physically, mentally, and even spiritually.2
When you are experiencing grief, you may feel it both mentally and physically. During this time, you may experience a variety of physical symptoms that are part of the normal grief response.
Often connected with the disruption to normal eating habits or routines, bereavement can cause temporary digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, a "hollow feeling" in the stomach, queasiness, or feeling nauseated.
Had this the last two weeks now - and was wondering what was wrong with me. Was it the metroformin? Menopause? Nah. Grief. Good to know.
Off to order more CBD, I guess. (I get them via Winged)
Have a horrible headache, combination tension sinus headache. Took a herbal sleep aid. (I can't do anything stronger than herbal. It will make me ill. So Melotonin, Chamomille, Lavender, and L-Thenanine, is about the best I can manage.)
All of which is made worse - by the fact that I've no clue what to do about my family situation next week. This is the main source of my stress - not having a clue what to about anything. I've gotten loads of advice - none of it remotely useful. I feel like I'm being pulled in various directions or everything everywhere all at once. [Do not give me more advice on this subject. Also the decision has been made by my family - that I'm to stay put until further notice.]
***
It was a pretty day today. Did take a brief walk to the fruit and veggie store (digestive track was too troublesome to do more than that) and got ice cream (I know, don't care. It made me feel better. )
Also finished Obi Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus, which I enjoyed but with one caveat. I could not see a good portion of the action sequences, and Obi Wan's reunion with Anakin due to the darkness of the film. It was as if it was all filmed in the same dark caverns as Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Dune and one too many sci-fi films to count. Stop this. I need to be able to see the bloody thing to enjoy it. It's headache inducing - literally - it gave me a headache.
Other than that - I enjoyed it. Granted I wasn't expecting much - I'd read the reviews, so went in with low expectations. I liked it better than Mandalorian - so agree with my co-worker on that. Mandalorian's writing was kind of silly. The writing here is just a notch or two better. Also it's shorter and somewhat tighter plot-wise than Mandalorian. With a far more complicated and interesting villain in Third Sister, and Anakin Skywalker.
I rather liked Third Sister as a villain.
Keep in mind the audience for the Star Wars franchise - it's not old single folks, it's family fare - and really targeted towards the younger set. (Plus, Disney.) Star Wars was always that way. I fell in love with Star Wars when I was eleven years of age. I didn't first see it as an adult. And that kind of makes a big difference. People who saw it first as adults don't love it as much as those of us who saw it as kids, it's not quite the same. My parents did not have the same love for the series as my brother and I did, or my cousins, or various friends.
So for me, it was the nostalgia factor. Also add to that - I fell in love with Star Wars because of Leia. It was the first non-horror sci-fi action film series with a strong woman in a lead role, and with two men vying for her - from my eleven year old perspective, two hot men. This was later followed by Ripley in the Alien films (but I was not a horror fan).
Leia factoring heavily in the Obi-Wan series worked for me. I thought it would be Luke - was pleasantly surprised it was Leia, who actually makes more sense - since it ties into why she'd go out of her way to send Obi-Wan information in Star Wars: A New Hope. I also found the casting to be spot on.
I enjoyed this series more than the prequels, Mandalorian and the last two films. Which isn't saying much, but I guess it says something? Well, except for the fact that I couldn't see half of it. I could see the other ones.
The description doesn't quite fit the film. "When an interdimensional rift ruptures reality, a hero must access her newfound powers and set things to rights."
That's not it. I mean it is? But not really? And it is admittedly a very hard film to describe. I amazed it got made, I can just imagine the pitch.
Chidi (coworker) didn't like it, nor did his friends. And I get why. But I ...found it to be surprisingly comforting. It kind of made me feel better?
It is a film that most likely does not work for literal thinkers or anyone who thinks in a concrete matter of fact sort of way. But I don't think like that - I think metaphorically, and in patterns, so it worked for me? I don't know. It just did.
It's a long film. Funny in places, and moving in others. With lots of action and visual jokes, some that are rather crude and phallic in a pseudo-feminist sort of way? But at its heart is a mother/daughter story, about two people who feel very alone and isolated, finding each other somehow.
At any rate - it poses the existential view - "if nothing matters, if we are just specs in a multi-universe, rocks on a cliff, than nothing we do matters - and we should just cease to exist" - then provides the counterpoint, that within all of that are particles of joy, of meaning, of connection. That none of us are truly alone, and there are people who will always love us and care for us. And there are other ways to fight - through kindness. You can let go, but also follow and hold on tight at the same time. And you can feel everything all at once.
At any rate it comforted me. Which was unexpected. I thought it would give me a headache.
***
Mother has informed me that she thinks my father will die this week. My brother has made arrangements to fly up or rather down on Wednesday. But she doesn't want me to come yet. There are reasons for this - unlike my brother, I don't get much time off. I have three weeks of vacation time left, two personnel days, and three bereavement days. She doesn't know when they can have the funeral and she wants me to come at Christmas time (she doesn't want to spend Christmas alone.)
Mother: Your Aunt K said that you might both need to come down to say Goodbye to your father, but I told her that you'd kind of already done that - you at Christmas and your brother in April.
Me: Would he know we were there now?
Mother: I doubt he knows I'm there. He's sleeping mostly and not that cognitive. Also he's on morphine for the pain, we're just trying to keep him comfortable.
Me: Would it help you if I came down too?
Mother: I don't want to tell you not to come - but, I don't need you both, and your brother is calmer emotionally than you are, it's different. Please don't take that...I don't want you to feel bad or guilty about it.
Me: I know. It's okay. It's just the situation.
Mother: Also, I don't know when we can do the funeral...and your brother went through this already with his wife's mother, so..
So.
I really could use a couple of real hugs about now. Tight warm hugs. The type that knocks the wind out of you.
I read an article today that explained why I've been feeling kind of ill the last few weeks. Upset stomach. IBS. Headaches. Fatigue. Hot flashese, more than usual. Low energy. Lack of focus. Irritable.
Apparently ... There are Physical Effect of Grief. I guess this is kind of obvious. But I didn't realize it. Also my Dad's still here so why...but I guess I'm losing him and well, grief.
Many people mistakenly believe that grief is a single emotion, but normal grief is actually a powerful, multifaceted, and often uncontrollable response that human beings experience following a personally painful or traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one.1 Grief can affect us not only emotionally but also physically, mentally, and even spiritually.2
When you are experiencing grief, you may feel it both mentally and physically. During this time, you may experience a variety of physical symptoms that are part of the normal grief response.
Often connected with the disruption to normal eating habits or routines, bereavement can cause temporary digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, a "hollow feeling" in the stomach, queasiness, or feeling nauseated.
Had this the last two weeks now - and was wondering what was wrong with me. Was it the metroformin? Menopause? Nah. Grief. Good to know.
Off to order more CBD, I guess. (I get them via Winged)
Have a horrible headache, combination tension sinus headache. Took a herbal sleep aid. (I can't do anything stronger than herbal. It will make me ill. So Melotonin, Chamomille, Lavender, and L-Thenanine, is about the best I can manage.)
All of which is made worse - by the fact that I've no clue what to do about my family situation next week. This is the main source of my stress - not having a clue what to about anything. I've gotten loads of advice - none of it remotely useful. I feel like I'm being pulled in various directions or everything everywhere all at once. [Do not give me more advice on this subject. Also the decision has been made by my family - that I'm to stay put until further notice.]
***
It was a pretty day today. Did take a brief walk to the fruit and veggie store (digestive track was too troublesome to do more than that) and got ice cream (I know, don't care. It made me feel better. )
Also finished Obi Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus, which I enjoyed but with one caveat. I could not see a good portion of the action sequences, and Obi Wan's reunion with Anakin due to the darkness of the film. It was as if it was all filmed in the same dark caverns as Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Dune and one too many sci-fi films to count. Stop this. I need to be able to see the bloody thing to enjoy it. It's headache inducing - literally - it gave me a headache.
Other than that - I enjoyed it. Granted I wasn't expecting much - I'd read the reviews, so went in with low expectations. I liked it better than Mandalorian - so agree with my co-worker on that. Mandalorian's writing was kind of silly. The writing here is just a notch or two better. Also it's shorter and somewhat tighter plot-wise than Mandalorian. With a far more complicated and interesting villain in Third Sister, and Anakin Skywalker.
I rather liked Third Sister as a villain.
Keep in mind the audience for the Star Wars franchise - it's not old single folks, it's family fare - and really targeted towards the younger set. (Plus, Disney.) Star Wars was always that way. I fell in love with Star Wars when I was eleven years of age. I didn't first see it as an adult. And that kind of makes a big difference. People who saw it first as adults don't love it as much as those of us who saw it as kids, it's not quite the same. My parents did not have the same love for the series as my brother and I did, or my cousins, or various friends.
So for me, it was the nostalgia factor. Also add to that - I fell in love with Star Wars because of Leia. It was the first non-horror sci-fi action film series with a strong woman in a lead role, and with two men vying for her - from my eleven year old perspective, two hot men. This was later followed by Ripley in the Alien films (but I was not a horror fan).
Leia factoring heavily in the Obi-Wan series worked for me. I thought it would be Luke - was pleasantly surprised it was Leia, who actually makes more sense - since it ties into why she'd go out of her way to send Obi-Wan information in Star Wars: A New Hope. I also found the casting to be spot on.
I enjoyed this series more than the prequels, Mandalorian and the last two films. Which isn't saying much, but I guess it says something? Well, except for the fact that I couldn't see half of it. I could see the other ones.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 12:55 pm (UTC)I like your summary of 's view. I don't remember the reviews clearly now but that sounds an attractive picture.
When my mother was dying, even my eyesight got worse. The stress has all kinds of weird physical effects.
(I'll avoid advice.) Your father sounds full of ability and personality and losing him leaves a big hole, I'm so glad he's at least comfortable and knows how loved he is.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 01:23 pm (UTC)It's also rather hopeful, and weirdly comforting. But I can see how it would turn off a lot of folks.
It is one of those films that you either love or hate, I think, with no in between.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 01:46 pm (UTC)If you want to get together--see a movie or just talk--let me know. You know I'll be there.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 04:48 pm (UTC)I might take you up on that at some point.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Date: 2022-07-10 02:28 pm (UTC)I found the premise and the rapid intercutting between parallel universes surprisingly easy to follow. The Daniels (the writer/director team) lean heavily into absurdity, what with hot dog fingers, Raccon-nooie and "random acts" (like peeing yourself) as the key to multiversal travel; but once all those odd "rules" were established in the movie, they all kind of faded into the background and you could focus on the characters.
Michelle Yeoh was great here. No surprise that she could play an international movie star and martial arts master. (Yeah, big stretch there.) What impressed me was how well she sold Evelyn as a tired soul, a drudge, and--let's be be blunt--a bit of a failure. My favorite Evelyn came near the end, when she'd temporarily surrendered to Joy's nihilism and started trashing the laundromat. It was exciting, scary, but also strangely hopeful; you could see her truly coming alive.
Yeoh's awesomeness is almost a given. I expected it. But I didn't expect Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu. Quan hasn't made a movie in 20 years? You couldn't tell. Regular Waymond, Alpha Waymond, and Tragic Romantic Waymond were all brilliant, fully realized characters. (And, I have to admit, I identified with Regular Waymond A LOT. I'll let you interpret what that says about me and my marriage...)
Stephanie Hsu's Joy/Jobu is the disaffected, millennial post-adolescent ramped up to infinity. Imagine giving someone with all of Joy's issues--with her mother, with her self-image, with the world-- near-limitless power. She was terrifying. And yet, you never really lost sympathy for Joy, even at her worst, because Hsu made you understand the source of her pain.
(Also have to give a shout out to Jamie Lee Curtis and especially James Hong as Gong Gong and his Alphaverse self. 94 years old and just killing it. Amazing.)
If I have one complaint about the movie, it's the climax. I wish the Daniels had hit the deceleration button ever so slightly to let Evelyn's emotional revelations sink in. We didn't need to tie up all the loose ends with all the tertiary characters. (Really, the Ratatouille joke should have been one and done.) But I had the same complaint about Swiss Army Man: the climax almost lost me, and then they recovered for a near-perfect ending.
(Apparently, A24 allows the Daniels to follow their muse anywhere their fancy takes them. In the long run, an overstuffed climax is a small price to pay for this kind of creativity.)
So yeah--great movie. I can't wait to see it again, because I know I missed a thousand details the first time around...
Re: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Date: 2022-07-10 05:33 pm (UTC)Re: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Date: 2022-07-11 02:26 am (UTC)Re: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Date: 2022-07-11 02:30 am (UTC)I can't remember the climax clearly enough...to have much to quibble about. But I would agree that they probably didn't need to continue with Racoonatatonni...which was a joke that leap-frogged over my head. (I'd forgotten the Disney film.) or some of the other sight gags. It's a film that did need a good editor.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-10 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-11 02:25 am (UTC)Also, Ewan McGregor is very good as Obi Wan in it, and Christian is actually better here than he was in the prequels.