In 2016, I walked out of Swiss Army Man with an odd but profound sense of optimism. Fueled by a 15-year loyalty to Daniel Radcliffe and a desire to see what the “farting boner corpse” movie was all about, I bought a single ticket to see an early NYC screening and sat near the front row. At the end of the movie, applause broke out. Whatever I was expecting, it wasn’t to come out of the movie with a better appreciation for life and a feeling of transcendence.
Walking out of the theater, I decided instead of hopping right on the train I’d walk for a bit. It was a gorgeous night out, and instead of just moving to my next destination I wanted to enjoy the air, my thoughts, and to reflect. The movie stuck with me.
Cut to 2022, and the trailer for Everything Everywhere All at Once drops. The “have you seen this??” messages start coming in, because an action movie romp through the multiverse starring Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis is, well, extremely my thing. When I realize it’s a new movie from Daniels, I go from excited to inadvertently reenacting the Antonio Banderas laptop meme.
All of this to say, when the opportunity to write about Everything Everywhere All at Once arose I was both thrilled and terrified. Could I write critically about a movie I was expecting to come out of with very personal feelings I might not be able to articulate? Would I enjoy the movie less if I watch it knowing it’s for a piece? What gives me the right to talk about Michelle Yeoh? I love writing about movies, but for some reason I was so intimidated at the thought of writing about this movie—and I hadn’t even seen it yet.
I realized that the worst option would be, of course, not to take the risk of the assignment and be left wondering what could have been. Little did I know how relevant that would be to the themes of movie! You can check out my piece on Everything Everywhere All at Once over at Tricycle Mag at this link, where I talk about the euphoria of empathy and living in the now. From here I’ll let the piece speak for itself!
Genre Thrills 