Just be a rock.

There has been an unexpected but unavoidable hiatus, so I am happy to say that the blog is back up and running. I was thinking about the best way to get the show back on the road, and I think talking about my favourite film of 2022 is as good a place to start as any. For me, this was Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s (aka The Daniels) Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (EEAAO).

Now, this may say more about me than it does about the film, and this may very well just be my personality type, but I thought of EEAAO as more of a drama than a comedy, yet it is classified as a comedy. The film has plenty of humour; don’t get me wrong. It is certainly enough to make you genuinely laugh out loud, but I found it to be much more moving than funny.

I have mentioned that animation has been used particularly well to explore complex and emotive topics. Taking a step away from reality often makes it easier to face it. Similarly, the Daniels use an ‘out there’, wacky sci-fi comedy to explore incredibly intricate aspects of humanity, life, self, purpose and family.

EEAAO asks you to suspend your traditional ideas of film and narrative. It makes you laugh and draws you in with the high-stakes sci-fi storyline, only to blindside you and hit you with some incredibly heartfelt, if not difficult, moments. It is a clever and unique technique that I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated, and the feature that I think makes it such a fantastic film and the best of the year.

An aspect of the film that I adored (and that will come as no surprise that I do) is the nod to the wonderful Wong Kar Wai. The film is about a Chinese-American family, so it should celebrate the beauty of a Chinese director who has also made films in America. As a vast Wong Kar Wai fan - and also just a film enthusiast -, it is so moving to see such a visually stunning and meaningful tribute to a director that is so skilled at capturing such intense moments of beauty that perfectly represent such complex and precious emotions, particularly those expressing romantic love and how tricky they can be.

The colour, the distortion of time, the setting of the chaotic street but the stillness between our protagonists, the camera work, and the simplicity with which such a detailed image of the human condition is captured all are a perfect tribute to his signature style as well as the feeling his work evokes.

Despite all of its humour and wackiness, something that EEAAO achieves in a way that many arthouse films have failed to do is capture the bleakness and disorientation that depression causes within you; how at times, you can feel as though your whole life is slipping away from you. The Daniels capture that intense and all-consuming moment that we have all experienced in which you should be living a better life, and there are so many things you can be and do. The moment when you think that your life could have been so many different things and how, at the end of the day, it is simply easier to act as though nothing matters, never did and never will and then the pressure we feel looming over us will disappear.

It seems like such a lonely and isolating emotion, yet we have all felt (or still feel) it. The finality of life causes us to think and question who we are and what we are doing. EEAAO is one of the first films I have ever seen that captures this labyrinth of emotions. Yet, it also has a way of reassuring us and reminds us that, at times, it isn’t so bad to remember that, in the grand scheme of things, we are very, very small and how, in the vastness of this world, very little does matter and much of life boils down to our connections and relationships to each other.

Many films portray the mother-daughter relationship. There are many takes, positive and negative, but few like this one. It is neither positive nor negative. It isn’t good or bad; it is realistic. There is love in this film. There is no doubt of that, but the expression of that love can be complicated. It shows a mother fearing for her daughter but struggling to express that concern, and instead, her fear comes across as aggression. She hopes that her attack will steer her daughter in a new direction and that she will not become like her mother and have a happier and easier life.

As the title would suggest, EEAAO tries to capture a myriad of emotions, sensations and what sits at the core of the human condition - and it does. Above all things, it reminds the viewer that life is a lot to handle, with many factors at play. These factors are essential to remember and forget, and all of these things must coexist. Life isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. EEAAO represents this anarchy and dejection with great humour and profound tenderness.