Tonight is the Oscars, a night I always love even if I don’t always have a film that was clearly a favorite that year or not.
The reactions to the success and attention and acclaim that Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO) has been getting has been very mixed and I completely understand why. It wasn’t my favorite by any means (actually Raymond and Ray and Top Gun were my favorites which is ironic considering what I’m about to say) but the one thing I love about the attention and success that the movie has generated is its the only 100 percent unique, from the ground up, film getting this kind of attention. It was written specifically to be a film (and a big film) and is written AND directed by two guys with a very new and original idea.
This kind of thing is not the norm by any means in Hollywood today. It’s not a remake or reboot or a sequel (see the irony for loving Top Gun? Hey I’m still human with a bit of nostalgia) or a fifth or sixth sequel just because there’s 70 years of comic book material that MUST be shown and accurately on the screen for what was essentially a $.25 magazine that took 10 minutes to read. Every aspect of the movie has meaning to the creators and to the characters they have created.
EEAAO are responsible for 2 of the 3 most heartwarming stories of award season with Ke Huy Quan who is burned in everyone my ages mind as Data from Goonies and/or Short Round from The Temple Of Doom and to see him be honored can’t help but make me smile. And Jamie Lee Curtis being the funny lovable mom of award season is having more fun than just about anyone and is being honored for her work and not her longevity and career, it is genuinely about THE MOVIE. The third feel good story is of course Brendan Frazier and how Darren Aronofsky once again (Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler) has resurrected a career with a performance that has blown people’s hair back.
So while EEAAO isn’t my favorite movie of the year and I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t win, despite things lining up to the contrary, if it does cap off it’s award season success with Oscar gold score a point for movie lovers who are starving for more originality on the screen.
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