My favorite thing was how, early on, we learn that this particular Evelyn can hop universes because she's literally - objectively - living her worst life... yet in the end, that's the life she chooses to continue living even though she could potentially merge with any of her other selves. Ie, no life is wasted. Even one that feels like it's going nowhere. There's always potential to find growth and meaning.
The Asians and most people nowadays live in fear of something bad will come, to the point we forget to be grateful with what we already have, forget to live and enjoy the moment.
@@springroll58 the way I see it the other versions of her wouldn't be able to master the skills of random Evelyns because for example the version that is a movie star and can fight made specific choices so those 2 things are what's she's best at if she got the headset to jump into another evelyn it might be one that only changed something small like not going to a concert the version she chooses is still pretty similar to her so with the Evelyn we know she can go from evelyn to Evelyn since she never became good at anything her mind is flexible enough to go into the most random Evelyns because it's easy for her to make completely different choices cause she never chose a dream and stuck with it. I hope this clears it up and that I didn't make it more confusing 💀
It was "In another life, I would be happy doing taxes and laundry with you." That really made me cry. There are times when I feel my partner is doing much better for themselves than I am and they might have done better without me, but knowing that even so, they would still choose to have me by their side totally wrecks me every time.
Yeah this is the line that made me bawl my eyes out until the credits rolled. I was in the middle of a divorce and the pain was _very_ fresh, and that line perfectly summed up how I felt about my marriage ending. I started thinking about an alternate timeline where our relationship did work out and I instantly became a blubbering mess.
The line "in a universe where we have hotdogs for fingers, we get very good _with out _*_feet_* ." legitimately makes me cry. I fucking love this movie so much
What I love about this movie is that it doesn't seem to choose a single answer. It just presents you with a bunch of them, and let you decide for yourself. Maybe the meaning of life is kindness. Maybe we should cling to each other. Maybe we should learn to let go. Maybe it's all meaningless. Or rather... maybe it's everything, everywhere, all at once.
I felt like it said that the meaning of life is whatever personal meaning you assign to it. On a multiversal scale nothing matters at all. But on a personal scale there's plenty of it because that's your objective reality. It means something to you, even if it means nothing to anything else.
I definitely don't think it was endorsing the meaningless everything bagel suicide as a valid choice, but I do get how you can come out of it with a bunch of different take aways :)
I felt that Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was the perfect Optimistic Nihilism movie. It showed pretty definitively that nothing mattered but despite that, the characters that knew that fact best chose to embrace personal meaning. That's optimistic nihilism.
It is close to what Camus called the "Absurd". Basically the absurdity of having to "feel" for a world that has no feelings for us in return. Quite the movie indeed !
Shortly after the rock scene started, I suddenly just burst into tears, and from that moment on they wouldn't stop flowing. Never had I shed tears in so many different ways. Sometimes happy, sad, relatable sad and happy tears, joy at the absurdity of the story. I saw this a month ago and I still think about it fondly. I know a movie is good for me when it can make me cry, and I know that even with just one viewing, it will stick with me strongly. I am in no rush to re-watch it, because I don't want to spoil it for myself. Like how maybe once a year you go out for a really expensive dinner for a birthday or something. That kind of thing.
I've seen it six times and am still not sick of it, haha. I'd definitely recommend catching it at least once more in the cinema if you have the chance.
The moment that caught me lacking was when she was pulling away from her husband and then a few scenes later, he shows up in the rich universe right with her as if no matter what, poor, ugly, broke, rich, sick, healthy they always find a way to meet and love each other no matter the dimension
Strange that made you cry. I was laughing hysterically at the rock scene. Truly the most absurd thing ever. Movie truly deserved its 11 Oscar nominations
@@andyigwe7119 It was a bizaare mix of happy and sad tears for me. There were new and familiar emotions that really hit me in the rock scene. I was laughing too, initially, but the tears grew along some weird realization. The silence of that scene really kicked it off. The idea of existing without care. The want to not exist. To just be a rock. I'm still thinking about it, but it really caught me off guard. It was so sudden. It was also the start of the emotional connection between the two. A realization, and a weakness, in the form of rocks. Both were being stubborn, but it ended up being the major tonal shift of the movie. For me
@girwanttaco Yes, the movie was a masterpiece. I had so many layers. Philosophical, funny , deep, sad etc. One of the best movies ever made, with top class acting throughout
I appreciated the film's literal reference to the "third eye" or brow chakra being open (and voluntarily stuck to Evelyn's face) once she realized that love and kindness would help her integrate and accept the duality and interconnectedness of everyone and everything in the multiverse or, said another way, the many realities that exist for each consciousness simultaneously.
In the very first scene of the movie Evelyn is deep in her existential dred, but the alternate perspective is ever present (in this case on the bag of laundry in the top right of the shot). Waymond is literally offering his "silly" perspective throughout the movie, but she dismisses it as a stupid joke. Much like many viewers of the film can't see past the absurd cover and into the depth of the message. For me, the silliness helped me let my guard down and relax. Then the message could get straight to the heart. I couldn't get over how much they really doubled down on the "lesbian with worst enemy hotdog fingers Evelyn" universe XD.
This movie gels with my worldview perfectly. Nothing matters, so be kind. I love it. The world would be a much better place if more people embraced this philosophy. There is no meaning to life and the universe we find ourselves in can be a cruel, callous place, so create your own meaning, and in the meantime, treat others with love.
Unfortunately many people cling to an inherent meaning in their life and are willing to fight/silence/kill anyone who threatens that perception of meaning... religions in particular present the exact opposite conclusions of this movie
I dislike when people say nothing matters. That is a lie. None of us will ever live long enough for our actions to actually produce non-consequential results. Meaning, everything you do WILL matter in your own, your childrens, and your childrens childrens lifetimes. For nothing we do to matter, we have to live long enough to see humanity go extinct. Thankfully, none of us will, so point is: saying that nothing matters, unless you are speaking from the perspective of an immortal entity capable of witnessing the entire lifespan of stars and by extension their surrounding planets, is a lie. Everything we do DOES matter in the span of our and our childrens lives. That is the correct way to look at things, given that we are humans that only live for 80-100 years at most, and not gods that live for eternity.
I never cried as much to a movie as to this one. Holy crap it's good. Normally I can just watch a movie, and shake it off and go on with my life. For this one I had to sit down for a couple of hours just to digest it.
To each their own. The movie style didn't quite mesh with me and I was bored throughout, with some entertaining bits here and there. That being said, it's great so many people are loving it.
As a depressed individual who can relate to identity crisis and aimlessness, I did not see much beyond the same old "you're never truly alone, nothing matters but hey that's a good thing...somehow, so just don't kill yourself because you cannot find meaning in your life." I thought it would face suicide more directly but it didn't. It was a good movie, had some funny moments (but nothing like people exaggerate down below), good illustration of the complexity behind human thought, and it was nice to see that human suffering, nihilism and existentialism were talked about openly...but humans are sadly still stupid stupid creatures and we are potentially trapped in a world destined to one day be destroyed while we tell ourselves wonderous stories of salvation while most of us have nobody who can understand each other or at least love for a few moments in time.
@@aefgagaefgag493 nice to see someone that feels that way too, amongst all the people hyped after the movie. I was so bored I feel asleep about 4 times, and I’ve never fell asleep in a movie theater in the past like 10 years 😅
@@aefgagaefgag493 yeah its weird its getting raved about on UA-cam and IMDb but I know 8 people who have seen it all different ages backgrounds etc and the responses ranged from bleh/so-so to downright hate. Personally I liked some of the concepts but it just reminded me of a meme compilation with some pop psych and a cartoon version of what the multiverse is, which is fine but to me that alone isn’t enough and I didn’t love the director’s concept
I was literally asked what my favorite movie was by my date before this movie started, and I couldn't decide. When it ended, we both looked at each other and said it was our new favorite. Holy cow, what an experience.
You seem to have missed the one really novel point about determinism that made this movie for me: The way they switched timelines in ridiculous ways. Essentially I read it as we all have a destiny, but there's an option if we don't like it, and that's to do something you would never do.
Exactly! Nobody seems to talk about the absurd things you have to do to verse jump to another alternate of you is actually author’s way of conveying that you have to break the routine to be someone different than who you are at the moment.
@@erdemalegoz1816 exactly. The ego likes routine. It likes the stories it tells itself about what and who it is. It's familiar, but familiar isn't always fulfilling. There's something mysterious and wondrous going on, that with the right motivation, we can override ego, break our own programming & install something new.
Shout out to the Joy/Jobu actress! She did amazing in this movie. Brought boat loads of personality to the role with a very vibrant cast. This is one of those movies you hope they play for teens to help change a generation for the better.
@@sayjaibao01188 she was as good as everyone else, which is quite an accomplishment, because the acting in this film is off the charts good. In other films sometimes one actor is so tremendously good that the others seem not as good. But in this film everyone was fantastic and worthy of the rest. It is like magic.
@sayjaibao011 and she an now been nominated for an OSCAR. I had never even heard of this movie before and it came out a year ago. But after the OSCAR nomination and going to watch a trailer my mind was blown already by the 2 min trailer. Had to go watch the full movie immediately afterwards
The movie references the word for 'universe' or 'cosmos' in Chinese; 宇宙 (yǔzhòu), which also returns in Japanese with the same characters as 'uchū'. The characters, taken together, mean 'everything', and apart mean 'all directions' and 'all of time'.
The 2 circles what grabbed my attention.: First THE BEAGLE! Duḥkha (/ˈduːkə/; Sanskrit: दुःख; Pāli: dukkha) is translated in Buddhism as suffering, but the etymology of the word is really interesting, it means bad (du) kha (hole). (It refers to the hole of a wheel, what if it's bad, makes your journey .... like as you travel by a 3 wheeled car.) In Greek the word Khaos is described as "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty." Our zero is an empty circle for a reason. Kha the snake also represents chaos and the emptiness of a hole. In Buddhism emptiness in a sense is potentiality. You get where I'm going with this circling back to Buddhism. Zen circle which also represents both the universe and the void. Then THE GOOGLY EYE! On the other hand, we have an inverse hole.White on the outside, black on the inside. A reverse beagle. The third eye, the insight, the enlightenment. Buddhism for a time was seen by outsiders as a form of nihilism. If everything is empty, if nothing exists in itself, if everything is in your mind, or if everything is just an illusion why would you be anything other than a nihilist. There were multiple elegant solutions, but most of them told the same story. Even if the world is illusory a fictional character can also affect a fictional event. Or if it's more your liking, the essence of reality is change, and it is without a self, but because of those parameters, you can escape suffering. If you are beyond suffering, then you can be kind to those who suffer. If nothing really matters to you, and everything to everybody else, then why won't you be kind to those under the illusion of reality?
When i watched this, i saw myself and my SO in Evelyn and Waymond respectively. I'm practical and utilitarian to a fault, where my words unintentionally hurt. Meanwhile, she's the exact opposite, soft and more compassionate than i could ever be. And when CEO Waymond had his speech, and Prime Waymond begged for people to be kind to each other, it tore my heart apart because it was a reminder of how much i truly have even when i don't see it. And "if nothing matters in the end, just be kind" are words i bear in mind daily.
I have never had a filmgoing experience where I have heard people laughing so hard they struggled to breathe and then openly weeping later on. I don't know about all the philosophy but this is in all likelihood going to be the best movie I have seen or will see this year.
"Every rejection, every disappointment has led you to this moment. Don't let anything distract you from it." "There is always something to love" These quotes encapsulate the core message of the movie: Pay attention. The meaning, beauty, and love is right here, right now, in each moment. Not somewhere else. We suffer b/c we refuse to accept things as they are, in the mistaken assumption that something "better" exists in some other place or time. We cant find the peace, or meaning, we seek b/c in our ignorance we believe it will result from improving our conditions. The problem with this assumption is that is that it's already here, so by seeking it, we fail to see what's right under our noses.
@@smartwater598 No, but you ask a very common and understandable question. "If I accept that everything I want is already here, where will my motivation come from?" It will come from love. It will come from a desire to show appreciation for your gifts by using them to love and serve others, which often means working hard to improve skills, solve problems, etc. But finding happiness or peace is not the motivation for the hard work. The motivation is simply service and love. Someone filled with gratitude and love is not lazy or apathetic. Quite the opposite, they are inspired, and full of energy and drive. But they are also not caught in illusion that only after they "fix" things, will they find peace or happiness. Hard work doesnt require dissatisfaction with what you have.
@@gmuel87 amazing response. You won’t lose motivation. It’ll just be channeled and manifested through overflowing love and acceptance, instead of fear of rejection and self hatred
I want to say I love both your responses, but I disagree - "The meaning, beauty, and love is right here, right now, in each moment." Tell that to a child who is abused daily, or a woman who is too scared to get out of a bad situation for fear her sig oth might kill her. No, love, beauty, meaning is not here in each moment. It's a beautiful platitude and you wield it VERY well, but it's not reality. "We suffer b/c we... " We suffer because there is no meaning to this, or any life. And life is inherently unfair. Your platitude is wonderful for someone who's never truly faced adversity, but it doesn't help the people whose lives are actually bad. It just makes them feel worse that they can't actually enjoy those "moments" that you describe. You think telling the woman who's beaten every day to just "stop and look at the beauty" will suddenly make her life better? Come on now. I think we both know better than that. I love your messages here. But they aren't reality. Not even close. Not for most people.
@@BrienDoesIt it’s true some suffering cannot be ameliorated by some happy thoughts. There are situations in which this kind of spiritual knowing won’t be enough. That is to say for every religion or philosophy or whatever it is that helps us through our day. There are some things we just HAVE to feel, and things that are just simply horrible. Things that can’t be controlled by thought alone. The point of this is to cherish and be grateful for our blessings and it simultaneously isn’t ignoring everything else bad.
the gist I took away from this movie is actually something that really aligns with my own personal philosophy! that yes, while Tabacki is objectively correct, problems and meaninglessness are a true constant in all universes, that means problem _solving_ and _creating_ meaning can happen after that fact. never say things will be better, but always say things *can* be better. live for that fact.
Well said! Reminds me of Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, where pain and suffering is always a reality but we can always make our own personal meaning, and in turn the purpose/passion to live.
I like this comment, very well said about the gist of movie. The book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck" by Mark Manson also talks similar life philosophies shown in the movie, it's a must read. When I watched the film and read this comment it reminded me of this book.
I haven't heard anyone mention the depiction of the mother daughter relationship in this movie is so absurd yet so spot on that I was crying at the end of this movie. The push pull nature of the daughter wanting her mother's support and at the same time no giving a f*** if she approves or not and what lengths a mother would go through for her child are so well represented in this movie it is almost ridiculous. I do not know what the rock scene made me cry more than anything. This movie right here just got me in all the feels.
i’m in my mid-20’s so i’m trying to make sense out of life. idea that there’s no meaning at all and you should create meaning for yourself crossed my mind a lot of times. but it’s still hard to fully embrace it. those moments of happiness are truly worth it, but they’re rare
I always took existentialism as saying that each individual person has to choose their own meaning for life. That is… choosing what they live for and why. Nobody can tell you that your reason for living is wrong, because there is no right answer to being alive.
Think about why you thought there was meaning in the first place. Why humans feel entitled to it, like the universe needs to provide it, but it's just elusive. That's not reason, but romanticism, and it's painting meaninglessness in a drab and bleak light, when in reality things have always just been and happened without rhyme or reason. You were born as a cosmic fluke, and you'll return to nowhere you were before, but in the meantime you can just pet dogs, listen to music, eat pizza, and spend time with whomever you're into.
@@psypsy751 What is really scary, is that some of us felt that we have got it all figured out. This goes equally true for both narcissus and optimists.
@@psypsy751 this really depends on what you believe. You state that "you were born as a cosmic fluke" but many people don't believe that. You are speaking from a very specific perspective but relaying it as undisputable fact.
I do like this reading… i think it also overlooks a few things. I took away that if pain, death, and meaninglessness is the one constant in the vast multiverse: then choosing to create and the act of creating & embracing love / joy is only made more important since it is so rare. Her daughter is named Joy, so she literally chooses to embrace "Joy" when faced with existential nothingness. 2, even if it seems futile, we should still strive toward love and try to do things that help minimize the suffering of others (“I love you kung fu”). by choosing to love her “enemies” they both “win”. In her own multiverse, she can be wealthy or super strong, but those versions lack love. Our Evelyn has an abundance of love, and her love is what saves the multiverse. And then 3, Joy sees the world in black and white: win or lose, love or pain, all or nothing….a binary. her mother challenges her binary thinking by changing the “or” to an “and”. Life becomes suffering and joy…yin AND yang.
I think raising the point on Evelyn facing Joy’s henchmen with their fears is an interesting point that I’d like to think about more! With the line between fear and hope and how close in proximity they are to each other. Like say with the married henchmen, one can fear they won’t find love someday, and one can hope love comes their way someday; those are two similar but different ways of thought, and ways to deal with uncertainty. In the uncertainty that fills one with the knowledge that an infinite multiverse exists, one will be filled with fear and hope, two similar and yet very different things. One might as well take the hopeful route and make meaning while they can, even if it is for a few specks of time. Focus on the rights and constants of your universe and the multiverse. Listen to each other (like Evelyn learned to do), be kind (Like Waymond taught), and embrace yourself (like Joy wanted)
You described Evelyn as having 'mundane existential despair', which to me sounds like melancholy - an ongoing inability to mourn, or find catharsis, for something you've lost. In this case it is all the lost opportunities or divergent paths in her life. The movie channels this feeling to the Asian-American community - parents who gave up a lot to find a better future for their children, children who feel alienated from their parents and caught in two different cultures & worlds. A philosopher I would suggest that explores this is David Eng in his book Racial Melancholia.
I never once cried to a weird and amazing storytelling. I felt the pain of their kid and also the pain and love of Waymond and So's struggle about her dreams and regrets and family pain.
the thing that caught my attention the most while watching this movie was how insignificant we are compared to the vastness of the world. At the beginning of the movie, Evelyn cared about every little thing in life, because she thought that if she worked hard enough, she could make her life successful, thinking that success is the most important thing in life. Then, joy says that everything we do is pointless. 1. If the ENTIRE world can be put on a BAGEL, everything that we find important or cherish must be as insignificant as a speck of dust. 2. She sees that every choice made in life, no matter how big or small, will create another universe and make our lives completely different in that universe. Our lives can be completely different just by switching our shoes around, so we can’t change our own lives with the 0.00001% of variables that we have control over. 3. Since everything will be destroyed by time in the end, so we actually can't control ANYTHING in the world at all. Therefore, she came to the conclusion of "nothing matters". waymond uses a different perspective. Although we can't control anything, we have to cherish the things we can control - that is, to love others. We are insignificant, but we are blessed with the ability of kindness to bring joy to ourselves and others. Bringing love and joy into our lives and other people’s lives is what it means to live. We will all disappear from this world eventually, but that's what makes our happiness in the current moment so important, which is why he lives by being kind. This made Evelyn understand what is really important in life. Everything that people pursue - money, fame, other people’s opinions - is just a speck of dust in the vastness of the world, so is the small things in life that Evelyn is worried about ; they are not important. In the end, Evelyn refocuses her life on her daughter and husband, because the most important thing in her life is her family that loves her and brings her happiness.
This movie had me mind blown like the Matrix did back in 1999 but in a totally different way. Matrix introduced me to spirituality, 23 years later, being a super spiritual dude myself. This movie feels like the Matrix Sequel my generation deserved, and it felt like a worthy parallel to my spiritual awareness up to this point. On a side note, seeing Jamie Lee Curtis in a comedy role was something I didn't even know I needed!
I cry pretty easily at movies but never cried as much as with this one, it felt like I went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions by the end of it. Definitely my favorite movie of this year, maybe of all time!
This movie has the unique opportunity to introduce, with goofy levity, some very dark philosophical ideas like nihilism, absurdism, and general existentialism into the cultural mainstream.
I appreciate the conclusion that while the universe may be meaningless, we create meaning in our own lives. To get into pedantics, what is meaning anyway? One could argue that only conscious being can create or observe meaning, ergo meaning is something we make, like art. The universe, without conscious beings, wouldn't have artistic expression (though it may have natural beauty) but that doesn't make art inherently aberrant or nonexistent. Clearly, art exists. Living beings make it. Therefore, the meaning of one's life is created as well. Our lives are indeed a kind of art. I especially loved Waymond's call for people to be kind, because in the face of nihilism, pessimism, and existentialism, kindness is really one of the only tonics that can make life in society worth living. Having friends and lovers to be kind to, being courteous to strangers so their lives are a little bit easier, allows the weight of life to be bearable. Being kind promotes tranquility, which Stoics and Buddhists alike will say is the state of being most desirable to attain. We may not be able to be happy all the time, but a certain amount of peace -with our selves, with our confusing world, with our vast universe- is attainable by human beings, and kindness is a key to achieving and maintaining it.
The whole cinema cried during some parts in this movie. I live in an Asian country and this movie resonates very well with Asian because most of us goes through similar things in Asian family.
This movie was such a different experience to me personally. I cried and my heart went for Waymond. Choosing kindness and optimism to win the fight was the best part. It does feel nothing matters at times but we do live for little moments like joy said.
Take the bagel and the Googly eye as directly opposite symbols. Bagel is nothing in the middle of everything, googly eye is something in the middle of nothing. Very clean way to encapsulate the conflicting ideologies of daughter and father and really cool how the latter literally becomes a third eye for Evelyn
Best film of 2022!!! I’m so glad more and more people are finding this gem of a film. It’s so creative and heartwarming. Everyone involved in the making of this film deserve their accolades and more.
This is probably the best movie I have ever seen in my life. It takes amazing talent to make so many people sob over rocks with googly eyes glued onto them rolling down a hill.
For such a long time my favorite movie was Mr.Nobody because no film has been able to recreate the chaos and intensity. Then this film came along and shattered my whole idea of what a film could be. Its now my favorite film and for good reason, im grateful they took a chance with this film
Just do Platinum Cookies it is the best. Also get a hobby. When I am learning French. Focus on learning french. Also therapy. Lot of Therapy and smoking on mimosas. Every thing is kosher.
I loved your take on the movie and I couldn't agree more. I think nihilistic thoughts and beliefs are inevitable for atheists and agnostics alike, but some of us are able to still find meaning and things that are of value to us within the context of our reality while still acknowledging that in a grand scheme of things, we will all perish one day and our existence is an unnoticeable speck within the grand universe. Especially during the pandemic when most of us felt the vulnerabilities of our societies and became truly aware of many things that are beyond our control, I think this is the exact movie we needed. I am so grateful for this movie and to have been able to experience it multiple times in movie theaters.
I don’t think it’s so complicated, when nothing seems to matter, the connections we make give us what to care for. Jobu reaching for the bagel felt as dark as a few months ago when I wanted to let go of everything but all it takes is a moment to see that there are others, there is someone reaching out. Connections
EEAAO was even better than I expected; best gawd damn movie I've seen in a LONG, LONG TIME. The entire cast was SO FLIPPIN EPIC and drove the movie to a level I did not expect. I enjoyed it and can't wait to see it again. And again. And again. ps: FUCK SUPER HERO'S. As Michelle Yeoh said in an interview, "we ALL possess a superpower, right here, right now, it's called BEING KIND." I absoluntely LOVE HER.
I’m not a student of philosophy, I’m a student of consciousness which I believe philosophy is a cerebral attempt at. To me, the 3 characters represent the 3 core aspects of our experience on earth. We’re mundane and frustrated no matter what life offers. We’re chaotic and expressive but rageful and unkind. And we’re love, which is fundamentally what the universe is made of. As the journeys progress, the contrast between the experiences grows and a dark night of the soul results, where the chaos and meaninglessness of reality dominates. But her heart has been opened by her daughter, so the actually most wise and thus innocent of them all, her husband, could get through with love. The unification of all realities then let her accept her mundane reality, but with an understanding of herself, so she could show up more presently, and if the film continued, likely create actually quite a lot of success and loving experiences from here. I’m excited for where these writers go next… and I feel if they brought the focus to energetic alignment, an even more penetrative and relatable movie to the current zeitgeist could be the result. This is very close to my heart and where my focus is now
What an amazing film!! I saw it once myself with my partner, but it was too much to take in one sitting. So I took my mom to see it on Mother's Day, and I'm so glad I did. Perfect mother/daughter experience, especially considering that I've attempted to commit Minecraft before. It really spoke to that. By the end, we were holding hands and crying together-- we had the whole theater to ourselves, so the emotions really poured out. It was such a cathartic moment for us. Take ya moms to see this one, *SERIOUSLY!*
@@thersten Yeah, I know. But I was a hormonal teenager without foresight and way too much ego. It hurt my family much more than it hurt me, and I regret being so selfish.
I took my mother. She did not get it. I was sad but not surprised. Confirmed a lifetime of miscommunication. I am not giving up on everything else in the universe, but I am a little bit letting that one just be.
Saw this a couple weeks ago and when it got to the part at the end, I was overcome with emotions. This movie was a masterpiece of existential proportions ;-)
Love this! Though wish there had been a little more weaving in of the lovely Eastern philosophical themes as well--they played so well with the Western philosophical themes present in the movie.
I would guess that’s because the wisecrack writers are simply much more well versed in western philosophy, since that’s what gets focused on in philosophy education the most
@@wilhelmmcginnis1292 for sure, and I understand sticking to what you know. I just think it would have been even more satisfying and complete had they done it
For me, it can be both. I'm Catholic by environment and Chinese by birth. Taoism and Buddhist' Koan are very apparent in this movie. Especially, I see that there is correlation between Buddhism and Dunning-Kruger effect of spirituality : - Evelyn on Mount Stupid, thinks that she knows what best - Joy on Despair stage, feeling lost - Waymond on Enlightenment, already past the despair stage and reach wisdom. Yet, I can also see the three wisdom of Bible : - Waymond -- Proverbs, tells us that life can be good if we do the right thing (i.e., the wise thing). - Joy -- Ecclesiastes, tells us that life will end no matter what we do. - Evelyn -- Job, tells us that life can be painful even if we do the right thing.
EEAAO is the best film of year...so far. Yet, I don't know what other film coming out this year can dethrone it for me. Cinematically, the film hits every note perfectly. It is a masterpiece and a certified classic. This film deserves all the nominations, all the accolades, and all the awards this award season.
Everything everywhere all at once is one of the best masterpieces of our time. And the sad thing is people won’t realize it. I honestly laughed, loved, and cried. We need more movies like this. It’s frankly a breath of fresh air in cinema and it took risks and made a beautiful story of forgiveness and kindness. It’s a beautiful story of fighting to heal. This will definitely be a comfort movie for me.
The googly eye as a third eye is just the best symbolism out there, it encapsulates perfectly the message of the movie and represents how with the knowledge of the universe, Evelyn comes to the conclusion that Waymond is right and meaning can be found in kindness and the little things in life
Never thought I'd watch a film so closely aligned with the philosophy espoused in the book of Ecclesiastes but here we are. What an excellent work of art.
as a Christian who believes there's meaning to life, i found this movie to be really intriguing and the philosophies presented were eye opening and rawly encapsulating of the human condition. i liked it. i tend to remember a time where i really was walking in selflessness and that was the time i was the happiest, i can attest. be kind. it reminds me of the two commandments of Jesus: love God, love others. simple truths but profound meaning behind them.
I actually saw Waymond and Evelyn as Christ archetypes. The Climax of the Film is kinda just straight up the Gospel, "He has reconciled all things to himself." Even Evelyn's saving of Jobu from the Bagel was a kind of "Harrowing of Hell." The Atonement Theory called, "Christus Victor" was displayed well in the final battle. It's kind of amazing how so many people are able to take away so many different things from this movie. Absolutely fantastic film!
I completely agree. we as humans can't control anything in life - all we can do is love God and others as much as we can, since NOTHING matters more than love, which transcends time unlike anything else in the world.
There is a youtube video by The Passion of the Nerd that explains why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is absurdist. It is the one that talks about the episode Amends and it is beautiful to watch. Especially if you like Buffy, but I think you can also enjoy it separately if you do not mind the spoilers.
I love how when Joy tried to explain her new relationship to her grandpa, she literally couldn't "speak his language" and her mom stepped in and gave an ultimately untruthful explanation, but one he could understand. I feel it's very representative of the current generational climate, I know I've definitely had that experience with my own parents/grandparents; your parents get it more then you grandparents do but something still always gets lost in translation as you go up the line.
Actually my favorite line was "I was hoping you would see something I didn't. That you would convince me there was another way." That really teared me up. There are just times that we fight so hard but deep inside want to be proven wrong. And the hollowness of winning is nothing but devastating...
I got the pleasure of seeing this movie when it first came out, and WHAT a ride it was. I freely admit, I cried several times during this movie, but laughed so hard at others. I wish I could recommend this movie to other people, but it's really hard to explain the movie in a way that really sells it, or explain it without dropping big spoilers. I've tried to sell this to friends, family, and coworkers, and so so far only a few have given it a watch. I will say everyone that saw it walked away from it with a lot emotions. Not everyone enjoyed it, but it left a very strong impression on them.
Funny, to some people, it makes people depress where they everything life meaningless, but for people like me, it sets me free. People would often ask why would I continue moving my life optimistically if it doesn't matter? My answer would be sincere. Because it matters to me. I rather live in the moment and experience life, the good or bad, because I see life as a journey, not a destination. We are not getting out of here alive, so might as well have one hell of time. The Sublime sets me free, being insignificant, but doing what I want to do anyways. Good video! Keep up the great content Wisecrack!
I think what the movie is trying to say is that love will bring meaning to our lives and that finding someone that is kind and patient makes life worth living and finding meaning and even pleasure in the mundane and unremarkable is indeed enough to appreciate life. It is weird for me being such a cynic to enjoy and appreciate this type of message but that is the takeaway I got from this movie
I loved this movie and I love your video on it. The philosophical meaning behind it made the emotional message so much more powerful and I love that philosophers are constantly trying to answer these abstract and difficult questions. I always find myself replaying parts of your videos though as they are so dense with information and hard-to-pronounce names. Is there any further reading or external sources you could give that could keep guiding me on my quest for meaning?? thanks so much Wisecrack 😊 🙏
What struck me about this movie was how powerfully emotional it was; yet how its comedy was intertwined with its absurdity and its meaning. It spoke to me that absurd human existence, the stupid illogical and nonsensical happenings all around us, can be looked at and laughed in its face, and by doing so we find meaning.
People need to watch Mr. Nobody from 2009. I know it never went to theaters and never made a ton of money but it does so much and tackles so many of these questions in a much better way IMO. That movie left me spiritually heavy hit.
I was going to see this in cinema but it barely stayed in my home town for a week and it was gone. I waaaaay overestimated how much time I had to see it. :(
I cried when raccacconie and chad got separated as Evelyn reflected on the bagel and laughed when she was fighting the kung fu master guards with trophy butt plugs. 10/10 best movie
I watched this film for 15 times already (no joke) and it never failed to make me cry every single time. Glad this premiered on our local theater last week even though only for a day.
Everywhere Everything All at Once. At the core of the film basically has the same philosophy I adopted when I was in high school, junior year. I felt a connection to this movie so profound I’ll never forget it. Life, has no inherent meaning. But you can give life meaning, you can make your life worth meaning by MAKING meaning itself and finding a purpose you desire. It’s worked out pretty well, I have my dream job and while I struggle with intense bouts of sadness when I get moved away from my adopted meaning. It’s only a sign that I have to re-centrer myself, a center I created. That feeling, there isn’t anything like it.
This movie is absolutely phenomenal and has so many layers you can peel apart if you really want to. Whether it's the internet culture, the comments on nihilism, the experience of personal growth and self actualization, the affects of trauma building our life experiences, the actual framework of life and possibility, and so much much more. Hell, it's just a good movie if you want just something to "watch". The emotions I felt and the things I thought were so deep, and I don't know if I'll ever find a movie that can do this for me again... This is what art in cinema should look like.
You've skipped out on arguably the best piece written on this topic... "If a sense of the absurd is a way of perceiving our true situation (even though the situation is not absurd until the perception arises), then what reason can we have to resent or escape it? Like the capacity for epistemological skepticism, it results from the ability to understand our human limitations. It need not be a matter for agony unless we make it so. Nor need it evoke a defiant contempt of fate that allows us to feel brave or proud. Such dramatics, even if carried on in private, betray a failure to appreciate the cosmic unimportance of the situation. If, sub specie aeternitatis, there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that doesn't matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair." -Thomas Nagel
Even though she saw how meaningless life is she still chose to be optimistic and love her family. What a wonderful movie that shows that even though we're different in any shapes and form, we still choose to love and be happy.
The philosophy of Everything Everywhere All At Once is.... correct. Just, through and through, correct. I have never had a more joyful experience watching a film. From the beginning to the very end, every single moment of this film filled me with unimaginable delight. I think watching this movie could qualify as therapy. And if shown to everyone in the world, it could heal the world. And make no mistake, I watch movies all the time. I am a huge film nerd. Last night I watched a terrible film called "Sexsquatch", a no-budget indie film that attempts comedy and fails utterly. I will watch absolutely anything. But even after watching thousands of films, nothing was like Everything Everywhere All At Once. I have particularly high standards for films that address philosophical concerns, whether explicitly or implicitly. I studied philosophy in college (alongside computer science) so I can usually pick up on what people reference, what school of thought they're coming from, etc. They're usually right about a couple things and wrong on every single other point. Everything Everywhere All At Once, though, was correct in every frame. I found it profoundly comforting to see that there is at least 1 human being on the planet who understands just how great "everything" is, just how various a "multiverse" would be (without going overboard and being stupid. Humans COULD have evolved to have hotdog fingers, no question. But cats could not have evolved to lead the nation, learned to speak, etc. There's simply no causal chain in which that is plausible while the hotdog fingers would require only a few mutations.), and how a person with a good imagination could and would actually USE omnipotence if given the chance. The conception most people have of what an omnipotent force would do is so fantastically limited that it makes me concerned for the future of the human species as a supposedly-sapient species. But Everything Everywhere All At Once shows my worries were unfounded. People will be alright. The reason it might seem that every incarnation of Evelyn was destined to have a specific purpose is because they are only seeking out some variations - the highlights - of Evelyn. It should be assumed that there are also infinite varieties of Evelyn which attempted to become a singer but failed early, or failed later, or failed to break out of her local market, or failed to gain international recognition, etc, etc, etc. But she's only going to leap into the highest points, as she is getting thrown through the landscape of the multiverse. You see glimpses of this as they search for Evelyns to jump to, they have to be 'close' and reachable by improbable actions which Evelyn is capable of performing. The fundamental nature of reality is not fundamentally unknowable by humans. There is 1 thing that Joy did not explore: non-existence. Because existence is all there is. The entire universe springs forth from a single bit (literally, computationally, as in 0 or 1, answer to the question: Exists?). Existence establishes itself from the quantum foam. Filling "everything" and "everywhere" as it simply IS those things absent a universe with space and time, the only possible future for this bit is a sort of "splitting" of existence itself. Not splitting in two. A fractal splitting which is made of splits that are also made of splits, off into infinity, establishing the first distinction, and this fractal splitting of existence functions through fractal geometry establishes the spacetime we live within, not infinite, but of such magnitude that the appearance of infinity is unavoidable as the splitting continues for all of time (down well below the planck limit, the "visible universe" going inward/smaller being just as unreachable as the imagined interior of a black hole or beyond the light-cone of the unviverse, but finite nonethless). 'Meaning' is asking only for human approval of something which humans are only one geometric feature of. Asking "why" presume a conscious, if not entirely human, consciousness, and everything is so much more than that. Consciousness is just a property like warmth exuded from things formed as our brains and bodies are. And like properties, they require the medium they are a property of, as they are nothing without it (you can not hold 'warm' in your hand any more than you can hold a human 'soul' because both are just properties, not things).
I really loved the "nothing matters" scene.. made me think a lot.. I agree that on a cosmic scale, it might be so that nothing matters, but on a personal scale, everything matters.. having no overall meaning doesn't invalidate the meaning that your life or the life of your loved ones has to you
I have legitimately never cried so hard at a movie as I did watching this film. It's a treasure. And Joy is a queer icon - love her fit throughout the movie
My favorite thing was how, early on, we learn that this particular Evelyn can hop universes because she's literally - objectively - living her worst life... yet in the end, that's the life she chooses to continue living even though she could potentially merge with any of her other selves. Ie, no life is wasted. Even one that feels like it's going nowhere. There's always potential to find growth and meaning.
The Asians and most people nowadays live in fear of something bad will come, to the point we forget to be grateful with what we already have, forget to live and enjoy the moment.
that logic isn't really clicking with me can you break that down: She's capable of anything because she's so bad at everything?
@@springroll58 hahaha if so that gives me hope
@@springroll58 the way I see it the other versions of her wouldn't be able to master the skills of random Evelyns because for example the version that is a movie star and can fight made specific choices so those 2 things are what's she's best at if she got the headset to jump into another evelyn it might be one that only changed something small like not going to a concert the version she chooses is still pretty similar to her so with the Evelyn we know she can go from evelyn to Evelyn since she never became good at anything her mind is flexible enough to go into the most random Evelyns because it's easy for her to make completely different choices cause she never chose a dream and stuck with it. I hope this clears it up and that I didn't make it more confusing 💀
@@miguelsolis1832 makes sense!!! Keyword: bad at "Everything"
It was "In another life, I would be happy doing taxes and laundry with you." That really made me cry. There are times when I feel my partner is doing much better for themselves than I am and they might have done better without me, but knowing that even so, they would still choose to have me by their side totally wrecks me every time.
I broke down with that line too.
That part was my favorite from the movie. What a philosophically romantic thing to say.
Yeah that was a very good line
Yeah this is the line that made me bawl my eyes out until the credits rolled. I was in the middle of a divorce and the pain was _very_ fresh, and that line perfectly summed up how I felt about my marriage ending. I started thinking about an alternate timeline where our relationship did work out and I instantly became a blubbering mess.
It's the most romantic line Iver ever heard. So sweet
I also just love Waymond’s line of “we have to be kind especially when we dont know what’s going on”
Very honest words
So much violence before that part though
@@benzandpour Yeah so much violence that wasn't working out.
Brazil needs to understand that nowadays ngl
I cried like a baby to this quote, this movie is sooooo fucking good
The line "in a universe where we have hotdogs for fingers, we get very good _with out _*_feet_* ." legitimately makes me cry.
I fucking love this movie so much
Some serious All Tomorrows vibes. Like when the modular people learn to link up and build a human again.
Isn't it "we got good with our feet"?
Made me laugh out loud
never thought a scene where a woman with hotdog fingers plays the piano w her feet could make me cry so hard i got a headache but here we are
@@wat787 are you serious?
This movie is a masterpiece. Waymond had such an amazing heartfelt performance. My SO and I walked out much happier after finishing it.
i will never forget the "fight with kindness" message
I agree with you 100%. It made me reflect more than any other movie or book I've ever experienced. Masterpiece indeed.
@@LuisSierra42 Me either. I wanted to cry in that scene.
I saw it on acid with my wife, we we're balling in the theatre
Waymond really melted my heart
I’ve never seen a movie that made me flip between laughing and crying in rapid succession for such a long period of time.
this.
JoJo Rabbit did that for me.
I think this movie is up there with JoJo Rabbit at the top of my favorite films list
Yes
I did both at the same time, it was messy
@@spacesheep69 😆
What I love about this movie is that it doesn't seem to choose a single answer. It just presents you with a bunch of them, and let you decide for yourself. Maybe the meaning of life is kindness. Maybe we should cling to each other. Maybe we should learn to let go. Maybe it's all meaningless. Or rather... maybe it's everything, everywhere, all at once.
I see what you did there...
I love it when they say the title of a movie… AH!! There it is! 😃
I felt like it said that the meaning of life is whatever personal meaning you assign to it. On a multiversal scale nothing matters at all. But on a personal scale there's plenty of it because that's your objective reality. It means something to you, even if it means nothing to anything else.
I definitely don't think it was endorsing the meaningless everything bagel suicide as a valid choice, but I do get how you can come out of it with a bunch of different take aways :)
beautiful
I felt that Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was the perfect Optimistic Nihilism movie. It showed pretty definitively that nothing mattered but despite that, the characters that knew that fact best chose to embrace personal meaning. That's optimistic nihilism.
It is close to what Camus called the "Absurd".
Basically the absurdity of having to "feel" for a world that has no feelings for us in return.
Quite the movie indeed !
We must imagine Sisyphus as happy :)
Absurdism*
@@john.doe.845 Absurdism and ''the Absurd'' appears to be quite the same.
But thank you for the input ! Hope you enjoyed the movie as well !
@@gabrieltremblay6293 wasn’t responding to you but you right
Shortly after the rock scene started, I suddenly just burst into tears, and from that moment on they wouldn't stop flowing. Never had I shed tears in so many different ways. Sometimes happy, sad, relatable sad and happy tears, joy at the absurdity of the story. I saw this a month ago and I still think about it fondly. I know a movie is good for me when it can make me cry, and I know that even with just one viewing, it will stick with me strongly. I am in no rush to re-watch it, because I don't want to spoil it for myself. Like how maybe once a year you go out for a really expensive dinner for a birthday or something. That kind of thing.
I've seen it six times and am still not sick of it, haha. I'd definitely recommend catching it at least once more in the cinema if you have the chance.
The moment that caught me lacking was when she was pulling away from her husband and then a few scenes later, he shows up in the rich universe right with her as if no matter what, poor, ugly, broke, rich, sick, healthy they always find a way to meet and love each other no matter the dimension
Strange that made you cry. I was laughing hysterically at the rock scene. Truly the most absurd thing ever. Movie truly deserved its 11 Oscar nominations
@@andyigwe7119 It was a bizaare mix of happy and sad tears for me. There were new and familiar emotions that really hit me in the rock scene. I was laughing too, initially, but the tears grew along some weird realization.
The silence of that scene really kicked it off. The idea of existing without care. The want to not exist. To just be a rock. I'm still thinking about it, but it really caught me off guard. It was so sudden.
It was also the start of the emotional connection between the two. A realization, and a weakness, in the form of rocks. Both were being stubborn, but it ended up being the major tonal shift of the movie. For me
@girwanttaco Yes, the movie was a masterpiece. I had so many layers. Philosophical, funny , deep, sad etc. One of the best movies ever made, with top class acting throughout
I appreciated the film's literal reference to the "third eye" or brow chakra being open (and voluntarily stuck to Evelyn's face) once she realized that love and kindness would help her integrate and accept the duality and interconnectedness of everyone and everything in the multiverse or, said another way, the many realities that exist for each consciousness simultaneously.
Woah I totally missed that. I'm dumb
In the very first scene of the movie Evelyn is deep in her existential dred, but the alternate perspective is ever present (in this case on the bag of laundry in the top right of the shot). Waymond is literally offering his "silly" perspective throughout the movie, but she dismisses it as a stupid joke. Much like many viewers of the film can't see past the absurd cover and into the depth of the message. For me, the silliness helped me let my guard down and relax. Then the message could get straight to the heart. I couldn't get over how much they really doubled down on the "lesbian with worst enemy hotdog fingers Evelyn" universe XD.
@@MichaelRawlence lol exactly and those hotdog finger scenes are gold
Wow this film was so well written. To be able to integrate the "third eye" and Yin and Yang aspects.
In a pretty childish and cute way 🥰
This movie gels with my worldview perfectly. Nothing matters, so be kind. I love it. The world would be a much better place if more people embraced this philosophy. There is no meaning to life and the universe we find ourselves in can be a cruel, callous place, so create your own meaning, and in the meantime, treat others with love.
This, totally this!
this is exactly my philosophy as well !!
Unfortunately many people cling to an inherent meaning in their life and are willing to fight/silence/kill anyone who threatens that perception of meaning... religions in particular present the exact opposite conclusions of this movie
I dislike when people say nothing matters. That is a lie. None of us will ever live long enough for our actions to actually produce non-consequential results. Meaning, everything you do WILL matter in your own, your childrens, and your childrens childrens lifetimes. For nothing we do to matter, we have to live long enough to see humanity go extinct. Thankfully, none of us will, so point is: saying that nothing matters, unless you are speaking from the perspective of an immortal entity capable of witnessing the entire lifespan of stars and by extension their surrounding planets, is a lie. Everything we do DOES matter in the span of our and our childrens lives. That is the correct way to look at things, given that we are humans that only live for 80-100 years at most, and not gods that live for eternity.
Sadly people don’t think that way. I think many warmongers know that life doesn’t matter so that’s why they crave power. To feel some kind of meaning.
I never cried as much to a movie as to this one. Holy crap it's good. Normally I can just watch a movie, and shake it off and go on with my life. For this one I had to sit down for a couple of hours just to digest it.
To each their own. The movie style didn't quite mesh with me and I was bored throughout, with some entertaining bits here and there. That being said, it's great so many people are loving it.
As a depressed individual who can relate to identity crisis and aimlessness, I did not see much beyond the same old "you're never truly alone, nothing matters but hey that's a good thing...somehow, so just don't kill yourself because you cannot find meaning in your life." I thought it would face suicide more directly but it didn't.
It was a good movie, had some funny moments (but nothing like people exaggerate down below), good illustration of the complexity behind human thought, and it was nice to see that human suffering, nihilism and existentialism were talked about openly...but humans are sadly still stupid stupid creatures and we are potentially trapped in a world destined to one day be destroyed while we tell ourselves wonderous stories of salvation while most of us have nobody who can understand each other or at least love for a few moments in time.
@@aefgagaefgag493 nice to see someone that feels that way too, amongst all the people hyped after the movie. I was so bored I feel asleep about 4 times, and I’ve never fell asleep in a movie theater in the past like 10 years 😅
yah my friends and I left the theatre in silence lmao. Felt like we had just left a concert, so much energy in our bodies from the film
@@aefgagaefgag493 yeah its weird its getting raved about on UA-cam and IMDb but I know 8 people who have seen it all different ages backgrounds etc and the responses ranged from bleh/so-so to downright hate. Personally I liked some of the concepts but it just reminded me of a meme compilation with some pop psych and a cartoon version of what the multiverse is, which is fine but to me that alone isn’t enough and I didn’t love the director’s concept
Best movie in decades. Never really had an answer for "what's your favorite movie" but now I do.
same
I was literally asked what my favorite movie was by my date before this movie started, and I couldn't decide. When it ended, we both looked at each other and said it was our new favorite. Holy cow, what an experience.
Same.
Now I can answer both
What's your fav movie and series.
EEAAO and Bojack
@@necromancer2367 same
sameee
You seem to have missed the one really novel point about determinism that made this movie for me: The way they switched timelines in ridiculous ways. Essentially I read it as we all have a destiny, but there's an option if we don't like it, and that's to do something you would never do.
Determinism is the worst. And yes, you are right.
Exactly! Nobody seems to talk about the absurd things you have to do to verse jump to another alternate of you is actually author’s way of conveying that you have to break the routine to be someone different than who you are at the moment.
@@erdemalegoz1816 exactly. The ego likes routine. It likes the stories it tells itself about what and who it is. It's familiar, but familiar isn't always fulfilling. There's something mysterious and wondrous going on, that with the right motivation, we can override ego, break our own programming & install something new.
Shout out to the Joy/Jobu actress! She did amazing in this movie. Brought boat loads of personality to the role with a very vibrant cast. This is one of those movies you hope they play for teens to help change a generation for the better.
Her name is Stephanie Hsu and she was brilliant
@@sayjaibao01188 she was as good as everyone else, which is quite an accomplishment, because the acting in this film is off the charts good. In other films sometimes one actor is so tremendously good that the others seem not as good. But in this film everyone was fantastic and worthy of the rest. It is like magic.
@sayjaibao011 and she an now been nominated for an OSCAR. I had never even heard of this movie before and it came out a year ago. But after the OSCAR nomination and going to watch a trailer my mind was blown already by the 2 min trailer. Had to go watch the full movie immediately afterwards
What perfect timing. Just watched it this past weekend and was left shocked at how impactful the message was.
same
That's not perfect timing, it just started streaming
@@Chris-rg6nm probably in your country, sometimes the rest of the world doesn't get movies at the same time
The movie references the word for 'universe' or 'cosmos' in Chinese; 宇宙 (yǔzhòu), which also returns in Japanese with the same characters as 'uchū'.
The characters, taken together, mean 'everything', and apart mean 'all directions' and 'all of time'.
The 2 circles what grabbed my attention.:
First THE BEAGLE!
Duḥkha (/ˈduːkə/; Sanskrit: दुःख; Pāli: dukkha) is translated in Buddhism as suffering, but the etymology of the word is really interesting, it means bad (du) kha (hole). (It refers to the hole of a wheel, what if it's bad, makes your journey .... like as you travel by a 3 wheeled car.) In Greek the word Khaos is described as "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty." Our zero is an empty circle for a reason. Kha the snake also represents chaos and the emptiness of a hole. In Buddhism emptiness in a sense is potentiality. You get where I'm going with this circling back to Buddhism. Zen circle which also represents both the universe and the void.
Then THE GOOGLY EYE!
On the other hand, we have an inverse hole.White on the outside, black on the inside. A reverse beagle. The third eye, the insight, the enlightenment. Buddhism for a time was seen by outsiders as a form of nihilism. If everything is empty, if nothing exists in itself, if everything is in your mind, or if everything is just an illusion why would you be anything other than a nihilist. There were multiple elegant solutions, but most of them told the same story. Even if the world is illusory a fictional character can also affect a fictional event. Or if it's more your liking, the essence of reality is change, and it is without a self, but because of those parameters, you can escape suffering. If you are beyond suffering, then you can be kind to those who suffer. If nothing really matters to you, and everything to everybody else, then why won't you be kind to those under the illusion of reality?
10/10
💯
"For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love." -Carl Sagan
" Shit and pheces " - my ass
When i watched this, i saw myself and my SO in Evelyn and Waymond respectively. I'm practical and utilitarian to a fault, where my words unintentionally hurt. Meanwhile, she's the exact opposite, soft and more compassionate than i could ever be. And when CEO Waymond had his speech, and Prime Waymond begged for people to be kind to each other, it tore my heart apart because it was a reminder of how much i truly have even when i don't see it. And "if nothing matters in the end, just be kind" are words i bear in mind daily.
I have never had a filmgoing experience where I have heard people laughing so hard they struggled to breathe and then openly weeping later on.
I don't know about all the philosophy but this is in all likelihood going to be the best movie I have seen or will see this year.
"Every rejection, every disappointment has led you to this moment. Don't let anything distract you from it."
"There is always something to love"
These quotes encapsulate the core message of the movie: Pay attention. The meaning, beauty, and love is right here, right now, in each moment. Not somewhere else. We suffer b/c we refuse to accept things as they are, in the mistaken assumption that something "better" exists in some other place or time. We cant find the peace, or meaning, we seek b/c in our ignorance we believe it will result from improving our conditions. The problem with this assumption is that is that it's already here, so by seeking it, we fail to see what's right under our noses.
So we should never try to change just do nothing ?? Be lazy??
@@smartwater598 No, but you ask a very common and understandable question. "If I accept that everything I want is already here, where will my motivation come from?" It will come from love. It will come from a desire to show appreciation for your gifts by using them to love and serve others, which often means working hard to improve skills, solve problems, etc. But finding happiness or peace is not the motivation for the hard work. The motivation is simply service and love. Someone filled with gratitude and love is not lazy or apathetic. Quite the opposite, they are inspired, and full of energy and drive. But they are also not caught in illusion that only after they "fix" things, will they find peace or happiness.
Hard work doesnt require dissatisfaction with what you have.
@@gmuel87 amazing response. You won’t lose motivation. It’ll just be channeled and manifested through overflowing love and acceptance, instead of fear of rejection and self hatred
I want to say I love both your responses, but I disagree - "The meaning, beauty, and love is right here, right now, in each moment." Tell that to a child who is abused daily, or a woman who is too scared to get out of a bad situation for fear her sig oth might kill her. No, love, beauty, meaning is not here in each moment. It's a beautiful platitude and you wield it VERY well, but it's not reality.
"We suffer b/c we... " We suffer because there is no meaning to this, or any life. And life is inherently unfair. Your platitude is wonderful for someone who's never truly faced adversity, but it doesn't help the people whose lives are actually bad. It just makes them feel worse that they can't actually enjoy those "moments" that you describe. You think telling the woman who's beaten every day to just "stop and look at the beauty" will suddenly make her life better? Come on now. I think we both know better than that.
I love your messages here. But they aren't reality. Not even close. Not for most people.
@@BrienDoesIt it’s true some suffering cannot be ameliorated by some happy thoughts. There are situations in which this kind of spiritual knowing won’t be enough. That is to say for every religion or philosophy or whatever it is that helps us through our day. There are some things we just HAVE to feel, and things that are just simply horrible. Things that can’t be controlled by thought alone. The point of this is to cherish and be grateful for our blessings and it simultaneously isn’t ignoring everything else bad.
the gist I took away from this movie is actually something that really aligns with my own personal philosophy! that yes, while Tabacki is objectively correct, problems and meaninglessness are a true constant in all universes, that means problem _solving_ and _creating_ meaning can happen after that fact. never say things will be better, but always say things *can* be better. live for that fact.
Well said! Reminds me of Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, where pain and suffering is always a reality but we can always make our own personal meaning, and in turn the purpose/passion to live.
Jobaku
I like this comment, very well said about the gist of movie. The book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck" by Mark Manson also talks similar life philosophies shown in the movie, it's a must read. When I watched the film and read this comment it reminded me of this book.
"Things can be better" opens up the possibilities that it's possible. :-)
I haven't heard anyone mention the depiction of the mother daughter relationship in this movie is so absurd yet so spot on that I was crying at the end of this movie. The push pull nature of the daughter wanting her mother's support and at the same time no giving a f*** if she approves or not and what lengths a mother would go through for her child are so well represented in this movie it is almost ridiculous. I do not know what the rock scene made me cry more than anything. This movie right here just got me in all the feels.
i’m in my mid-20’s so i’m trying to make sense out of life. idea that there’s no meaning at all and you should create meaning for yourself crossed my mind a lot of times. but it’s still hard to fully embrace it. those moments of happiness are truly worth it, but they’re rare
I always took existentialism as saying that each individual person has to choose their own meaning for life.
That is… choosing what they live for and why. Nobody can tell you that your reason for living is wrong, because there is no right answer to being alive.
Think about why you thought there was meaning in the first place. Why humans feel entitled to it, like the universe needs to provide it, but it's just elusive. That's not reason, but romanticism, and it's painting meaninglessness in a drab and bleak light, when in reality things have always just been and happened without rhyme or reason. You were born as a cosmic fluke, and you'll return to nowhere you were before, but in the meantime you can just pet dogs, listen to music, eat pizza, and spend time with whomever you're into.
Just know you're loved.
@@psypsy751 What is really scary, is that some of us felt that we have got it all figured out. This goes equally true for both narcissus and optimists.
@@psypsy751 this really depends on what you believe. You state that "you were born as a cosmic fluke" but many people don't believe that. You are speaking from a very specific perspective but relaying it as undisputable fact.
I do like this reading… i think it also overlooks a few things.
I took away that if pain, death, and meaninglessness is the one constant in the vast multiverse: then choosing to create and the act of creating & embracing love / joy is only made more important since it is so rare. Her daughter is named Joy, so she literally chooses to embrace "Joy" when faced with existential nothingness.
2, even if it seems futile, we should still strive toward love and try to do things that help minimize the suffering of others (“I love you kung fu”). by choosing to love her “enemies” they both “win”.
In her own multiverse, she can be wealthy or super strong, but those versions lack love. Our Evelyn has an abundance of love, and her love is what saves the multiverse.
And then 3, Joy sees the world in black and white: win or lose, love or pain, all or nothing….a binary.
her mother challenges her binary thinking by changing the “or” to an “and”. Life becomes suffering and joy…yin AND yang.
Brilliant!
That's a great analysis!
Wow 🔥
This movie has hands-down the best characterization of chaotic evil versus chaotic good
Who's the chaotic good?
@@Dan1elAndrade the main character at the end. she has chaos powers and chose to use them to express love for her daughter.
I think raising the point on Evelyn facing Joy’s henchmen with their fears is an interesting point that I’d like to think about more! With the line between fear and hope and how close in proximity they are to each other. Like say with the married henchmen, one can fear they won’t find love someday, and one can hope love comes their way someday; those are two similar but different ways of thought, and ways to deal with uncertainty. In the uncertainty that fills one with the knowledge that an infinite multiverse exists, one will be filled with fear and hope, two similar and yet very different things. One might as well take the hopeful route and make meaning while they can, even if it is for a few specks of time. Focus on the rights and constants of your universe and the multiverse. Listen to each other (like Evelyn learned to do), be kind (Like Waymond taught), and embrace yourself (like Joy wanted)
This movie made me feel more appreciative of life, no matter how mundane it may feel at times.
I think it healed me...I was experiencing existential crisis. But this film taught there are always other possibilities
me too ✨
You described Evelyn as having 'mundane existential despair', which to me sounds like melancholy - an ongoing inability to mourn, or find catharsis, for something you've lost. In this case it is all the lost opportunities or divergent paths in her life. The movie channels this feeling to the Asian-American community - parents who gave up a lot to find a better future for their children, children who feel alienated from their parents and caught in two different cultures & worlds. A philosopher I would suggest that explores this is David Eng in his book Racial Melancholia.
I never once cried to a weird and amazing storytelling. I felt the pain of their kid and also the pain and love of Waymond and So's struggle about her dreams and regrets and family pain.
the thing that caught my attention the most while watching this movie was how insignificant we are compared to the vastness of the world.
At the beginning of the movie, Evelyn cared about every little thing in life, because she thought that if she worked hard enough, she could make her life successful, thinking that success is the most important thing in life.
Then, joy says that everything we do is pointless.
1. If the ENTIRE world can be put on a BAGEL, everything that we find important or cherish must be as insignificant as a speck of dust.
2. She sees that every choice made in life, no matter how big or small, will create another universe and make our lives completely different in that universe. Our lives can be completely different just by switching our shoes around, so we can’t change our own lives with the 0.00001% of variables that we have control over.
3. Since everything will be destroyed by time in the end, so we actually can't control ANYTHING in the world at all.
Therefore, she came to the conclusion of "nothing matters".
waymond uses a different perspective. Although we can't control anything, we have to cherish the things we can control - that is, to love others. We are insignificant, but we are blessed with the ability of kindness to bring joy to ourselves and others. Bringing love and joy into our lives and other people’s lives is what it means to live. We will all disappear from this world eventually, but that's what makes our happiness in the current moment so important, which is why he lives by being kind.
This made Evelyn understand what is really important in life. Everything that people pursue - money, fame, other people’s opinions - is just a speck of dust in the vastness of the world, so is the small things in life that Evelyn is worried about ; they are not important. In the end, Evelyn refocuses her life on her daughter and husband, because the most important thing in her life is her family that loves her and brings her happiness.
This movie had me mind blown like the Matrix did back in 1999 but in a totally different way. Matrix introduced me to spirituality, 23 years later, being a super spiritual dude myself. This movie feels like the Matrix Sequel my generation deserved, and it felt like a worthy parallel to my spiritual awareness up to this point. On a side note, seeing Jamie Lee Curtis in a comedy role was something I didn't even know I needed!
I adore this film. I certainly don't know philosophy like you all but it was a wonderfully absurd romp into fun.
It is a lot like Rick and Morty but with a less pessimistic message
I cry pretty easily at movies but never cried as much as with this one, it felt like I went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions by the end of it. Definitely my favorite movie of this year, maybe of all time!
This movie has the unique opportunity to introduce, with goofy levity, some very dark philosophical ideas like nihilism, absurdism, and general existentialism into the cultural mainstream.
Richard and Mortimer did that almost 8 years ago but this definitely will introduce more plp to them
I appreciate the conclusion that while the universe may be meaningless, we create meaning in our own lives. To get into pedantics, what is meaning anyway? One could argue that only conscious being can create or observe meaning, ergo meaning is something we make, like art. The universe, without conscious beings, wouldn't have artistic expression (though it may have natural beauty) but that doesn't make art inherently aberrant or nonexistent. Clearly, art exists. Living beings make it. Therefore, the meaning of one's life is created as well. Our lives are indeed a kind of art.
I especially loved Waymond's call for people to be kind, because in the face of nihilism, pessimism, and existentialism, kindness is really one of the only tonics that can make life in society worth living. Having friends and lovers to be kind to, being courteous to strangers so their lives are a little bit easier, allows the weight of life to be bearable. Being kind promotes tranquility, which Stoics and Buddhists alike will say is the state of being most desirable to attain. We may not be able to be happy all the time, but a certain amount of peace -with our selves, with our confusing world, with our vast universe- is attainable by human beings, and kindness is a key to achieving and maintaining it.
The whole cinema cried during some parts in this movie. I live in an Asian country and this movie resonates very well with Asian because most of us goes through similar things in Asian family.
This movie was such a different experience to me personally. I cried and my heart went for Waymond. Choosing kindness and optimism to win the fight was the best part. It does feel nothing matters at times but we do live for little moments like joy said.
Take the bagel and the Googly eye as directly opposite symbols. Bagel is nothing in the middle of everything, googly eye is something in the middle of nothing. Very clean way to encapsulate the conflicting ideologies of daughter and father and really cool how the latter literally becomes a third eye for Evelyn
I hadn't realized this - great catch!!
Its the Yin and Yang. The good in the bad and the bad in good
Best film of 2022!!! I’m so glad more and more people are finding this gem of a film. It’s so creative and heartwarming. Everyone involved in the making of this film deserve their accolades and more.
And its been acknowledged with 11 OSCAR nomination
This is probably the best movie I have ever seen in my life. It takes amazing talent to make so many people sob over rocks with googly eyes glued onto them rolling down a hill.
The most beautifull what-the-fuck-did-I-just-watched-?-movie I've ever seen, and the best movie I've seen this whole year.
For such a long time my favorite movie was Mr.Nobody because no film has been able to recreate the chaos and intensity. Then this film came along and shattered my whole idea of what a film could be. Its now my favorite film and for good reason, im grateful they took a chance with this film
been waiting for this one😍😍
Honestly finally I’ve been waiting for this video for months lol.
fucking same
Just do Platinum Cookies it is the best. Also get a hobby. When I am learning French. Focus on learning french. Also therapy. Lot of Therapy and smoking on mimosas. Every thing is kosher.
It didnt came out where I live until 2 weeks ago, lol
Sameeeeee
@@undeadblizzard Huh?
I loved your take on the movie and I couldn't agree more. I think nihilistic thoughts and beliefs are inevitable for atheists and agnostics alike, but some of us are able to still find meaning and things that are of value to us within the context of our reality while still acknowledging that in a grand scheme of things, we will all perish one day and our existence is an unnoticeable speck within the grand universe. Especially during the pandemic when most of us felt the vulnerabilities of our societies and became truly aware of many things that are beyond our control, I think this is the exact movie we needed. I am so grateful for this movie and to have been able to experience it multiple times in movie theaters.
I don’t think it’s so complicated, when nothing seems to matter, the connections we make give us what to care for. Jobu reaching for the bagel felt as dark as a few months ago when I wanted to let go of everything but all it takes is a moment to see that there are others, there is someone reaching out. Connections
I'm happy for you, stranger
“I would have loved doing laundry and taxes with you.” 😭
My favorite film since I don't know when. Maybe ever, honestly.
since morbius
EEAAO was even better than I expected; best gawd damn movie I've seen in a LONG, LONG TIME. The entire cast was SO FLIPPIN EPIC and drove the movie to a level I did not expect. I enjoyed it and can't wait to see it again. And again. And again. ps: FUCK SUPER HERO'S. As Michelle Yeoh said in an interview, "we ALL possess a superpower, right here, right now, it's called BEING KIND." I absoluntely LOVE HER.
I’m not a student of philosophy, I’m a student of consciousness which I believe philosophy is a cerebral attempt at.
To me, the 3 characters represent the 3 core aspects of our experience on earth.
We’re mundane and frustrated no matter what life offers.
We’re chaotic and expressive but rageful and unkind.
And we’re love, which is fundamentally what the universe is made of.
As the journeys progress, the contrast between the experiences grows and a dark night of the soul results, where the chaos and meaninglessness of reality dominates. But her heart has been opened by her daughter, so the actually most wise and thus innocent of them all, her husband, could get through with love.
The unification of all realities then let her accept her mundane reality, but with an understanding of herself, so she could show up more presently, and if the film continued, likely create actually quite a lot of success and loving experiences from here.
I’m excited for where these writers go next… and I feel if they brought the focus to energetic alignment, an even more penetrative and relatable movie to the current zeitgeist could be the result. This is very close to my heart and where my focus is now
What an amazing film!! I saw it once myself with my partner, but it was too much to take in one sitting. So I took my mom to see it on Mother's Day, and I'm so glad I did. Perfect mother/daughter experience, especially considering that I've attempted to commit Minecraft before. It really spoke to that. By the end, we were holding hands and crying together-- we had the whole theater to ourselves, so the emotions really poured out. It was such a cathartic moment for us. Take ya moms to see this one, *SERIOUSLY!*
Minecraft is terrible.
@@thersten Yeah, I know. But I was a hormonal teenager without foresight and way too much ego. It hurt my family much more than it hurt me, and I regret being so selfish.
I took my mother. She did not get it. I was sad but not surprised. Confirmed a lifetime of miscommunication. I am not giving up on everything else in the universe, but I am a little bit letting that one just be.
@@NatManzano It's good you made the effort! Be a googly eye, even if everyone hates it! 🤪
Saw this a couple weeks ago and when it got to the part at the end, I was overcome with emotions. This movie was a masterpiece of existential proportions ;-)
Are you Muslim?
Love this! Though wish there had been a little more weaving in of the lovely Eastern philosophical themes as well--they played so well with the Western philosophical themes present in the movie.
I wonder if that's because western philosophical themes are wrapped up so much in religion while eastern themes seem to be more religion neutral.
@@Alverant Daoism, which is probably the Eastern philosophy one would first consider in relation to this movie, is also a religion.
I would guess that’s because the wisecrack writers are simply much more well versed in western philosophy, since that’s what gets focused on in philosophy education the most
@@wilhelmmcginnis1292 for sure, and I understand sticking to what you know. I just think it would have been even more satisfying and complete had they done it
For me, it can be both. I'm Catholic by environment and Chinese by birth. Taoism and Buddhist' Koan are very apparent in this movie. Especially, I see that there is correlation between Buddhism and Dunning-Kruger effect of spirituality :
- Evelyn on Mount Stupid, thinks that she knows what best
- Joy on Despair stage, feeling lost
- Waymond on Enlightenment, already past the despair stage and reach wisdom.
Yet, I can also see the three wisdom of Bible :
- Waymond -- Proverbs, tells us that life can be good if we do the right thing (i.e., the wise thing).
- Joy -- Ecclesiastes, tells us that life will end no matter what we do.
- Evelyn -- Job, tells us that life can be painful even if we do the right thing.
I forget where I heard this, but it pretty much sums up the theme, "when nothing matters, everything matters."
EEAAO is the best film of year...so far. Yet, I don't know what other film coming out this year can dethrone it for me. Cinematically, the film hits every note perfectly. It is a masterpiece and a certified classic. This film deserves all the nominations, all the accolades, and all the awards this award season.
Yeah idk what else is coming out that could top this. Truly transformative cinema right here
Everything everywhere all at once is one of the best masterpieces of our time. And the sad thing is people won’t realize it. I honestly laughed, loved, and cried. We need more movies like this. It’s frankly a breath of fresh air in cinema and it took risks and made a beautiful story of forgiveness and kindness. It’s a beautiful story of fighting to heal. This will definitely be a comfort movie for me.
The googly eye as a third eye is just the best symbolism out there, it encapsulates perfectly the message of the movie and represents how with the knowledge of the universe, Evelyn comes to the conclusion that Waymond is right and meaning can be found in kindness and the little things in life
This is the best movie I've seen in years. It's a beautiful journey to reconcile with entropy.
This movie made me go through so many emotions and I could fully understand why. I think I do now and it makes the movie even more special
Learning about Camus and absurdism probably saved my life years ago when I was in a pit of depression. This movie made my heart so happy
Never thought I'd watch a film so closely aligned with the philosophy espoused in the book of Ecclesiastes but here we are. What an excellent work of art.
Yes, my thoughts exactly.
So glad you took your time to dissect this before releasing anything! Always love your take
as a Christian who believes there's meaning to life, i found this movie to be really intriguing and the philosophies presented were eye opening and rawly encapsulating of the human condition. i liked it. i tend to remember a time where i really was walking in selflessness and that was the time i was the happiest, i can attest. be kind. it reminds me of the two commandments of Jesus: love God, love others. simple truths but profound meaning behind them.
Hmm you must have missed those porn moments like anal plug, dildo swinging, hot dog lesbian finger sucking scenes.
I actually saw Waymond and Evelyn as Christ archetypes. The Climax of the Film is kinda just straight up the Gospel, "He has reconciled all things to himself." Even Evelyn's saving of Jobu from the Bagel was a kind of "Harrowing of Hell." The Atonement Theory called, "Christus Victor" was displayed well in the final battle. It's kind of amazing how so many people are able to take away so many different things from this movie. Absolutely fantastic film!
@@mcmbslipknotmcr it’s the dumbest film ever.
@@darklen14 ratio
I completely agree. we as humans can't control anything in life - all we can do is love God and others as much as we can, since NOTHING matters more than love, which transcends time unlike anything else in the world.
i love that absurdist philosophy finally has consumable media to point to when asked wtf that is.
There is a youtube video by The Passion of the Nerd that explains why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is absurdist. It is the one that talks about the episode Amends and it is beautiful to watch. Especially if you like Buffy, but I think you can also enjoy it separately if you do not mind the spoilers.
I love how when Joy tried to explain her new relationship to her grandpa, she literally couldn't "speak his language" and her mom stepped in and gave an ultimately untruthful explanation, but one he could understand. I feel it's very representative of the current generational climate, I know I've definitely had that experience with my own parents/grandparents; your parents get it more then you grandparents do but something still always gets lost in translation as you go up the line.
YEEESSS! Just came back from the theater for a second time for this masterpeice! Hits me in the feels, embraces the absurd, and even gives me HOPE!
Actually my favorite line was "I was hoping you would see something I didn't. That you would convince me there was another way." That really teared me up. There are just times that we fight so hard but deep inside want to be proven wrong. And the hollowness of winning is nothing but devastating...
I got the pleasure of seeing this movie when it first came out, and WHAT a ride it was. I freely admit, I cried several times during this movie, but laughed so hard at others. I wish I could recommend this movie to other people, but it's really hard to explain the movie in a way that really sells it, or explain it without dropping big spoilers. I've tried to sell this to friends, family, and coworkers, and so so far only a few have given it a watch. I will say everyone that saw it walked away from it with a lot emotions. Not everyone enjoyed it, but it left a very strong impression on them.
Funny, to some people, it makes people depress where they everything life meaningless, but for people like me, it sets me free. People would often ask why would I continue moving my life optimistically if it doesn't matter? My answer would be sincere. Because it matters to me. I rather live in the moment and experience life, the good or bad, because I see life as a journey, not a destination. We are not getting out of here alive, so might as well have one hell of time. The Sublime sets me free, being insignificant, but doing what I want to do anyways. Good video! Keep up the great content Wisecrack!
As a woman with adhd who wasn't diagnosed until a few years ago at 25, this is the only film where I've ever really felt seen and spoken to
I had my gf watch this because she struggles to understand what my adhd is like...lol...afterward she said " that must be exhausting"
I think what the movie is trying to say is that love will bring meaning to our lives and that finding someone that is kind and patient makes life worth living and finding meaning and even pleasure in the mundane and unremarkable is indeed enough to appreciate life. It is weird for me being such a cynic to enjoy and appreciate this type of message but that is the takeaway I got from this movie
To quote the 20th Century’s greatest philosopher “What is mind? Doesn’t matter. What is matter? Never mind.”
I just finished it and watching this video with tears running down my face
I loved this movie and I love your video on it. The philosophical meaning behind it made the emotional message so much more powerful and I love that philosophers are constantly trying to answer these abstract and difficult questions. I always find myself replaying parts of your videos though as they are so dense with information and hard-to-pronounce names. Is there any further reading or external sources you could give that could keep guiding me on my quest for meaning?? thanks so much Wisecrack 😊 🙏
Literally the best version of a multiverse ever on the big screen.
What struck me about this movie was how powerfully emotional it was; yet how its comedy was intertwined with its absurdity and its meaning. It spoke to me that absurd human existence, the stupid illogical and nonsensical happenings all around us, can be looked at and laughed in its face, and by doing so we find meaning.
and again. skipping a Wisecrack video until I've seen the film was really worth the wait! especially for this one you need to go in blind
Beyond the topic of soul death, Evelyn achieved a state Joseph Campbell talked about, “magician, transforming the dragon”.
People need to watch Mr. Nobody from 2009. I know it never went to theaters and never made a ton of money but it does so much and tackles so many of these questions in a much better way IMO. That movie left me spiritually heavy hit.
I was going to see this in cinema but it barely stayed in my home town for a week and it was gone. I waaaaay overestimated how much time I had to see it. :(
It’s on Prime now
I know how you feel. I had to drive 50 miles to go see this movie.
@@melissamuldoon74 Thanks! :)
"I know you see yourself as a fighter, I do too. This is how I fight." ah that one had me crying.
This movie was phenomenal. I'd put good money on it doing VERY well at the Oscars next year
we can hope
Look how it all comes around 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
And they've just won it in 2023! As it should...
@@khadijahkamili2203 to quote a movie “That’s a bingo!”
I cried when raccacconie and chad got separated as Evelyn reflected on the bagel and laughed when she was fighting the kung fu master guards with trophy butt plugs.
10/10 best movie
I loved this movie so much. I can’t wait to buy it because I want to rewatch it a million times
I watched this film for 15 times already (no joke) and it never failed to make me cry every single time. Glad this premiered on our local theater last week even though only for a day.
Best movie of 2022, hotdog hands down
Only movie to ever make me cry
Everywhere Everything All at Once. At the core of the film basically has the same philosophy I adopted when I was in high school, junior year. I felt a connection to this movie so profound I’ll never forget it. Life, has no inherent meaning. But you can give life meaning, you can make your life worth meaning by MAKING meaning itself and finding a purpose you desire. It’s worked out pretty well, I have my dream job and while I struggle with intense bouts of sadness when I get moved away from my adopted meaning. It’s only a sign that I have to re-centrer myself, a center I created. That feeling, there isn’t anything like it.
I’ve been waiting for this video since this movie came out!
This movie is absolutely phenomenal and has so many layers you can peel apart if you really want to. Whether it's the internet culture, the comments on nihilism, the experience of personal growth and self actualization, the affects of trauma building our life experiences, the actual framework of life and possibility, and so much much more.
Hell, it's just a good movie if you want just something to "watch". The emotions I felt and the things I thought were so deep, and I don't know if I'll ever find a movie that can do this for me again...
This is what art in cinema should look like.
this is one of the best movies ive seen. i interpreted it through a fairly dark lens but i felt it handled my thoughts well.
This movie is absolutely brilliant, and I'm glad you're covering it and putting in your two cents. I think this movie should be talked about more.
This movie is, hot-dog hands down, my new favorite.
You've skipped out on arguably the best piece written on this topic...
"If a sense of the absurd is a way of perceiving our true situation (even though the situation is not absurd until the perception arises), then what reason can we have to resent or escape it? Like the capacity for epistemological skepticism, it results from the ability to understand our human limitations. It need not be a matter for agony unless we make it so. Nor need it evoke a defiant contempt of fate that allows us to feel brave or proud. Such dramatics, even if carried on in private, betray a failure to appreciate the cosmic unimportance of the situation. If, sub specie aeternitatis, there is no reason to believe that anything matters, then that doesn't matter either, and we can approach our absurd lives with irony instead of heroism or despair."
-Thomas Nagel
basically...absurdism
Even though she saw how meaningless life is she still chose to be optimistic and love her family. What a wonderful movie that shows that even though we're different in any shapes and form, we still choose to love and be happy.
If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do.
The philosophy of Everything Everywhere All At Once is.... correct. Just, through and through, correct. I have never had a more joyful experience watching a film. From the beginning to the very end, every single moment of this film filled me with unimaginable delight. I think watching this movie could qualify as therapy. And if shown to everyone in the world, it could heal the world. And make no mistake, I watch movies all the time. I am a huge film nerd. Last night I watched a terrible film called "Sexsquatch", a no-budget indie film that attempts comedy and fails utterly. I will watch absolutely anything. But even after watching thousands of films, nothing was like Everything Everywhere All At Once. I have particularly high standards for films that address philosophical concerns, whether explicitly or implicitly. I studied philosophy in college (alongside computer science) so I can usually pick up on what people reference, what school of thought they're coming from, etc. They're usually right about a couple things and wrong on every single other point. Everything Everywhere All At Once, though, was correct in every frame.
I found it profoundly comforting to see that there is at least 1 human being on the planet who understands just how great "everything" is, just how various a "multiverse" would be (without going overboard and being stupid. Humans COULD have evolved to have hotdog fingers, no question. But cats could not have evolved to lead the nation, learned to speak, etc. There's simply no causal chain in which that is plausible while the hotdog fingers would require only a few mutations.), and how a person with a good imagination could and would actually USE omnipotence if given the chance. The conception most people have of what an omnipotent force would do is so fantastically limited that it makes me concerned for the future of the human species as a supposedly-sapient species. But Everything Everywhere All At Once shows my worries were unfounded. People will be alright.
The reason it might seem that every incarnation of Evelyn was destined to have a specific purpose is because they are only seeking out some variations - the highlights - of Evelyn. It should be assumed that there are also infinite varieties of Evelyn which attempted to become a singer but failed early, or failed later, or failed to break out of her local market, or failed to gain international recognition, etc, etc, etc. But she's only going to leap into the highest points, as she is getting thrown through the landscape of the multiverse. You see glimpses of this as they search for Evelyns to jump to, they have to be 'close' and reachable by improbable actions which Evelyn is capable of performing.
The fundamental nature of reality is not fundamentally unknowable by humans. There is 1 thing that Joy did not explore: non-existence. Because existence is all there is. The entire universe springs forth from a single bit (literally, computationally, as in 0 or 1, answer to the question: Exists?). Existence establishes itself from the quantum foam. Filling "everything" and "everywhere" as it simply IS those things absent a universe with space and time, the only possible future for this bit is a sort of "splitting" of existence itself. Not splitting in two. A fractal splitting which is made of splits that are also made of splits, off into infinity, establishing the first distinction, and this fractal splitting of existence functions through fractal geometry establishes the spacetime we live within, not infinite, but of such magnitude that the appearance of infinity is unavoidable as the splitting continues for all of time (down well below the planck limit, the "visible universe" going inward/smaller being just as unreachable as the imagined interior of a black hole or beyond the light-cone of the unviverse, but finite nonethless). 'Meaning' is asking only for human approval of something which humans are only one geometric feature of. Asking "why" presume a conscious, if not entirely human, consciousness, and everything is so much more than that. Consciousness is just a property like warmth exuded from things formed as our brains and bodies are. And like properties, they require the medium they are a property of, as they are nothing without it (you can not hold 'warm' in your hand any more than you can hold a human 'soul' because both are just properties, not things).
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I really loved the "nothing matters" scene.. made me think a lot.. I agree that on a cosmic scale, it might be so that nothing matters, but on a personal scale, everything matters.. having no overall meaning doesn't invalidate the meaning that your life or the life of your loved ones has to you
I have legitimately never cried so hard at a movie as I did watching this film. It's a treasure. And Joy is a queer icon - love her fit throughout the movie