Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, the phenomenon that is Everything Everywhere All At Once hits shelves. In addition to that masterpiece, the slate today also includes a pair of Criterion Collection releases. Read on for more…
Everything Everywhere All At Once
In rather short order, Everything Everywhere All At Once has become an all-timer. An instant classic, the Daniels have crafted something that will stand the test of time, without question. Not just a long needed star vehicle for international A-lister Michelle Yeoh, it captures the imagination in a very special way. When I wrote about the film’s success here, this was some of what I had to say:
That being said, the picture really is brilliant. An intimate tale of a mother and daughter couched in an epic, sprawling multiverse action-adventure? Yes please. Concerned with no less than the meaning of existence, the film still finds time for juvenile humor, sight gags, and references galore. Whether you like Pixar or Wong Kar-wai, there’s an homage for you. All this in a movie that asks you to seriously consider if existence is meaningless? Maybe it is, but maybe, it has more meaning than you ever could imagine? Truly terrific stuff.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t quickly mention how much I adored the rock universe within the film, as well as the homage to Ratatouille. The movie is emotional, funny, and constantly re-inventing itself. Both of the Daniels really have evolved as storytellers, while Yeoh, in my humble opinion, has never been better. Without question, this is one of 2022’s cinematic highlights so far.
A Banquet
Zero Contact
Okja
From The Criterion Collection: “Master genre exploder Bong Joon Ho swirls pathos, dark satire, action, and horror into an exhilarating twenty-first-century fairy tale. An all-star cast including Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, and Jake Gyllenhaal is led by An Seo Hyun as Mija, a South Korean girl growing up on an Edenic mountainside with her grandfather and best friend: Okja, a giant, empathetic “superpig” created as part of a secret GMO experiment. When Okja is abruptly torn away from her, Mija embarks on a perilous rescue mission that places her at the center of a sinister corporate conspiracy. While Bong’s trademark virtuosic set pieces dazzle, Okja’s beating heart is the connection between a girl and her superpig, made all the more poignant by the brilliant special effects that bring its animal star to unforgettable life.”
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The Virgin Suicides
From The Criterion Collection: “With this debut feature, Sofia Coppola announced her singular vision, exploring the aesthetics of femininity while illuminating the interior lives of young women. An adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’s highly acclaimed first novel, The Virgin Suicides conjures the ineffable melancholy of teenage longing and ennui in its story of the suicides of the five Lisbon sisters, stifled by the rules of their overprotective religious parents—as told through the collective memory of a group of men who were boys at the time and still yearn to understand what happened. Evoking its 1970s suburban setting through ethereal cinematography by Ed Lachman and an atmospheric score by Air, and featuring a magnetic performance by Kirsten Dunst, the film secured a place for its director in the landscape of American independent cinema and has become a coming-of-age touchstone.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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