films – Ripple Effects

‘Materialists’ is a film Jane Austen would like

Marketed as a romantic comedy, Materialists, Celine Song’s (Past Lives, 2023) second film defies categorization. Released by A24 just in time to greet summer viewers, the film isn’t quite like your traditional rom-coms. There are no LOL moments, but there’s humour throughout that elicits knowing chuckles. No slapstick acts, but movement made by the actors are often subtle but notable.

The opening scene is a fitting prelude. A caveman courting his sweetheart, slipping onto her finger a ring made from the delicate stem of a tiny flower. Right after that, a stark change of scenery with a busy New York streetscape accompanied by the beat of Cat Power’s ‘Manhattan’, and the title credits begin to flash on screen. Tale as old as time… from prehistoric to modern day.

We see Lucy (Dakota Johnson) walk on in New York City with perky confidence, a successful matchmaker who has seen nine pairs of her clients tie the knot, so far. Lucy exudes such upbeat positivity that she can stop a man on the street and ask outright if he’s single, then hands him her business card. She possesses ‘an eagle eye for chemistry’, an expert in linking her clients by checking all the boxes for the right match: looks, age, height, weight, family background, education, income. Like transactions in the financial market, in Lucy’s business, people are the commodity, numbers on a spreadsheet. Materialistic measures reign supreme in a dating service.

The satirical vibe is obvious. Isn’t that a modern-day parallel of Jane Austen’s time, where successful matrimony is dependent on financial compatibility. Pride and Prejudice (1813) is a prime example. Such is the view held by Mr. Darcy at first, and the reason why Lady Catherine de Bourgh is so furious when she sees an inferior nobody dares to compete with her own daughter. As for Mrs. Bennet, marrying up for money is what she dreams of for her five daughters. Only the heroic Elizabeth Bennet is brave enough to challenge the social norm and insists on her own criterion for marriage: love.

Soon after the opening of Materialists, we come to the inciting incident. In her client’s wedding banquet Lucy meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), the brother of the groom. He checks every box: handsome, dripping rich, living in a $12 million Manhattan suite, 6 ft. tall, working in a family-owned private equity firm (is it still considered ‘work’?) a perfect 10 as a potential client. But Harry is not interested in Lucy as a matchmaker, but a date.

As fate has it, in that same event, Lucy’s ex, John (Chris Evans), reappears in her life as a catering waiter. John is a struggling actor, trying to make ends meet, still sharing an apartment with roommates. Past memories flood back to them. Here we see a relational triangle similar to Song’s debut work, Past Lives. Thus kicks off the storyline, who does Lucy choose? A question as old as time. And for Lucy, the modern-day career woman who handles transactions that deal with external measures only, does love have a place?

Song writes about what she knows, as Past Lives is autobiographical, Materialists is, interestingly, based on her stint as a matchmaker in NYC some years ago. As a director whose debut film was nominated for two Oscars, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, Song has proven herself to be a versatile filmmaker who can break out of the indie mode into the limelight of popular features.

The camera is a definite asset. Cinematographer Shabier Kirchner used 35mm film to shoot, bringing out cinematic aesthetics of old. Most notable is his camera work, many shots letting a still camera capture the nuances of two characters facing each other talking, maintaining a slower pace to allow the characters, and the viewers, to soak up the atmosphere and the deeper meaning of the conversations, an obvious digression from the breezy, traditional rom-coms.

When viewers drop their own preconception of the actors’ previous roles, Evans as Captain America, Johnson her Fifty Shades sequences, and Pascal the apocalyptic survivor, the trio works well each in their own way. But the one that deserves mention is the supporting actress Zoe Winters who plays Sophie. The twists and turns of the storyline switch the second half of the movie to a different drive, one that feels like a suspense drama, and Winters delivers with heart-stirring effects.

My main issue with the movie, however, is probably related to Song being such a brilliant wordsmith in creating dialogues. In writing and especially now in a visual medium, the ‘show not tell’ axiom is all the more crucial. This is even more true when the subject matter is love. Other than hearing the word uttered, the film isn’t convincing enough to show the presence of that affective bond of passion which is so crucial in the ultimate outcome. ‘Love is a mystery,’ Song has said in her interviews. Such a mystery through the ages needs to be represented on screen by actions instead of just being mouthed in words.

Nevertheless, overall, Song needs to be congratulated on transitioning from the indie to the mainstream arena with popular stars, and helming a production with her own style of cinematic artistry.

So what if Materialists doesn’t fit the mold of a rom-com? Why need to box it into a genre? As the opening credits state, and it’s a good description: ‘A Celine Song Film’. Let it be its own genre, the writer-director is in a class of her own. A very pleasant movie not just for the summer season, and one I’m sure Jane Austen herself would like to watch.

~ ~ ~ Ripples

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Click here to read my Ripple Review of Past Lives

Heading to Cannes… in my mind

I’m watching closely the Cannes Film Festival taking place right now. While my tour is virtual and imaginary, I look forward to TIFF in September when I go to Toronto, as some of these Cannes selections might reprise there.

So, if I were in Cannes now, this would be my list of films to watch (links for related films in the list below are to my Ripple reviews):

TÔI YAMANAMINO HIKARI (A PALE VIEW OF HILLS) directed by Ishikawa Kei

The English translation quickly draws me in: A PALE VIEW OF HILLS is the first novel (1982) by Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. An introspection of a Japanese woman living alone in England, spanning decades of life from post-WWII Japan to her resettling in a foreign country. Past memories intermingle with present day reality. Ishiguro is adroit in psychological narratives. I’m curious to see if the film lives up to his credit. Time to reread.

ELEANOR THE GREAT directed by Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut. Eleanor moves to New York City at age 90 for a fresh start and befriends a 19-year-old student. What an idea: A fresh start at 90. Even more amazing in real life, for 95 year-old June Squibb could well be the oldest actor still working, and just recently acclaimed for her performance in Thelma (2025). For those with a longer memory, Squibb was an Oscar nominee for best supporting actress playing Kate Grant in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (2013).

THE MASTERMIND directed by Kelly Reichardt

Kelly Reichardt is one of my all-time favourite directors. A look back at her works Wendy and Lucy (2008), Certain Women (2016), First Cow (2019), has piqued my curiosity in how she’d handle this art heist movie, Reichardt’s sensitive rendering of a more popular themed, mainstream subject. And the cast here is a huge attraction: Gaby Hoffman (Field of Dreams, 1989), Josh O’Connor (The Crown, 2020; Emma, 2020), and John Magaro (First Cow, 2019; Past Lives, 2023).

Nouvelle Vague (NEW WAVE) directed by Richard Linklater

I was captivated by Linklater’s Before trilogy back in the days… Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013). But he’d shown his versatility by other more subsequent titles such as Boyhood (2014), and Hit Man (2023). Now in 2025, he dives into the French New Waves, his first French language film, creating a making-of feature in black and white to chronicle the shooting of Jean-Luc Godard’s classic Breathless (À Bout De Souffle), which premiered at Cannes in 1960. I anticipate an articulate and adroit handling of this homage to the French cinematic legacy.

VIE PRIVEE (A PRIVATE LIFE) directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

We know Jodie Foster can speak French, but can she master the language in a full feature film showcased in Cannes, France. I sure hope so because the audience there can be very direct and umm… expressive in showing their love or disapproval. Foster plays a renowned psychiatrist investigating the death of one of her patients. The French cast includes Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 2007; The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014) and Virginie Efira (2023 César Awards Best Actress winner for Revoir Paris)

Sentimental Value directed by Joachim Trier

Four years after The Worst Person in the World with which his star Renate Reinsve won Best Actress at Cannes and Trier went on to be nominated at the Oscars for his screenplay and his film representing Norway for Best International Feature Film, now director and star reunite to bring us a story exploring family, memories, and the power of art. Cast includes Stellan Skarsgard and Elle Fanning.

Left-Handed Girl directed by Shi-Ching Tsou

What attracts me to this film, first is the title, then is the face of the little girl. What’s more intriguing is that Tsou’s directorial debut is produced, edited and co-written by Sean Baker, the US director who won the Palme d’Or last year with Anora, a feature that later went on to win five Oscars. The Left-handed Girl follows a single mother and her two daughters striving to adapt to a new environment in bustling Taipei as they open a stall at a night market.

Renoir directed by Chie Hayakawa

Hayakawa’s first feature film Plan 75 (2022) premiered at Cannes and won the Golden Camera award. It was Japan’s official entry to the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars in 2023. Renoir is Hayakawa’s second film, a coming-of-age story of a sensitive eleven year-old girl growing up in 1980’s Tokyo, living with a stressed-out mother and a terminally ill father. Cast includes Hirokazu Koreeda’s favourite actor Lily Franky (2018 Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, Like Father, Like Son, 2013)

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‘His Three Daughters’ is a Rare Gem

In the midst of spectacles and action thrillers coming out nowadays, it’s refreshing to see a quiet gem has arrived on Netflix. His Three Daughters focuses on a topic common in real life and in movies, siblings coming back to their ailing parents’ home to prepare for their final parting. Maybe to offset such a heavy subject matter some of these movies are handled in a comedic or even farcical way, This is Where I Leave You (2014) and August: Osage County (2013) come to mind. In contrast, writer director Azazel Jacobs in His Three Daughters (2023) confronts the subject in a realistic and mindful way, eliciting from his three main actors honest and powerful performance. Jacobs is apt too in infusing witty dialogues and subtle humour. What a gratifying turn from his previous film French Exit (2020).

Under one roof in their father’s NYC apartment, three estranged sisters learn to live with each other once again. Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age) is the eldest daughter Katie, the take-charge type, from cooking, dealing with palliative nurses, getting a DNR (do-not-resuscitate) form signed by the father before he slips away, to writing his obituary while micro managing her teenage daughter at home in Brooklyn. Her intolerance of her stepsister Rachel (Natasha Lyonne, Orange is the New Black) who smokes weed and bets on sport games constitutes the main conflict in the sibling relationships. Trying to mediate between the two is Christina (Elizabeth Olsen, Sorry for your Loss) who is always reconciliatory. She’s preoccupied with her young daughter and husband at home far away across the country.

As for the father, he remains unseen behind closed or slightly opened door in his bedroom, his presence only denoted by the rhythmic beeping of the monitor to which he’s hooked up. Such concealing allows the viewers to focus on the trio, for what’s equally pressing is the rebuilding of sisterhood and the way to move forward after their father is gone. Dying relationships among the living are crying out to be heard and reconciled.

Rachel has been living in the apartment with their father all along, while the other two sisters just recently arrive to take care of things at this final stage of their father’s life. New house rules are set up. A pivotal scene comes when Rachel’s friend Benjy (Jovan Adepo) confronts the other two sisters as he points out the reality of their family dynamics. A new perspective begins to sink in as they come to realize their own shortfalls, a reality check that doesn’t go down easy for anyone.

In this chamber piece rich in dialogues, Coon, Lyonne, and Olsen are impeccable in displaying the raw and honest emotions of sibling love, hate, overt and hidden sentiments they hold against each other. But the overall mood is not all serious and somber. There’s underlying humour throughout, especially the opening scene, which reminds me of early Woody Allen works. Music is minimal to amplify the conversations, silence to enhance tension and ambivalence. Despite being shot inside an apartment with minimal exterior scenes, the camera is effective in conveying suspense, loss, and love.

As for the twist towards the end, it’s open to interpretations; however, it does seem incongruent with the earlier part. To avoid spoilers, I won’t be discussing it here. No matter, it’s the process reaching to the end that’s what the film so powerfully depicts. I hope to see more of this kind of cinematic gems to appear in theatres and on streaming platforms.

~ ~ ~ 1/2 Ripples

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Related posts on Ripple Effects:

August: Osage County, Play and Movie Review

The Savages, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney

Book to Screen in Development 2024 and Beyond

Last post I listed some adaptations from books to the big and small screens coming out this fall in the festival circuit or via streaming platforms. Here are more titles currently in development or in production.

James (2024) by Percival Everett

Stephen Spielberg executive producer, in pre-production, to be directed by Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, 2019) James is Percival Everett’s re-imagination of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of escaped slave Jim. Currently, the highly acclaimed novel is long-listed for this year’s Booker Prize. Short list will come out Sept. 16 and James is expected to be on there. This is the second movie adaptation of Everett’s novels. After the success last year of his Erasure being turned into the Oscar winning American Fiction–for Best Adapted Screenplay–James is a highly anticipated encore.

Hamnet (2020) by Maggie O’Farrell

Another one on Stephen Spielberg’s list as producer, now in production. The adaptation of O’Farrell’s novel is directed by Nomadland’s Oscar winning Chloé Zhao, with a talented British cast: Jessie Buckley, Emily Watson, Paul Mescal, and Joe Alwyn. The book is a fictional account of Shakespeare and his wife’s loving relationship with their son Hamnet and their coping with his tragic death at the age of eleven. Zhao’s previous films (before Marvel’s The Eternals) are nuanced and soulful cinematic works. I look forward to her helming this adaptation about love and grief.

Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder (2024) by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s personal account of the traumatic, life altering event of being stabbed multiple times while on stage in upstate New York, August 2022, and his slow and painful recuperation. Ironically, he was speaking on the topic of keeping writers safe. His memoir will be adapted to the screen by the Oscar winning documentarian Alex Gibney. I’ve given this book 4 stars on Goodreads, was totally riveted by Rushdie’s writing. Hope Gibney’s is an effective documentation and a cautionary testimonial to safeguard artists from harm.

The Chronicles of Narnia (1950’s) by C. S. Lewis

After crashing the glass ceiling, catapulting Barbie to a record $1.4 billion box office sale by a sole woman director, Greta Gerwig is tasked to write and helm at least two of C. S. Lewis’s beloved children series as Netflix films. In a BBC interview, Gerwig said: “I’m slightly in the place of terror because I really do have such reverence for Narnia… I’m intimidated by doing this. It’s something that feels like a worthy thing to be intimidated by.” Let’s hope her fear is a driving force to push her towards excellence in adapting this meaningful book series.

Crying in H Mart (2021) by Michelle Zauner

Poignant memoir of Zauner’s, singer songwriter of the band Japanese Breakfast, about her rediscovery of her Korean heritage and reestablishing a deeper mother-daughter relationship through food and cooking… alas, after her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis. As an Asian American, her father is Caucasian of Jewish heritage, Zauner’s book is a new and significant voice. She is writing the script herself, Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) directing. Zauner will create the soundtrack with her group Japanese Breakfast. The memoir is an American Book Award winner (2022) and the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography, 55 weeks in the NYT Bestseller list.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (2022) by Gabrielle Zevin

Here’s another contemporary, literary voice from a biracial American writer. Like H Mart author Zauner, Zevin’s father is of Jewish and mother Korean heritage. Its title alluding to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a unique and original story about self, love, and video games. Goodreads Choice Awards in Fiction (2022) and top book of the year on numerous lists, and one of my best reads last year. Excited to find out that Paramount Pictures had acquired the film rights even before the book was published, and recently learned that Siân Heder, the Oscar winning director of CODA (2021), has signed on to direct.

The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016) by Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware’s popular suspense thriller takes place on a cruise ship, with British star Keira Knightley on board as a journalist who is the only eyewitness to a murder. The Netflix movie will be directed by Simon Stone (The Dig, 2021). Other Ruth Ware books on the drawing board for adaptation are The Turn of the Key and The It Girl. No further info on these.

Run Rose Run (2022) by Dolly Parton and James Patterson

Dolly Parton and country music fans take note, the legendary singer’s dip into the literary ink pot with her first fiction, a thriller she co-wrote with James Patterson, is to be adapted onto screen. The NYT bestseller about a young singer songwriter on the rise and on the run will be produced by Reese Witherspoon.

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Do you have any books you’d like to see adapted to a movie or TV series?

From Book to Screen 2024 Fall

Late August kicks off the annual film festival season, and come September, arrays of new offerings on streaming platforms. I haven’t done actual research, but just a feeling that nowadays, more and more movies are adapted from printed sources. The following is a list of upcoming books adapted to full features in theatres, or TV movies and series for streaming:

Conclave by Robert Harris (2016)

International Premiere at TIFF in September, in theatres November. Directed by Edward Berger (2023 Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front) with a stellar cast led by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow. Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011) adapts from Harris’s novel revealing the dark secrets and intrigues in the intense proceedings in electing a new Pope.

The Critic or Curtain Call (2015) by Anthony Quinn

Had its world premiere at TIFF last year and slowly trickling to theatres this September. Directed by Anand Tucker (Girl with a Pearl Earring, 2003) with an exciting British cast with Ian McKellen as the eponymous, acerbic critic, his power and influence affecting many. Co-stars include Lesley Manville, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Romola Gerai, Ben Barnes.

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (1971)

10 episodes on Peacock, remake of the iconic 70’s movie. Political thriller recounting the plot to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle after he signed the treaty leading to Algeria’s independence. In this new version, Eddie Redmayne is the assassin Jackal.

Disclaimer by Renée Knight (2015)

Oscar winning director Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, 2018) helms a stellar cast including Cate Blanchett, Lesley Manville, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee. A mini-series where Blanchett plays a TV documentary journalist who exposes dark secrets of others is threatened with the revealing of her own past. Canadian premiere at TIFF in September, mini series on Apple TV+

Here, graphic novel (2014) by on Richard McGuire

McGuire’s works are multi-faceted and highly acclaimed, as permanent collections at MoMA, The Morgan Library and others, print form in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Le Monde… Can a movie version do justice to this multi-talented artist? The team that made the eras-spanning Forrest Gump (1994), director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Eric Roth, star Tom Hanks and Robin Wright re-unite to bring us Here. Interesting addition to the cast that I look forward to is Michelle Dockery. In theatre come November.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

The National Book Award winning novel of 2022, a genre defying writing that fuses a novel and a screenplay. The story of a young Chinese American actor struggling to escape stereotypical roles in Hollywood. Stand-up comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang (Crazy Rich Asians, 2018) stars. 10 episodes on Hulu.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019)

New York Film Festival’s (Sept. 27 – Oct. 14) opening film. The winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is adapted into film with the title slightly changed to Nickel Boys. Friendship between two Black teenagers in the notorious reform institution, the Dozier School for Boys in Jim Crow-era Florida sustains the two of them during their harrowing residency.

The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (2016)

Liptrot’s award winning memoir of her troubled past is adapted to the screen and directed by Nora Fingscheidt (The Unforgivable, 2021) starring Saoirse Ronan. From wild living and alcoholic ruin in London, Liptrot rehabilitates herself as she seeks the sanctuary of nature and her childhood home in Orkney off the northeastern coast of Scotland.

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand (2018)

A Nantucket-set wedding disrupted by a murder which makes everyone a suspect. Goodreads declares Hilderbrand “the queen of the summer beach read.” Nicole Kidman, Live Schreiber, Dakota Fanning anchor the Netflix mini-series coming out in September.

The Return based on The Odyssey by Homer (ca. 8^th– 7^th C. BC)

World premiere at TIFF, in theatres December. Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus, returning home to Ithaca after the Trojan War and misadventures twenty years later to find his kingdom changed. Juliette Binoche is the patient wife Penelope, trying to buy time to wait for his return and at the same time warding off unruly suitors. Son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) not so patient.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire (1995)

Based on the musical, which in turn adapted from the book by L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), this new rendition as a movie is directed by Jon M. Chu (In the Heights, 2021; Crazy Rich Asians, 2018) Cynthia Erivo (Harriet, 2019) and Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, 2020-2024) star.

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More to come…

Ripples from the 2024 Oscar Nominations

The 96th Academy Awards nominations were announced on January 23. To Oscar watchers, the Best Picture list is no surprise. All the ten movies have been garnering praises all along in the past year. Here are some ripples from Arti’s Pond. My views may not reflect yours, so, you’re welcome to throw in your two pebbles to generate yours.

This year the nominations are voted by members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 93 countries, over 9,400 eligible voters. Here are the ten Best Picture nominees with links to my full review and others a capsule review here.

Here are the Best Picture Nominees for the 96th Academy Awards:

American Fiction –– My favourite of all the nominees that I have watched on this list. Clever, funny, and superbly performed. While I haven’t read the literary source Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, I find the movie in itself thought-provoking, well-edited, and with a relevant, hilarious twist at the end. A heartfelt description of family relations while presenting an acerbic satire on racial stereotyping in the publishing industry, extending to the general American society. Winner of TIFF’s People’s Choice Awards last September, a choice, I suppose, is easier for us unhindered outsiders to make. 5 Oscar noms.

Anatomy of a Fall –– My full review here. 5 Oscar noms.

Barbie –– While Greta Gerwig is one of my favourite film writers, directors, and actors, I’m afraid I don’t share the enthusiasm of the populist. Is it that hard to imagine a girl growing up just might not like dolls and least of all a Barbie, and who averts anything pink? Exactly, it’s hard for me to embrace the movie that is a sensory overload of objects I’m apathetic about. Nevertheless, I must say, Greta, your dealing with existential issues of being and nothingness using a doll is ingenious. Above all, you’re bold to laugh at Mattel, Man and Money. Biggest irony is, in laughing at the three M’s you’re raking in billions of box office sales. 8 Oscar noms

The Holdovers –– My full review here. 5 Oscar noms.

Killers of the Flower Moon –– A typical Martin Scorsese film with in-depth storytelling using his trump cards, strong character actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. How the discovery of oil brings not only wealth to the Osage people but grief and heartbreak is a chapter in early FBI history. But the movie doesn’t focus so much on the FBI investigation but the dubious marriage relationship between Earnest (DiCaprio) and Molly (Lily Gladstone). As I watched, I was thinking if I were the editor, I’d cut out an hour of its 3 hours 26 mins length and it can still run smoothly. A breakout performance for Gladstone. I first saw her in Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women and later in First Cow, but Scorsese has brought out the strong actress in her. 10 Oscar noms

Maestro –– As a Leonard Bernstein fan since my college days, still have his book The Joy of Music on my shelf, his LP box album of the complete Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies with the NY Philharmonic in my LP collections, I’m disappointed that Bradley Cooper chooses to depict the side of the iconic composer, conductor, pianist, educator and writer that is the most disturbing and least admirable, i.e. his betrayal of his devoted wife. Of course, it makes sensational movie materials. Cooper’s portrayal comes off as flippant and cocky. Yes, Carey Mulligan deserves an Oscar nom after putting up with all those smoking and having had to inhale constantly as well. 7 Oscar noms.

Oppenheimer –– You might be surprised, but I still haven’t watched this Oscar frontrunner with 13 noms and for some reasons, have a weak desire to. Go ahead, psychoanalyze me.

Past Lives –– My full review here. 2 Oscar noms.

Poor Things –– It’s all good with fantastic set design and art rendering, fresh and meaningful storyline touching on existential issues behind its comic veneer. An adult behaving like a child isn’t anything new, we see these bodies almost everyday, but Emma Stone as Bella makes it entertaining, enlightening and thought-provoking. Mark Ruffalo deserves an Oscar nom. Brilliant LOL scene where he tries to pair with Bella’s crazy dance moves to deflect her oddity on the dance floor. All good except one section that I feel is gratuitous on the part of director Yorgos Lanthimos and that’s the Paris chapter where Bella works as a prostitute to earn money. No need to repeat her act with man after man after man. 11 Oscar noms.

The Zone of Interest –– On the top of my TBW list. 5 Oscar noms.

The 96th Academy Awards will take place Sunday, March 10, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

‘The Holdovers’ is easy viewing for the holidays

Alexander Payne’s newest feature is a pleasant dramedy for this coming holidays season. Set in a 1970 remote New England winter, boarding school history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is tasked with supervising the few students who can’t go home during Christmas break, the holdovers.

When a helicopter sent by one of the students’ rich daddy comes to pick up the group, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) is left behind as he is just like his cranky history teacher at Barton Academy, unpopular among his peers. Angus’ pain stems more from being abandoned by his mother who wants to spend Christmas with her new boyfriend alone. Together with the chief cook of the school Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a grieving mother who has just lost his son in Vietnam, three damaged souls are left to spend their winter holidays in an empty boarding school.

Payne has won two Oscars for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, for The Descendants (2011) and Sideways (2004), both with which he was also nominated for Directing. His third directing Oscar nom was for the black-and-white feature Nebraska (2014). Payne’s forte of capturing the humanity in conflicting relationships is apparent in his works. Such is the main drive and the fun found in The Holdovers, where we see Payne reunites with Sideways‘s Giamatti. The idea for the film came from a 1935 French movie, but interestingly, Payne chose to have the TV writer David Hemingson do the screenplay, his debut feature.

The story idea isn’t new, misfits thrown together in reluctant circumstances starting out repelling each other but through unexpected turns of events, human decency shines through. Watching The Holdovers brings back memories of Dead Poets Society and Scent of a Woman. But this is a much lighter and warmer feature with nonetheless poignancy towards the end. Payne’s signature style of sprinkling humour with pathos is prevalent here, at times even with slapstick, Chaplain-like actions added in. Later a road trip to Boston solidifies the unlikely companionship, events leading to the triumphant transformation of self for all three characters.

The 133-minute screen time could be tightened though, especially in the first part where it feels likes the story has not started until everyone has gone and only the three remaining characters are left in the empty school. It then picks up momentum when a road trip is in gear. The first part is set up for slow-paced viewing offering scenic New England in the snow; the song selections are appealing, and maybe with a touch of sarcasm. While waiting for the inciting turn to kick start the story, viewers can sit back and maybe for some, reminisce on their own prep school experiences.

He may be pompous and grumpy, Hunham’s sadistic approach to teaching just shows that his intention is genuine in preparing his students to enter Ivy League schools by their own academic merits and not because their fathers give money for a new building or a fancy gym. He even has the gall to fail a senator’s son, hence, his unpopular status among the principal, faculty, and needless to say, his students. As a classics and ancient history teacher, Hunham’s personal vernacular is where some of the humor lies. His lines are quotable quotes. Giamatti is perfectly cast, a natural in portraying such an eccentric. Come awards time, he is likely to be noted for his performance.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary is superb. Despite nursing deep loss, she is sensitive to others’ needs, a character foil against Hungham. her quiet presence exudes a much needed sensibility to balance out the incompatible trio. It’s always heartwarming to see human decency and kindness seep through the clouds of personal pain.

Sessa is discovered from an audition at an actual New England boarding school. It’s interesting that he looks more mature than a high school student. So, in that sense, he doesn’t seem to be a fitting cast. However, to make up for his appearance, his acting is natural and in this his movie debut, has shown himself to be a pristine actor with much potential.

The Holdovers could make another crowd pleasing Christmas movie with holding power in the years to come. It’s easy viewing and inviting for rewatch, especially to catch the quotable lines, Hunham style.

~ ~ ~ Ripples

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Related Ripple Review:

Nebraska (2013): Color is Superfluous

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” — Dead Poets Society

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ or how to dissect a marriage

In lieu of heading to Toronto for TIFF as in pre-Covid time, I stay put in my city hoping some of my anticipated films might trickle down. Of the nine titles on my to-be-watched list, only one came to the Calgary International Film Festival. I’m glad it’s this year’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.

French director Justine Triet is the third woman to have won the Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival’s top prize in sixty-eight years. The two previous winners were Julia Ducournau for Titane in 2021 and Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993. It’s interesting to note that Triet co-writes the screenplay with her husband Arthur Harari, encompassing English, French and a little German in the dialogues, showing how language can connect as well as alienate a couple depending upon the circumstance.

A teacher and struggling writer, Samuel (Samuel Theis) is found dead on the snow-covered ground of his chalet in the French Alp. The only other person in the house at that time is his wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller), a successful German novelist who has just finished an interview with a journalist in the living room, and loud music is on all this time from somewhere else in the house. The body is discovered by their eleven year-old son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who comes home after walking their family dog Snoop. Actually, it’s Snoop that first finds the body as Daniel is visually impaired.

Two possibilities are pondered in the investigation of the fall, suicide or murder, Samuel being pushed out of the balcony outside the high attic. The main segment of the film is the trial a year later of Sandra, the wife, who stands accused of murdering her husband, with their blind son the sole witness in the courtroom drama. Sandra seeks the help of an old friend Vincent (Swann Arlaud) to be her attorney. Vincent isn’t a high profile lawyer, but he’s empathetic and rational in his reasoning. Since accidental death is the least plausible in this case, the only option to defend his client is to present evidence for suicide. Sandra might look stoic and aloof but Vincent’s support is essential during such a difficult time.

Vincent (Swann Arlaud) and Sandra (Sandra Hüller) in *Anatomy of a Fall*

Intense and riveting throughout, Anatomy of a fall brings back the joy of pure cinema experience, that is, watching a film that’s made up of a well-crafted script delivered by superb acting, captured in astute camera work, especially with close-ups depicting the nuances of emotions, with no CGI effects, no car chases or apocalyptic explosions, just mere human interactions that speak volumes. And with that note, I must add too that sound or its absence is important in the film. From the loud music of a song by 50 Cent at the beginning to the piano pieces played by Daniel, extension of his inner struggles, all are crucial in the storytelling.

When a wife is on trial for the murder of her husband, every minute detail of their marital relationship will be dissected, dirty laundries aired out and conversations scrutinized without discretion. Out of consideration for not hurting Daniel’s feelings, he is excused on the day some raw evidence from a recording of a fight between his parents is to be played out in court, but he insists to be there. ‘I’ve already been hurt,’ he says.

And it is this voice recording––juxtaposed with flashback sequences for us viewers––that form the pivotal segment of the film, a highly charged, epitome of powerful acting especially from Hüller. It is also this raging recording that casts a doubt in Daniel’s mind regarding his mother, and a little clarity in understanding the balance of relational power between his parents. The flashback scene is for us viewers; in court, only the voices are heard. For Daniel, that is enough. What follows is the key to the the ingenuity of the script, leading to the eventual outcome of the trial.

Not only is her marriage on trial, Sandra’s own personal, psychological makeup is questioned. The prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz) uses anything he can find to create an image of Sandra being a cold and revengeful wife. The content of her novels are examined and taken as a revealing of her psyche. Herein lies an intriguing issue: can a work of fiction be used as evidence to incriminate its author in a court of law? For the prosecutor, to help his case, it’s convenient to equate Sandra’s novels as parallels of her real life. Defence lawyer Vincent is quick to rebut this reasoning, “is Stephen King a serial killer?”

The two and a half hour duration could have been tightened a bit, but sitting through it in the dark theatre with my sole attention drawn to the nuanced performance by the whole cast and in high anticipation of the trial result, I wasn’t aware of the time passing. Just found out France has submitted another film to enter the Best International Film category for 2024 Oscars, rendering Anatomy of a Fall out of the race in that category. Nevertheless, Hüller is worthy of a Best Actress Oscar nom, Machado Graner playing Daniel deserves some high praises, and Triet’s directing and her original screenplay need to be noted, the film could have a chance in the Best Picture category. Overall, a captivating work of suspense, character study, and intelligent filmmaking.

~ ~ ~ 1/2 Ripples

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TIFF 2023 Lineups and my TBW List

While Barbenheimer is dominating the box office, a phenomenon that coins a new word in our vernacular thanks to the simultaneous release of the two movies Barbie and Oppenheimer, my attention, however, is drawn to the lineups in the film festivals beginning the end of August with Venice and then the Toronto International Film Festival in September. All others follow in the fall.

I won’t be heading to TIFF this year but I do have a To Be Watched list after browsing through their lineups if any of these films ever show up in my city or for streaming. Do watch for these titles, as I’m sure you’d find some that pique your interest… and might show up in the Awards Seasons later this year. Here’s my list:

NYAD
International Premiere. True story of Diana Nyad, at age 64, became the first person to swim 110 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Starring Jodie Foster and Annette Bening, directed by the Oscar winning husband and wife adventure team Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Free Solo, 2019). Now, you might ask … who’s playing the swimmer Nyad?

Anatomy of a Fall
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, a French film directed by Justine Triet and starring German actress Sandra Hüller. A man is found dead and his wife is put on trial for his murder while their visually impaired son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness. Sounds most intriguing. Other than Cannes, the film has also won the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon
World Premiere. Documentary following America’s music icon Paul Simon into the studio making his new album Seven Psalms while looking back on his six-decade career from Sounds of Silence to Graceland.

North Star
World Premiere. Directorial debut of veteran British star Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, 1996) A family drama about three sisters returning home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother. The past and the future converge as mother and daughters reunite with some unexpected guests. Could be autobiographical.

The Critic
World Premiere. Adaptation of the 2015 novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. A mystery thriller storyline driven by ambitions and deceits in the theatre world. Directed by Anand Tucker (Girl with a Pearl Earring, 2003) with a wonderful UK cast including Lesley Manville, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Romola Garai, and Ian McKellen.

Monster
The North American Premiere of acclaimed Japanese auteur Hirokazu Koreeda, who is a master of family drama such as Shoplifters (2018), Our Little Sister (2015), and Like Father, Like Son (2013) From TIFF’s webpage, Monster is “a delicate story of love and humanity, a moral tale about school bullying, scored by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.”

Wildcat
Ethan Hawkes explores the life and art of writer Flannery O’Connor and featuring his daughter Maya Hawks as the titular character. Laura Linney in supporting role.

The Zone of Interest
Adaptation of Martin Amis’s 2015 Walter Scott Prize winning novel directed by Jonathan Glazer. Premiered at Cannes in May, garnering the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize. The story is a macabre juxtaposition of horror and a love affair between a Nazi officer the wife of the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Maestro
I placed it last on this list because it’s not at TIFF but in Venice, just a week before TIFF kicks off. The Maestro refers to the American legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, played by Bradley Cooper. The story explores his complex relationship with his wife Felicia, played by Carey Mulligan. High on my anticipation list. Bradley Cooper directs his second musician-based feature after A Star is Born (2018)

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‘Past Lives’ and the Road not Taken

Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) visits Nora (Greta Lee) in New York, a scene from “Past Lives”. Photo courtesy of Elevation Pictures

“Past Lives” is a meticulously crafted feature that is autobiographical in nature, naturalistic in style, and far-reaching in its resonance. The directorial debut of Korean-Canadian playwright Celine Song who is now based in the US, it premiered at Sundance early this year and subsequently was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the 73rd Berlinale. Most recently on July 2, its accolades continued at the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards winning Best Indie Film, Best Actress for Greta Lee and Best Screenplay for Song.

Nora (Greta Lee), immigrated to Canada from South Korea when she was twelve, following her parents’ decision. As a child, she has always been Na Young (Moon Seung-ah), now given a new name, Nora, by her father as they prepare to leave. Her departure severs a close tie with her childhood sweetheart Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim).

Twelve years later, Nora makes a move to New York City from Canada in pursuit of a career in writing, a decision this time of her own choosing. While there, she happens to come into contact with Hae Sung (Teo Too) online. The two meet again via texts and Skype but that connection is short-lived as Nora initiates a termination, for she wants to focus on her writing career and setting roots in her newly adopted home. Fast forward some more years, Hae Sung comes to New York in person to seek her out. Nora’s past thus re-emerges.

In a writer’s retreat, Nora meets Arthur (John Magaro) and they soon fall in love. When Hae Sung comes to New York, Nora has been married to Arthur for seven years. Despite being in a secure and loving marriage, Nora feels the conflicts of navigating between two men from the present and the past, as well as choosing a path for the future. ‘Yet knowing how way leads on to way’ as the poet Robert Frost poignantly utters, she laments the loss that comes with only one path to tread, one road to take.

While it may sound like a typical immigrant story–the ambivalence of losing and gaining as one makes decisions about leaving one’s homeland to start a new life in a foreign country–Nora’s narrative ripples out beyond the immigrant experience. We are all constrained by time and space. Somewhere in our life, we are bound to have left behind a part of ourselves, our childhood, our roots as we move forward to another stage of life.

In the opening bar scene where Nora sits in between her husband and her childhood sweetheart, she is the interpreter of two languages, navigating between cultures, and juggling two identities of self. Nora finds herself acting as an intermediary between two men who love her but in different ways and as a different persona, Nora and Na Young. This is a real-life scenario Song had once found herself in and which became the initial spark of the making of “Past Lives.”

Arthur is in an awkward situation. In one of the pivotal scenes, an intimate husband and wife conversation in bed, he tells Nora that she speaks Korean in her dreams, “there’s a part in you that I won’t be able to know.” That part is the first twelve years of Nora’s life where Arthur was absent and which Hae Sung longs to recapture. Arthur admits, “I can’t compete.” However, instead of handling the conflict as a clichéd love triangle, Song has turned it into a cinematic pondering of life choices, what one leaves behind and what one gains in a new chapter of life.

Magaro delivers a superb portrayal of the ambivalence in Arthur’s predicament. His screen presence and dialogues with Nora offer much clarity. As well, his is a character that has the power to elicit deep empathy from viewers, on top of adding some subtly humorous moments. I wish there is more of such screen time for this admirable role. Arthur’s mature love for Nora overrides any jealousy or traces of inferiority complex when Nora casually compares the two men, effectively shifting viewers’ attention from the reunion of childhood sweethearts to this third party, the loving and silent husband stepping aside to let his wife dwell on her past.

And Nora appreciates Arthur’s love, albeit it doesn’t eliminate the lament she feels about the loss of a former self. Having transplanted in New York City, she has gained a new cultural identity as a ‘Korean-American.’ After meeting Hae Sung again, she finds him firmly rooted as a ‘Korean-Korean.’ Song’s dialogues are astute. Lee’s screen presence is affable and nuanced, a pleasant character with whom viewers can readily empathize. Hae Sung seems to subscribe firmly in In-Yun, the Korean concept of predestined fate.

Young Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) and young Nora (Moon Seung-ah) part ways. Photo courtesy of Elevation Pictures

There is a recurring shot which speaks volume. A fork in the alley where young Hae Sung and Na Young walk home after school in Seoul. Two roads diverge. On the left is the boy continuing his way, on the right is his sweetheart, walking up the steps, two separate paths, two life trajectories. It’s not about taking the road less travelled as Frost would tell with a sigh, but the road not taken that keeps the traveller thinking what could have been. While such is a typical existential pondering of the immigrant experience as one leaves one’s homeland to start another life, it is also a universal question as we concede our limitation as humans, feeling the loss of opportunities or the what if’s with the road not taken. Song’s feature is like a visual depiction of Frost’s poem, illustrating a real life scenario.

Song excels here in elliptical storytelling. Some sequences are almost dreamlike with blocked-out dialogues, or a still camera pointing at Hae Sung and Nora gazing at each other in silence; viewers are free to imagine what’s going through their minds.

However, with the short 105 minutes film duration, I feel more time could have been spent on a deeper characterization of Hae Sung in Korea. What kind of a man has he grown into other than merely the soju drinking young man or later just the outward changes in appearance; and how he still clings to a childhood image of Na Young now that they are adults. If Hae Sung can be developed into a more solid, three-dimensional character instead of like a ghost of Nora Past, the conflicts could have a more powerful impact.

Surely, this is Nora’s story, and Lee has delivered effectively with pathos and realism. Further, Song has proven herself to be a filmmaker to watch in the future.

~ ~ ~ Ripples

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I thank Asian American Press for the permission to repost my review here in full.

Upcoming Books to Screen Reading List

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Towles’ 2016 novel is currently filming and will likely come out at the end of 2023 or early 2024. Ewan McGregor plays Count Alexander Rostov who, in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, is kept under house arrest in at the Metropol Hotel across the street from the Kremlin, a sentence laid down by a Bolshevik tribunal. The book is developed into an 8-episode TV series on Amazon. Quite an original story idea and the dramatization will likely liven up the seemingly mundane life of the aristocrat banished to the servants quarter of a luxury hotel.

Caste: The Origin of our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson

Oscar-nominated Ava DuVernay is producing, directing and writing the screen adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s critically acclaimed non-fiction work, using a multiple story structure to investigate the ‘unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions dating back generations.’ DuVernay has been a powerful filmmaker and spokesperson probing systemic inequality, the nation’s discriminatory past and present. Her works include Selma (2014), 13^th (2016), and When They See Us (2019). Caste will be a Netflix movie.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

The memoir of the lead musician of the indie pop band Japanese Breakfast is Goodreads Choice Awards for Memoir in 2022. Zauner movingly describes how she comes to terms with her identity as a Korean-American when she goes back to her root in Oregon to care for her mother suffering from terminal cancer. Music and food strengthen their bond. The actor in The White Lotus and director of The Electrical Life of Louis Wain Will Sharpe will direct. A casting call went out on Twitter to play Zauner on screen. Just a thought… Zauner could be a prime candidate to play herself.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

Where there’s oil, there will be blood. One of the most-touted movies of 2023 is this adaptation of the non-fiction book by Grann, winner of the 2018 Edgar Award. Grann chronicles the discovery of oil in the Osage County in Oklahoma where several of the natives there were murdered. The Osage Murders is the newly created FBI’s first big case, with its young director J. Edgar Hoover rising to the challenge. Premiered at Cannes in May and under the helm of Martin Scorsese, with a superb cast with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Brandon Fraser, Jesse Plemon, John Lithgow, and Tantoo Cardinal, herself a highly decorated Canadian aboriginal actress, the movie will be nothing short of epic.

Mrs. March by Virginia Feito

Reads like a Patricia Highsmith psychological novel with a touch of mystery… in particular, Edith’s Diary. Suspense novels nowadays often feature an unreliable narrator stringing out a sequence of events and perceptions that blur the line between reality and the delusionary. Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss’s new production company is developing the movie and Moss will play the title character. I’ve listened to the audiobook and look forward to seeing how Moss portrays the internal multiverse of Mrs. March. The old classic The Three Faces of Eve (1957) comes to mind. Feito is writing the screenplay.

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

Ruskovich is an O. Henry Prize winner and this her debut novel has garnered praises on its originality, masterful language and imagery. A family spending a hot August day in an Idaho mountain collecting birch wood faces a fateful turn in their lives. A psychological thriller exploring dementia and its ripple effects. The New Yorker review has this powerful statement: ‘The book is also an affecting portrait of how love can endure when memory fails.’ This one is high on my TBR list. Another title Elizabeth Moss’s new production company is developing.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

2022 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction. Here’s another example of some outstanding Asian American writers and artists not known for their mixed racial roots and identity but have approached the subject in their novels nonetheless. Zevin, whose mother is Korean and father Jewish, touches on such an issue from an original and fresh perspective: two young people meet in the real world of video game creation. I’ve listened to the audiobook and found it to be one of the most unique and interesting reads I’ve come across in recent years. Zevin’s other book The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is now streaming on various platforms.

The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis

British writer Martin Amis’s 2015 Walter Scott Prize winning novel is turned into a film directed by Jonathan Glazer. Premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and garnering the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize. The story is a macabre juxtaposition of horror and a love affair. The commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, and his wife strive to build an idyllic family home situated right next to the death camp. To add to the horrific irony and complexity, a Nazi official has an affair with the commandant’s wife. Critics have cited Amis’s book as a very different Holocaust novel, and the movie has now become a notable in the 2023 international awards circuit.

Emily Henry’s Books to Screen

For beach read fans, summer reading has to include Emily Henry’s novels. If you’re a fan of hers and like to see her works on screen, here’s the good news: all three of Henry’s popular books are in development into rom-coms:

People We Meet on Vacation
The 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards for Romance Novel is to be directed by Brett Haley. Screenwriter Yulin Kuang’s adapted script has already received endorsement and high praise from Henry herself.

Book Lovers
Two years in a row, Henry won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards for Romance with Book Lovers, perhaps a contemporary queen of the genre? Sarah Heyward is set to write the script, movie will be produced by Tango (Aftersun, 2022)

Beach Read
Just announced is that the Emmy nominated writer director Yulin Kuang, screenwriter for People We Meet on Vacation, is taking the helm to write and direct Beach Read, Henry’s third popular fiction to be transported onto screen. Contemporary rom-com, breezy, light, and… will it re-create the wave that Nora Ephron was once so well-known for?

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‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’: An After Oscar Review*

In this the universe that we all know, a movie from the indie studio A24 called “Everything Everywhere All at Once” just won seven Academy Awards out of its eleven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Editing. The date is March 12^th, 2023, at the 95^th Academy Awards held in the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles, California.

A historic night as this is the first Sci-Fi genre movie to win Best Picture, and Michelle Yeoh the first Asian to garner the Best Actress honor in the ninety-five years of Oscar history. As well, the movie has set a record of the most acting wins together with Best Picture and Best Director wins from a single movie. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is now A24’s highest-grossing feature of all time, surpassing $100 million at the box office. Surely there are still laundry and taxes to do, but at this point in time in this universe of ours, this is a defining moment in the film industry.

Oscar winning directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the Daniels, have created more than just a Sci-Fi movie. Calling it genre bending sounds outdated now as its multiverse jumping idea in their Best Original Screenplay fuses science fiction, action, comedy, and family drama all at once. Genre jumping might be a better term to describe the Daniels’ creative mode of filmmaking.

Never underestimate a middle age immigrant laundromat owner, wife and mother. Evelyn Wang (Yeoh) has lots on her plate as she has to deal with the mountainous paperwork facing an IRA audit, a daughter dangerously depressed, and husband Waymond initiating a divorce proceeding. Unbeknownst to her is that in another universe, she is Evelyn the superhero whose mission is to save the multiverse from the villain Jobu Tupaki, who, lo and behold, is her daughter Joy’s destructive alter ego.

Ke Huy Quan’s comeback to the acting scene after decades of absence and winning the Oscar Best Supporting Actor is extraordinary. Credits to the casting director (Sarah Halley Finn) and the Daniels’ foresight, for Quan is the perfect guy to play Waymond. His movie role and his real-life persona look to be a perfect match. Quan has won over sixty awards for this role and now garnering the ultimate acclaim. After his magnificent action sequences in the IRS building, the fanny pack just might enjoy a comeback as well.

From a background in New York City’s comedy and improv scene, Stephanie Hsu goes all out in her dual portrayal as Joy, the despondent daughter who feels unseen and unloved by her mother Evelyn, and her alter ego in another universe: Jobu Tupaki, the powerful and destructive villain in the multiverse taking everyone with her into a nihilistic hole, sucked into the everything bagel which she has created and pitted all her despair, pain and guilt on it, an absurdist escape from her meaningless existence.

Creating a multiverse action movie to tell a family story with all its generational dysfunction and disappointment is outside the box thinking. The Daniels’ concept and execution are audacious and innovative, incorporating multiple forms of visuals, animations, and symbolism. Every battle between Superhero Evelyn and Jobu Tupaki is a metaphor for the mother/daughter conflict. As a daughter whose self-image has hit rock bottom, Joy is in despair having failed to live up to her mother’s expectations, choosing to jump right into the everything bagel. Evelyn, not just a superhero but more importantly, a mother, fights to snatch her daughter back.

In a silent scene without spoken dialogues––a much-needed respite from the chaos and sensory overload––Joy the rock chooses to fall off the cliff into oblivion. And what does the mother rock do? She moves to the edge of the precipice and rolls down after her daughter. This may sound ludicrous, but this soundless scene with the two rocks is one of the most poignant cinematic moments in the movie.

IRS paper pusher Deirdre, played by Oscar winning Best Supporting Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, is a follower of Jobu Tupaki in another universe. Her interactions with Evelyn offer some of the spontaneous fun in the movie. Action comedy at its best, not just in the fight scenes, but also in the universe where they have hotdog fingers, their feet and toes ever versatile. Debussy would have been impressed to hear Deirdre’s version of ‘Clair de Lune’ on the piano.

The last person to make up the award-winning ensemble cast is 94 year-old James Hong as grandfather Gong Gong. Hong’s earliest roles in his seventy years of acting were with such classic figures like Cary Grant and Groucho Marx. Here his role is understated but nuanced. Just the scene in the elevator where Waymond urgently tells Evelyn her multiverse mission, using an umbrella to block out the security camera, the oblivious Gong Gong is sitting in his wheelchair casually picking his teeth, one of the many hilarious scenes in the movie.

Finished shooting in just thirty-eight days, the Covid lockdown gave Oscar winning editor Paul Rogers solitary time to complete a tall order, putting together scenes from multiple universes, of multiple timelines, and in extreme variation of locales, real and imaginary, to make sense of a story that needs multiple viewings for one to grasp its layered meaning.

Within the dense and oversaturated visuals and actions, the Daniels have packed in homages to iconic filmmakers like Wong Kar Wai and Stanley Krubrick, fun and significant insertions. Memorable is the scene emulating Wong’s “In the Mood for Love,” when Waymond reveals to Evelyn his romantic self: “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” This is the way he fights, with kindness and love. And that’s the key to Evelyn’s ultimate change.

And what’s with the googly eyes? That’s Waymond’s mark of existence, harmless fun. He puts them on everything. Evelyn dislikes them at the beginning. In the final battle against Jobu Tupaki and her forces, she puts one on her own forehead. Like a third eye, she begins to see things from a new perspective.

Waymond, seemingly weak, holds a powerful weapon: kindness. “This is how I fight,” he says, moving Evelyn to emulate in the last action scene. When everyone has their googly eyes on, their deadly weapons are turned into innocuous objects; a hand grenade now becomes a perfume atomizer. Universal human kindness wins the final battle.

Didn’t get the metaphors and wacky symbolism? Good reason to re-watch. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a movie that demands multiple viewings. Outside the box filmmaking requires outside the box viewing. Those familiar with the Marvel, DC, or Manga universes could be more ready to appreciate it.

A thought about diversity. The Daniels are themselves an exemplar of mixed-race collaboration. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” succeeds not just because of diversity but universality: The mother daughter reconciliation, the husband wife rekindling of first love, and the theme of kindness and love overcoming malice would override any specific cultural or racial border. And here’s my hope for the future of filmmaking, go for universality. That which joins us as a humanity will naturally include diversity. Specific representation is important, but the utopic end would be one when race and color are not the defining focus but the common ground that we share as a human society.

~ ~ ~ 1/2 Ripples

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*This article first appeared the day after the Oscars in Asian American Press, on Monday, March 13th. I thank AAPress for allowing me to re-post my review in full here on Ripple Effects.

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