In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.
Finishing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2022
#1 : Everything Everywhere All At Once
Even in the vastness of the multiverse, the chances of a film as boundlessly creative, heart-stoppingly emotional, and adrenaline-poundingly exciting as Everything Everywhere All At Once coming into existence is slim-to-none. To say that the Daniels’ follow-up to the barmy Swiss Army Man is a revelation is an understatement – its combination of crude comedy, surreal sci-fi, inventive action and epic emotional stakes make it one of the most magical, original movies in recent years.
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Skipping over The Banshees Of Inisherin (#3 here, #13 in The Guardian), Top Gun: Maverick (#2/#49) brings us to the very top of the list, with a film that The Guardian inexplicably ignored. Not only have I watched it and loved it, I've actually seen it twice - and that's the case for very few recent films indeed (because I've been too busy wasting half a day watching films I can barely stand).
Despite having seen it twice, I am struggling with exactly how to describe it - especially because the second time I watched it I wrote up some notes, but now I can't find them. Ostensibly, we're following Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) as she has a bit of breakdown around numerous issues surrounding her family (mostly her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu)), business and finance.
Oh, and the potential destruction of all existing parallel universes by a bagel that's topped with everything.
And, boy do these parallel universes display a wildly imaginative range of, well, everything everywhere all at once. The flights of fancy that are entered here go waaay beyond anything that would occur to most people - there is some seriously mad stuff going on. But, to the film's great credit, it's very grounded in human emotions which makes it surprisingly relatable and it also manages to wrap things up surprisingly well. Obviously, this isn't to say that there aren't times that you have absolutely no idea what's going on!
Considering the huge range of actions and emotions on display, the film is really well acted with Michelle, Ke and Stephanie (who recently popped up in an episode of Poker Face) all excelling in their roles. Jamie Lee Curtis is also a revelation as Deirdre Beaubeirdre, an amusingly grumpy tax inspector (in some of the universes, anyway). I'm also going to mention Tallie Medal as Becky, who brings a pleasing level of normalcy to the film and Jenny Slate as Debbie The Dog Mom because we'll be meeting her in 2023 in a slightly higher profile role as the writer of Marcel The Shell With Shoes On.
It's interesting to note that after I complained that Avatar extended sequences unnecessarily, this film features one sequence that only features a couple of rocks "viewing" the scenery - and you'd say it goes on FAR too long, but it actually goes through that to become somewhat intriguing. There's also an absolutely amazing 30 second scene which features more scenes that you get in some films.
For such a load of confusing nonsense, it did very well critically, winning seven Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (for Jamie, although Stephanie was also nominated) as well as loads at other ceremonies - IGN reports it's the "most awarded film ever" (and I've no idea how you measure that!). Here's a fine movie quiz question for you - no film has ever won all four acting Oscars but this was the third film to win three out of them, What were the other two? (I wouldn't have got either of them!)
Yes, I haven't really described the film very well but it's pretty much a film that defies description. It's also, in my opinion, utterly brilliant - the level of imagination, action and emotion on display throughout the film is way higher than most others, and it never suffers from any noticeable dip. I have no idea why The Guardian left it off their list - they did like it, giving it four stars, but just not as much as other classics such as, well, at least half the films on their list that I've completely forgotten about. If you've not seen it, then you should and you'll certainly be able to find it somewhere.
Apart from the compulsory post upon completion of a list, we're finally done with 2022 - it's only February 2024, after all! And finally, the other two films which won three acting Oscars are A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Network (1976) - and I've never seen Network (shame on me!).
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