#I found myself surprisingly crying over her and Waymond

[arihi]

(It’s another EEAAO post)

So I expressed this elsewhere I think on Twitter but I’m tired of stories that feel like they have to have an unpredictable plot twist or think that the enormity of the plot/world directly correlates to the quality of the storytelling. A good story should be a good experience even if you know what might happen, to me. I had Spider come with me when I first watched it for emotional support, wound up watching it again with another friend, and then when I visited home my childhood friend asked me to go as well. Naturally, I enjoyed and loved all three times. I’ve never seen a movie this multiple times in theaters, and there is just SO much in the movie that I genuinely discovered more things during each rewatch, and I have no doubt I’ll find even more when I watch it again next. To me, while it’s an amazing experience to go in blind and not know anything more than “immigrant mother needs to do her taxes”, the impact of the story is not lessened any more for knowing what’s about to come.

That said, minor Everything Everywhere All at Once spoilers for anyone who *does* want to avoid any details below:

Everything feels like it is falling apart during the start of the multiverse jumping, and I LOVE that the minute Evelyn starts to be able to fight back and figure out what’s going on, is when she learns how to say ‘I love you’. (“And really mean it!”). We see earlier that she desperately wants to have a conversation with Joy, or at least communicate at all to her, but everything is going on and there’s too much, and she’s never learned great communication, either. It’s a different culture. All she can do is comment on Joy’s weight and you see her wistfully staring into the distance after her daughter leaves, which is one of the very few times that day that you see her just, stand still for a minute, in the middle of all the chaos. It’s not a particularly peaceful stillness, mostly tinged with melancholy and wistful feelings. (The first time is when she’s chastising Waymond for goofing off with a customer, and she stares at the Bollywood movie playing on the TV and loses herself in the scene. It’s like a representation of her youth and dreams - not that she particularly always dreamt of someone sweeping her off her feet like that, but just the passion and youth in what could have been. That shot immediately reminded me of my mother, and I sobbed. Anyways.)

Evelyn doesn’t know how to express her love, hasn’t been able to say I love you, says it insincerely to her detriment, and finally everything clicks when she’s able to say ‘I love you’ with full sincerity for that first time.

I don’t know, I just love it. In the end, she doesn’t say it to Joy - in fact, I think she might go through the whole movie without saying it. But ultimately it’s not about the words themselves so much as being able to communicate that sincerity, and she does (especially in that final scene in the parking lot).

I love this movie so much. I could talk about every single line in that movie and how much it meant.

#everything everywhere all at once #don't even GET me started on Waymond #though it does have heavy themes of mother daughter relationship and I did cry over that #I found myself surprisingly crying over her and Waymond #like a LOT like maybe more?? #he's such a sincere man and I love him and I will protect him with my life #the line about taxes and laundry?? ugh. My heart every time #also it was poorly translated and that continues to make me sad #it was said so much more heartfelt in Mandarin and I wish I could convey that