The Potential of Independent Film
Everything Everywhere All at Once
E. O. Milne
With the Oscars right around the corner I thought it would be good to talk about an idea that makes us laugh, cry and everything in between. Cinema.
Movies for years now have been used as a means of expression. Yet, while this used to be the world of producers, directors and filmmakers, it now seems like everyone has at least attempted to make a movie on their phone.
A story line acted out and then recorded for the public to watch, it is one of the greatest types of storytelling we know of, but to make one it can get awfully expensive. So many producers have found alternatives so that they do not have to give away their life savings to create a film.
One of these alternatives are known as independent films, when a movie is not signed away to a big company like Warner Brothers, Paramount, Netflix but instead are given funding by a smaller company meaning that it will be a lower budget movie. Many people always imminently assume that this will mean that lower budget will mean a bad movie, but this idea I think has been the reason independent films are not thought of as much as we would like. Because the truth is not only can these films be ‘good,’ but they can be so great they are nominated for 11 Oscars.
When I say this, I am talking about one recent movie that has achieved this in particular.
The name of this movie is ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’.
If you have not watched this art piece, I am begging you to watch it before the Oscars because seeing it will allow you to understand why it is going to win all the awards it has. Not only is it a great movie with fantastic acting but it is one of the weirdest things you will watch in your whole life.
This movie is based around the idea of multiversal reality, where there are different versions of yourself living in an alternate universe and they can be remarkably similar to you or the complete opposite. This movie takes this concept and takes its strangest aspects, such as having hot dogs for fingers.
So today I want to break down what makes this film so likeable and, I want to show you how great an independent film can be so maybe you can give them as much attention as any other blockbuster Hollywood film.
To begin, one of the best things about this story are the effects that make the obviously fake ideas seem so real. Usually, companies use visual effects to make dragons look 3D and make magical powers come out of people’s hands but the visual effects director of this movie thought outside of the box so he could get the same results as such of a marvel movie but for a smaller budget. The budget was not the only reason Zak Stoltz had to find cheaper alternatives, it was also because he only had 5 people helping him with the project while other movies with the same success usually must have hundreds of people taking on the job.
But what was the alternative?
The alternative is known as practical effects; this is where instead of completing all the effects on the computer after filming you instead use puppets during filming. Then afterwards you put only a bit of CGI on top, allowing a movie with a budget of less than a single episode of Stranger Things season 4 to become something of greatness and true quality.
Another reason this movie was so moving was (as I said earlier) the acting was amazing. Specifically, the actor who made this movie so beautiful for me was a woman named Stephanie Hsu.
She is a young Asian American actor who has a unique style to her acting which was so quirky it made this movie a 10/10 for me. She plays a character called Joy, the daughter of the protagonist, but the real name for her character is Jobu Tupaki and this character is a little bit insane. Some of her lines are so impactful and yet so funny that she has you on the edge of your chair the entire movie wondering what is to be of this character next.
The thing that makes her character so interesting though is that she believes nothing matters, she is the most powerful being of all and any action she takes has no consequence. She is a character filled with philosophical morals that she stands by. Having said all of this, I think the final thing that makes this movie and all independent movies so great is the directors and scriptwriters’ choices.
The funny thing about that in this movie is that both these jobs were done by the same two people known as the Daniels. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert not only came up with the weirdest plot they could think of, even when we are comparing their films to the likes of the strangeness of DUNE, they also made certain choices with their camera angles and lines that truly emphasised the abnormal feel of this movie.
For example, in this movie there is a multiverse where everyone is a rock and two of the main characters talk to each other through subtitles as rocks for over 5 minutes. But even though this seems like something that would be funny to watch It is actually the complete opposite. This scene is said to make people burst into tears and even though I did not myself I can understand why many would be brought to feel this way.
But the love felt in the words of the characters is what finishes off the movie, like a cherry on top of a Sunday ice cream, and why it is my pick that this movie will dominate the academy in 2023.
“Here all we get are few specks of time where any of this actually makes any sense.”
“Then I will cherish these few specks of time.”
I know this movie is a representation of what an independent film can be and that they should not be judged on their budget but the final product.