ON “CALIFORNICATION” OF FILM
Consider the timing of this one with the ‘multiversity’ of the MCU’s latest - Dr. Strange.
It is a mockery that says ‘Hollywood’ everywhere, starting from the concept of the ‘multiverse' which is fast becoming a must to win the hearts of the majority of moviegoers.
(In the latest Matrix Resurrected, Neo and the new Morpheus discuss the Matrix in a toilet scene. In this film, the multiverse idea is discovered and discussed in a cleaning storeroom, subtly joking about its silliness). And fast-forward to the alternate human evolution which includes ‘hotdog’ fingers. That is indirectly making fun of how American fast food is already part of the human genome. Also commenting on winning awards as the utmost priority (like some Malaysians with their Hollywood dream) with the scene of trophies shoved right up the arse!
ON MICHELLE YEOH
And how this is so about her and her success and tribulation as an actress in all those decades. It is so clearly depicted. Her conflicting consciousness between her real self and her screen persona is being shown in a different multiverse. But ultimately, she is a mother (and a wife) and got to understand her daughter and her demands. Michelle did the same thing to her father and now it is her turn to walk the path.
ON CIRCLES
This journey is ultimately a spiritual one. The directors have shown this right up from the movie poster, to the first frame and all along with the show. Mirrors reflect the family, the circling of the washing machines, the black bagel, the black circles on the tax receipts, and the opening of the multiverse portal door. Even Plato said that the soul is a circle. And why it is used on Mandalas. The circle around the Kaabah. The circle of time on our watches. And the circle around Lord Shiva.
Ultimately, the circle ride of our own existence, from the womb to the tomb.
ON ENLIGHTENMENT
Michelle Yeoh’s character goes into a white hall wearing a mini tudung. To me, it is saying that at the core, even after decades in Hollywood and Hong Kong, she is a Malaysian. (Again, a poke at some Malaysians and their Hollywood dreams) Getting the ‘third eye’ allows her to embrace her fate and see things in a different way (spiritually or substance). The title "Everything, everywhere all at once" has no other meaning other than how Joseph Campbell put it,
“Eternity is not future or past. Eternity is a dimension of now. It is a dimension of the human spirit –– which is eternal. Find that eternal dimension in yourself, and you will ride through time and throughout the whole length of your days.”
Which is what Michelle Yeoh’s character did at the end. They are back into the first scene in the first act. This time she is one with the present. She looks around and is aware of her surrounding. Living the now. And the realization that no matter which multiverse she goes into, she is unable to change who she is. That is what fate is. It is like a script made by God for each of us. And like films (and life), you can understand it all by looking backward and seeing it all as if being written by someone. With a beginning and its ending (and we are all actors in it). As how Joseph Campbell said Schopenhauer puts it,
“When you reach a certain age, at the back of his life, seems to have had an order. Like it has been composed by someone. And those events when they occur seem merely accidental and occasional, turn out to be the main element of a consistent plot. Who composed this plot?”
This one is a film about film.
Happy Wesak Day