DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to Everything Everywhere All at Once
Added 2022-09-21 14:55:42 +0000 UTCDoes anything we do matter? Or does EVERYTHING we do matter? Or is everything just on a bagel?
Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright take a look at Jonathan's new favorite film, Everything Everywhere All at Once, to explore themes of family dynamics, forgiveness, the power of kindness, nihilism, love, existential crises, mother-daughter relationships, romantic relationships, and a whole lot more. Because this movie really does have everything. Everywhere. All at once. They talk about the fantastic performances by Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, and of course Racacoonie. And how a scene where people have hot dog fingers, or even where they're rocks, can have such an emotional impact.
Comments
Still my favourite movie.
Wiwik Anggraini
2025-01-30 20:40:56 +0000 UTCI've been thinking about your statement that movies are the highest form of art cause they have everything: I don't think so. I think comics can do everything movies could possibly do given limitless budgets and even more (just look at anything Grant Morrison does), except they don't allow a writer to dictate the timing or the sound design the way movies do, so they're not perfect. Videogames certainly can just be movies, books or paintings, but they also allow the player to be directly involved in the action and make personal choices in a way no other medium can; and including anyone of these aspects will keep a game from being wholly any other thing. As a medium games suffer from a lack of unique identity. And a movie can do a lot in two hours that a book can't even if it takes a week to read. The density of action, the ability to layer and contrast things in editing and music and such that they afford, especially the way this movie does it, is very special, but you could as well say it's not very efficient to do so many things in a two hour movie it takes a month of reviewing and analyzing and comparing to dig them all up. Ballet and wrestling (thanks, Darren Aronofsky) offer differing unique strengths of artistic expression just by their cultural status; dance and stage plays and sumo wrestling have an ephemeral quality that any kind of recorded media wishes it could emulate; Chopin famously said "all art strives towards the condition of music", but I'm not into music enough to even know what he means by that and I suspect it may be musician bias. I think of mapmaking (also an art form with its own unique features), which in principle is about reducing information into an form that's ideal for its use: You want a map of the right scale to do whatever job you're doing with it. For instance, this reaction video and the villain therapy video makes two different maps for the movie EEAAO. Is the mark of great art that it needs the most variety of maps to fully explore, examine and interpret it? Then I guess this or Fury Road is pretty high up there just going by the volume of analyses these movies have generated. But I'd say it's just as important for art to require "less" work to fully appreciate it and Tetris may be the ultimate work of art. It's entirely dependent on what a work wants to do and what an audience wants to get out of it.
Amelie W
2024-10-27 11:32:20 +0000 UTCI'm still waiting for y'all to do an episode on Waymond. He is the anti-toxic masculinity representation we've been needing. Jono, have you watched Kurzgesagt's video on Optimistic Nihilism (https://youtu.be/MBRqu0YOH14?si=LbAIOlC7DQOO05G3)? I cannot recommend it enough. Even as a person of faith, this articulation helped me to solidify my own personal philosophy in agreement with them because I feel it meshes so well with the catholic (universal, not political) aspects of Christianity.
Ian Perez
2024-07-03 22:35:11 +0000 UTCOkay, I was putting this episode off because I haven't watched the movie yet. I keep telling my husband we need to watch it, and it just never happens for many reasons on his end. Screw all of that, I'm watching this with or without him when given the chance. I'm playing a game right now and am using the picture-in-picture feature to watch CT while doing so, and I literally just stopped doing everything during the "be kind" speech. Immediate tears. That was such a beautiful summary of everything I wish I could say. I, too, love goofy, martial artsy, emotionally damaging and curing movies with a healthy dose of raunchiness. I have a feeling this may become my favorite movie as well. Update: Watched it. Laughed. Laughed till I cried. Cried until I laughed. Cried. Laughed after crying. Fell in love.
SaucyJTD
2024-06-29 22:03:34 +0000 UTCI don't know why but I loved the scene with the rocks. It was so simple and profound at the same time. I forgot how the mother rock pushed the daughter rock off the cliff and then jumped after it, (and I probably need to watch the whole movie again although it is exhausting and emotional!) and I also LOVED Wayland, he just melted my heart.
DrEEsky
2023-08-27 23:41:12 +0000 UTCOmg. Please do like ten episodes about this movie! I especially need couples therapy with Evelyn and Waymond.
Jenna Tomlinson
2023-03-24 04:34:26 +0000 UTCFinally got to watch this episode after seeing the movie over the weekend. It certainly lived up to my lofty expectations.
Reilly Willoughby
2023-03-14 01:38:48 +0000 UTCevery video every single one pls.
Magnus Taliesin
2023-03-06 19:31:22 +0000 UTCWe have more coming this year!
Cinema Therapy
2023-02-06 15:25:21 +0000 UTCPlease do all of the videos on this movie! So good!!!
Roxy Sanchez
2023-02-05 22:23:26 +0000 UTCChild therapy pls lol
Kevin Lattanzio
2022-12-09 18:15:48 +0000 UTCI came here for Sophie’s “bananas” edits and they did not disappoint 👏10/10 chaotic good Sophie
Omen the Black Cat
2022-11-03 23:30:50 +0000 UTCYes, please do a relationship video about their marriage
Rikki Sinclair
2022-10-23 19:31:37 +0000 UTCI envy you, my first watch is over and no re-watch will hit the same way.
Jan Sapper
2022-10-11 14:42:38 +0000 UTCI’d love to rewatch this movie with you guys - what about a live commented SharePlay? Also my favourite movie now. 🍿
Jan Sapper
2022-10-11 14:41:30 +0000 UTCI take the NCMHCE on 11/4 so I too can be a licensed therapist when I grow up and I bawl so hard during that scene about kindness being a way to fight because I have never felt so seen in my life. I'm going to go to work tomorrow and revel in my John Wick-level of badassery because of you guys. Also, I would absolutely *love* a Jonathan & Alan whole movie commentary or a watch party or something along those lines. *insert 'shut up and take my money' GIF here*
Kristine Amdor
2022-10-11 01:12:14 +0000 UTCThis is the only episode I've still not watched as I NEED to see this movie before I do. I don't mind spoilers for some movies, but I've heard too much good stuff about this one. I will be back the moment I've watched it!
Anna Maria Gouw
2022-10-10 06:21:28 +0000 UTCAlan here: I’ve always pronounced it NIGH-i-lism, but it’s apparently right both ways. I looked it up. Because I’m a pedantic word-nerd. Shawshank will *definitely* happen at some point. LOVE that movie.
Cinema Therapy
2022-10-01 18:56:24 +0000 UTCThanks for a great movie recommendation! Really enjoyed it and wouldn’t have known that was the kid from Goonies. He was great. I hate the way Jon pronounced Nihilism. Bagels are everything. Do the Shawshank Redemption!
Tres Ring
2022-09-26 16:44:07 +0000 UTCI'd love to see more from this movie as well. This movie is now a top favorite for me as well.
Xemjas
2022-09-26 11:50:55 +0000 UTCI would absolutely love for you to make more reactions—all the reactions!—for this movie!
Lara
2022-09-24 21:10:27 +0000 UTCThank you Jonathan. I have views that are not popular right now and I really appreciated your comment at 18:45 about being kind. When so much is confusing in the world right now, we need to be kind regardless of points of view.
Ariadwyn
2022-09-24 17:10:44 +0000 UTCI would love one on couples therapy and maybe family therapy as well!
Chelsea Doyle
2022-09-24 01:51:50 +0000 UTCI just joined because of this one. I started to watch it on YouTube, but it sounded so good that I bought it on Amazon and watched it first, then watched the video. I've been dealing with a nasty bout of depression. And while it didn't cure my depression, it cheered me up a lot. So, thanks for reacting to it.
Lance Messer
2022-09-24 00:27:51 +0000 UTCI vote more please ^^
Deborah Olsen
2022-09-23 18:14:34 +0000 UTCWatching now and yes, it’s my favorite film. Saw it twice in cinemas, bought it instantly, bought it also on blu-ray. I freaked out when Dan Kwan tweeted with me. It is a phenomenal piece of film, and art. It gave me hope. It gave me some answers. It reignited my love of film in a way I hadn’t felt in years. I hope it sweeps the Oscars.
Lauren Wagstaff
2022-09-23 17:33:02 +0000 UTCLiterally just committed to joining the Patreon so that I could see the extended cut of this. lol
Brianna T Hein
2022-09-23 15:29:13 +0000 UTCFavorite movie. Favorite episode from you all. Please give us everything you can from this. The mother-daughter story impacted me the most from this movie, as I am no contact with my mom currently. I am no contact for my own health, but I still just want her to love me like this so badly. I'd love to hear Jono's take on this and see if he thinks that there is hope for strained relationships that have a lot of past neglect/abuse. (I'm working with my therapist currently on it, but multiple viewpoints are always great) Also, the work from your team on the editing for this one was so good. I was crying then laughing, just from your editing alone. Not to mention the added impact of the clips from the movie! So incredible.
Brianna T Hein
2022-09-23 15:28:04 +0000 UTCPlease do couples therapy!! I love this movie so much, made me 😢 after every viewing. Thank you so much for this!
Manny and fam
2022-09-23 04:43:54 +0000 UTCYes to all the episodes on this!!!
Rebecca Frank
2022-09-23 03:01:28 +0000 UTCI could be happy with any and all of the couples therapy/parent-child therapy/villain therapy episodes. But I would really like to see the episode that gives Alan the opportunity to comment on the 2001: A Space Odyssey scene from the hotdog fingers universe. This movie references a lot of other movies (still giggling over Raccoocoonie), and whatever theme lets you focus on that, I would love to watch.
Tuxedo Junction
2022-09-22 23:40:29 +0000 UTCYes couples therapy episode please!
Michael Emerson
2022-09-22 19:06:34 +0000 UTCSophie (Editor/Producer/Occasional Guest-Host) is a serial killer.
Cinema Therapy
2022-09-22 14:57:45 +0000 UTCMy little half-Asian heart is so happy!!!! Can you do The Farewell soon?
Shani Gribben
2022-09-22 08:59:21 +0000 UTCNOT BOTH OF YOU BEING THUMBS AND BAGELS. THE BAGEL WITH ALAN HAIR AHHHHHHH 😂😂😂
Mollie Justin
2022-09-22 07:01:38 +0000 UTCI watched it with my family. We were halfway through the movie and just like ?!?!?! throughout, but then eventually we just hit a Point where we just found this movie ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! It is one of my top five films. I don't even know what the other 4 are. Wait, Anastasia is definitely one of the other ones. BUT THIS ONE!!! *SO GOOD* Edit: I would love more episodes on this movie!!! Please!!!
Mollie Justin
2022-09-22 06:42:22 +0000 UTCI would love more content featuring this movie! It shot to the top of my list as well when I saw it. I walked in the theater not knowing anything about it other than Michelle Yeoh was in it, hadn't seen any trailer or read anything about it, just knew she was in it which was enough to get me in the doors. I walked out with a new view on life and filmmaking and had a new favorite film. Lol
Anna Tischendorf
2022-09-22 05:24:41 +0000 UTCPlease do all the things with this movie it is fantastic!
Jamie Owens
2022-09-22 04:13:22 +0000 UTCYAY!! Jono it’s my fav movie too. I saw a whole 6 times in theatres hahaha taking every single person I know to go see it. Truly such a love letter to cinema, and it echos all my life philosophies around kindness as well. Please do more videos on it!
Julia Scott
2022-09-21 22:06:00 +0000 UTCI was wondering why this movie resonated soooooo much with me the first time I watched it. Beyond the grand existential drama of it all, Seeing Evelyn’s struggle and how overwhelmed she was at the beginning of the movie hit a little too close to home. It felt like I was seeing my own life played out on screen. So I did a little research, and it turns out the Daniels wrote her character as someone with undiagnosed ADHD. Having only just recently recognized an been diagnosed as and adult, this movie was so validating and hit me in such a viscerally personal way. Before I could never understand why managing life and “adulting” was so much harder for me compared to everyone around me, it all just felt like unmanageable chaos. Kwan himself even went and got diagnosed himself while making the movie because he recognized so many of the symptoms in himself while doing research for the movie. All this to say, I’m so glad this movie exists because I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a protagonist that so resembled me in this way.
Scott Rivas
2022-09-21 20:28:47 +0000 UTCThis was awesome. I requested this in comments a few weeks ago and I'm just gonna pat myself on the back for that. This movie spoke to me about having a growth mindset. I liked that "failure" Evelyn who obviously was looking at her own life negatively was the one to say "I can do this. I'm gonna rescue my daughter no matter the risk." And hot dog fingers universe was my favorite.
Amanda Ferguson
2022-09-21 18:26:58 +0000 UTCalso YES PLEASE to all the additional videos about this movie
Avery Panganiban
2022-09-21 17:43:20 +0000 UTCI am SO EXCITED that this is getting covered, this movie is my absolute favorite too, especially as a queer Asian woman :)
Avery Panganiban
2022-09-21 15:51:19 +0000 UTC
