At Nerds of Color, Bao Phi ponders Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). “Consider how many risks the filmmakers took, how many plates they had in the air, and recognize their ambition. Think about how difficult it is to incorporate special effects convincingly into a modern film, and see how they did it masterfully with a fraction of the money and artists. They had to juggle many different characters with different lived experiences — female, non-English speaking, queer, elderly — and give each their agency and their due, and they did it with profound empathy. Remember how often that wild artistic vision in the West is often executed with a coldness and outsider distance, where exclusive ‘cool’ is the highest currency, and be awed that this film instead welcomes everyone with open arms to its vision. And yes, think of the many times Hollywood has tried to capitalize and then miscast stars who found their success overseas, like Michelle Yeoh, or how the racist dismissal of Asian Americans from the industry led to talented actors like Ke Huy Quan to be forced out of acting altogether, and marvel at how this film offers them roles of substance that are exactly suited to their strengths and creativity. Remember how the industry has been fraught with stories of abuse and appreciate how the entire cast and crew seem to have an authentic love and respect for one another.”

Read more here. (Thanks, Kate!)