The Driftwood #33: Movie Recs

Everything Everywhere All at Once

If you’re looking for a movie about the multiverse that’ll leave your head spinning from start to finish and even after, look no further, Everything Everywhere All at Once does exactly that and includes creative scenery while doing it. The visuals of this movie are absolutely insane. The way the characters hop between realities is visually enticing. The broad theme of the movie is about an exhausted and overworked Chinese American woman who has to get her already late taxes done on her laundromat, under intense pressure from the IRS. She instead is forced into jumping between universes since her “husband” sends her on missions to defeat an evil that is disrupting all the parallel timelines. But if we read deeper into the movie, there are also underlying themes such as the difficult relationship between parents and children; generational trauma/curses; LGBTQ+ acceptance, especially in other cultures; burnout; pressure to be a perfect child; the harsh reality of marriage and divorce; and many, many more. This movie is the perfect mix of wacky scenes and heart-touching messages. If you can manage to follow along with the silliness and chaos, I bet that this movie will leave your heart as warm as mine was after finishing. I personally give this film at least a solid 8.5/10. I strongly recommend sitting down and devoting some time to actually getting into this masterpiece of a movie. Available on Showtime and Parmount+, and to rent from other streaming sites.

Interstate 60

I caught this indie film by accident quite some time ago and remember being rather charmed by it. Interstate 60 (2002) opens with a mysterious man named O.W. Grant (which we later learn stands for “One-Wish Grant”), who offers a single wish at random to people he meets. We see one man take him up on it early in the film and suffer rather catastrophic consequences as a result, the obvious message here being to be careful what you wish for. The next time we see Grant, he’s serving cake to our protagonist Neal Oliver (a young James Marsden), who wants to be an artist but is under considerable pressure from his father to go to law school instead. He wishes for an answer to life, walks outside, and is promptly knocked out by a bucket falling on his head. (Again, be careful what you wish for!) What follows is Neal’s surreal road trip in a world that feels like a parallel universe (whether it actually is is up to the viewer), as he seeks an answer to the question that is his life. Neal doesn’t know where he’s going, but somehow, a sign always presents itself, both literally and figuratively. For example, he’s told a nearby billboard is blank, but when he looks away and then back again, a woman has appeared on it, advising him to call a certain number with no other explanation. When he gamely calls, a recorded message addresses him by name and provides him with an address, telling him to go there for his “appointment,” and so his journey continues. And the Interstate 60 of the title? It isn’t on any map and therefore doesn’t exist, Neal discovers; it just is. As he continues following the universe’s lead down this mysterious road, he meets a collection of strange and interesting people who seem, like him, to be seeking something, often in unhealthy ways. Will he, too, get stuck in one of the bizarre dead ends he discovers at each stop? Or will he find the true path that his life will take? It’s no Best Picture frontrunner, but the film, written by Back to the Future scribe Bob Gale, provides a pleasant and often unique combination of armchair philosophy and goofy fun, plus enough A-lister cameos to add a dose of surprise to a movie already full of them. Back in the early 2000s, I wondered why it never seemed to find a bigger audience. Maybe it’s just too smart for most people? Yeah, that must be it. Smugly pat yourself on the back and enjoy this oddball little film. Available free on Freevee, Tubi, and Peacock, and to rent from other streaming sites.