Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Imagine the ideal hiring process for the perfect world. You test all applicants and hire whoever is best for the role. It’s a win for the candidate and a win for the hiring manager (after all, they get the most talented person for the job).

In this scenario, film writers would design characters with depths, problems, and skills, and then whichever actor portrayed them perfectly would get the role.

Plot twist: this isn’t an imaginary world. This process is called unbiased casting and it happened 43 years ago with a little-known film called Alien.

Yes. That Alien.

43 years ago and somehow this method isn’t common practice yet. Or really done at all.

The new A24 film was just as the title describes: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). A friend saw an early screening and reported that the movie was all over the place, not what he was expecting. Isn’t that in the title? – was my smart reply. I couldn’t possibly have expected what the film turned out to be, like many. The already-cult limited release film stars Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh from MCU’s Shang-Chi, Crazy Rich Asians, and numerous films) and Joy (Stephanie Hsu from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), with supporting roles Waymond (Ke Huy Quan from The Goonies), and Jamie Lee Curtis (The Halloween movies and Knives Out). Everything Everywhere is like the Matrix, but with OCD and hallucinogens, plus a heart’s dose of mother-daughter intergenerational intercultural growing pains. The movie currently scores 5 for the Incluvie score, and 4.5 for the Movie score, with 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. People love it! Personally, I wouldn’t say I love it, but I also didn’t dislike it.

The film was meant to be disjointed and discombobulated, but for me – it was too much. I felt like the film was a bit seizure-inducing and odd, from the hot-dog fingers world to the jump code of sticking a trophy into the asshole. The film makes fun of itself at times, granted, with Joy herself saying “what the fuck”, and Evelyn telling the alter-Waymond to be serious. The story does do a good job bringing all the disjointed nonsense together, which is not an easy feat with all the chaos within it.

The relationship between Evelyn and Joy reflects many mother-daughter relationships, especially those with an immigrant mother and American-born daughter. It’s specifically relatable for many Chinese Americans, Asian Americans, and Americans with parents from third-world countries. Evelyn tersely tells Joy to “lose weight because you’re getting fat”, and doesn’t fully embrace Joy having a girlfriend and being queer. The audience clearly sees Joy’s pain in her facial expressions. She’s clearly hurt and disappointed by her mother. The premise of the film is that Evelyn learns that Joy is seeking her approval and unconditional love – by way of multi-universe destruction, chaos, depression, and rage, with Alice-in-Wonderland-esque costumes and makeup for pizzazz. Although Joy as Jobu Tupaki in the multiverse is the destructive villain seeking Evelyn, Evelyn refuses to destroy her daughter, even when told the multiverse's existence depends on it. Jobu’s depressive and destructive spiral and belief that nothing matters compels Evelyn to take the mental leap to love and save Joy.

Seven years before the Pulitzer Prize-winning global phenomenon that is Hamilton opened on Broadway in 2015 and blew the roof off staged musicals forever, creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway musical, the Tony Award-winning In the Heights, opened in the same theater in 2008. Now, like Hamilton, it’s also a movie, a glorious movie more powerful than the original staged production. This cinematic reincarnation tweaks the order and number of some of the songs and characters and expands the physical and thematic landscape using all manner of movie craft which could be mustered by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu. The result is a visual and emotional feast that lifts the original material to dizzying heights at a time when its themes around immigration, diversity, identity, and the American dream are more elevated in our consciousness than ever before.

The film begins quietly, sweetly like a fairytale about a “suenito,” a little dream of a better life and a place that was disappearing. A young man named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos as a soulful everyman in the role Miranda played on B’way) sits by a beautiful island beach telling this story to a group of wide-eyed children. This new framing device is a little confusing as his tale flashes back to a tight-knit NYC neighborhood called Washington Heights, home to a diverse Latinx community– Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, South American, and beyond–“where the streets were made of music.”

The film begins to pulse as the camera (Alice Brooks, cinematography) roams the street, scaling fire escapes and windows framing families watching kids playing on the pavement below. We follow Usnavi, now rapping out the title song and stepping on a manhole cover, setting it spinning to the beat of the lives on this block. This opening sequence is a dazzler, every edit (Myron Kerstein) a spark illuminating a cross-section of characters, each in search of some version of the American dream, each instantly charismatic and relatable.

Usanavi runs the bodega but dreams of opening his own restaurant bar back in the Dominican Republic. He’s crushing on gorgeous Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) who dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Strolling back to the block fresh from her first year at Stanford is Nina (Leslie Grace) brilliant, independent, and the pride and joy of her hardworking father Kevin Rosario (Jimmy Smits) who owns the car service. Nina reconnects with her love interest, the dynamic Benny (Corey Hawkins) the car dispatcher, and Usnavi’s best friend. Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and her team have big dreams for her beauty salon. Hovering over all is Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz who played the role on Broadway) a character written for maximum schmaltz. Childless herself, “Abuela” has adopted the entire neighborhood, a grandmother to all. I always have trouble with this character as written, and always want it played a little against the grain, less overtly wise and wonderful. No luck here…

The characters that made the cut are in essence — girls that kick butt, challenge stereotypes/gender norms, and are just in general, great characters to begin with. Who says a girl can’t have some spunk?

Matilda is a special girl with telepathic powers and a brilliant mind for her age. She frequently stands up to her ruthless principal and parents with both her smarts and psychic abilities.

(Note: This article was originally published by Mick Cohen-Carroll on Incluvie's Medium in July 2020. For up-to-date information on travel advisories, consult the CDC or your state government's website.)

I’ve compiled a list of movies (dramas, musicals, comedies, documentaries, etc…) that take place around the world so that you can safely “travel” from home. They are set in different countries and show off the country’s natural landscapes, culture, or picturesque cities. If you think of any other ones, please let me know! I’ve categorized them by continent to make it easier.