It's definitely a maximalist and very absurd movie, and so it's not gonna play for everyone. I love Speed Racer, but I can completely get why someone wouldn't care for that one. We're all different people with our own sets of criteria.
FWIW, I think it has a very clear plan once you consider it in retrospect. The absurdity of other realities helps to make them memorable in our mind, and that becomes useful for us when the film starts intersecting all those different realities in the climactic action. e.g. Racacoonie is said offhand as a silly little joke, it becomes true in a different reality (and silly as fuck), it becomes affecting (in its own limited way) when we learn the chef's genuine despair over losing his friend, and it becomes cathartic (in theory) when the narrative shifts on account of Yeoh's kindness.
We get similar introduction - development - involvement - catharsis with the rock reality, the hot dog reality, the current reality, the Wong Kar Wai reality, etc.
Honestly-- while I'd agree the film attempts to portray chaos-- the amount of planning, control, and synthesis of all the creative teams to make that chaos largely comprehensible (to the point that so many people have had a positive reaction to the film, from cinephiles to casual moviegoers) suggests that there's a lot of sense involved.
deadandmessedup t1_iy28z85 wrote
Reply to Everywhere everything all at once - why so famous? by WhereIsThatElephant
It's definitely a maximalist and very absurd movie, and so it's not gonna play for everyone. I love Speed Racer, but I can completely get why someone wouldn't care for that one. We're all different people with our own sets of criteria.
FWIW, I think it has a very clear plan once you consider it in retrospect. The absurdity of other realities helps to make them memorable in our mind, and that becomes useful for us when the film starts intersecting all those different realities in the climactic action. e.g. Racacoonie is said offhand as a silly little joke, it becomes true in a different reality (and silly as fuck), it becomes affecting (in its own limited way) when we learn the chef's genuine despair over losing his friend, and it becomes cathartic (in theory) when the narrative shifts on account of Yeoh's kindness.
We get similar introduction - development - involvement - catharsis with the rock reality, the hot dog reality, the current reality, the Wong Kar Wai reality, etc.
Honestly-- while I'd agree the film attempts to portray chaos-- the amount of planning, control, and synthesis of all the creative teams to make that chaos largely comprehensible (to the point that so many people have had a positive reaction to the film, from cinephiles to casual moviegoers) suggests that there's a lot of sense involved.