As a senior citizen, I was asked to write about an unexpected phenomenon, the apparent difference between the way old and young people view the Best Picture Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
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“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” -- Henry Ford
As a senior citizen who feels much more like a junior citizen, (or even a sophomore citizen), I was asked to write about an unexpected phenomenon, the apparent difference between the way old people view the Best Picture Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and the way young people view it.
I will admit that I am an old fogey, although many years ago I was probably a young fogey. I intensely disliked other movies such as “There Will Be Blood,” “Inception,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Lobster” and “Star Wars,” all of which received almost unanimous raves from the critics.
So I recently posted the following comment on the Mt. Airy/Nextdoor website: “This is a bit unusual for Nextdoor, but I would like to ask people who have seen 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' to write a comment or two about whether or not they liked it, and why. I am super-curious to know if my wife, sister-in-law and I are the only ones who feel the way we do. We went to see it yesterday, expecting to see a super-great movie. We all thought, however, that it was one of the worst movies we have ever seen...”
As it turned out, people are extraordinarily passionate about this move, both pro and con. As of April 2, the website reports that this posting prompted 11,900 views and 254 comments, every one of which I have read. About 55 percent of the respondents hated the movie; about 35 percent loved it, and about 10 percent seem to be under heavy medication.
Susan B. of West Mt Airy wrote: “Gotta hand it to you, Len. You may have created the longest-running, most discussed post that I've seen in my five years of looking at this site.” In other words, subjects like racism, Donald Trump, violent crime, and Ukraine, have not stirred up feelings the way this movie has.
And the old age vs. youth dichotomy is apparently at work here. Stephani Richard of Erdenheim wrote, “Our kids said watching all Marvel movies with our grandchildren through the year made this movie understandable and great. We think it is a generational kerfuffle!! We are avid movie enjoyers and agree with you. Oscar awards are too political. Thumbs down from us (for 'Everything')!”
Here is a small sampling of the other comments:
Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com