Annual end-of-year best film lists have started being released by various publications and understandably, the beloved A24 genre feature “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is popping up on some of them.
At the same time though, the film has been notably absent from others, and its increasingly fervent fanbase isn’t too happy about that. In fact, some of them have gotten so downright aggressive that the film’s co-director Daniel Kwan has urged fans to stay calm.
Kwan and Daniel Scheinert co-helmed the feature with the former recently taking to Twitter after being made aware people are behaving rather hostile towards critics not adding their A24 film to some best-of lists. Highlighting one such nasty tweet, Kwan says:
“The algorithm pushed this onto my timeline, and as one of the people who made the film, this aggression will not stand, man. I know the end of year discourse on film Twitter can be toxic AF with all of the ‘Best of’ lists that come out, but this really needs to stop. The act of ranking any piece of art is so absurd and should only be seen as an incredibly personal and subjective endeavor.”
Kean goes on to say this was a year full of remarkable films that all deserve to be celebrated and asks viewers why they’d want to spend their time being angry when they could use that time more productively to actually watch these amazing movies:
“A healthy industry requires a diverse range of films finding their own versions of success. Every list that deviates from the norm should be celebrated (unless they’re shilling problematic s— hah). I am so grateful to the fans who love this film and have made it their own.
I know for many, this story and characters mean a lot so any slight towards the film feels like a personal attack, but lashing out does everyone a disservice (and is counteractive to the film’s message).
Next time you see something about our film that makes you angry, take a step back, and remind yourself why you fell in love with our movie. Those feelings are infinitely more important to you than any list from some critic who has a completely different lived experience from you.”
Kwan finished up his comments by saying he hopes not to see any “bullies, meanies or buttheads” as we head into the awards race and end of year and urges fans to calmly ask people to think about their actions.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” remains one of the year’s best-reviewed films, sitting at 95% (8.6/10) on Rotten Tomatoes where that critical score is actually higher than the audience score of 89%.
