James Horton, Ph.D
2 min readApr 26, 2023

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I love how bad you're getting burned in these comments. You really didn't do your job.

For what it's worth you fell into a clear trap in the way the film was made. I've had friends and family watch it and they were also on edge for the first twenty minutes because it was ridiculous, tacky, and nothing made sense.

It becomes something more by the end. Whether that's enough to redeem the start is up to you, but you didn't do yourself any favors by not finishing it.

The directors have a specific style that capitalizes on chaos. It's most clear in the Uncut Gems movie. They use chaos early on to promote a feeling of agitated arousal throughout their film. Starting with that as their base they can manipulate their audience's emotions more effectively; moments of peace and beauty hit harder later on because such moments not only have their own emotional quality, but also because those moments counteract the dissonance the directors generate in their audience throughout the film with all the chaotic scenes.

I recognized what they were doing in Uncut Gems because I research emotion as a vocation. I laughed and was amazed throughout that entire film, and also throughout Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

It's the film equivalent of the heavy metal genre; a lot of racket punctuated by moments of intense beauty. A very potent, if experimental formula.

But, like metal, a lot of people will hate the racket, and rightly so.

UPDATE: A quick edit; Uncut Gems and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, are from the same studio but do not have the same director. I still think most of what I said here applies — it seems that the studio is using noise and chaos as a signature technique.

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James Horton, Ph.D
James Horton, Ph.D

Written by James Horton, Ph.D

Social scientist, world traveler, freelancer. Alaskan, twice. Writes about psychology, well-being, science, tech, and climate change. Ghostwriter on the side.

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