The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-01)

23

EZ

THE

WASHINGTON

POST

.

FRIDAY,

APRIL

1, 2022

mism for what you might step in

on a cattle ranch).

Some may find that last lesson

emblematic of the film itself. Oth-

ers will be dazzled by Yeoh’s act-

ing (it’s amazing) or the deadpan

comedic performance of Jamie

Lee Curtis as a humorless IRS

auditor named Deirdre Beaubeir-

dra. (Apparently, Banana-Fana-

Feaufeirdra wouldn’t fit on her

nameplate.) Deirdre, who ap-

pears in multiple forms, is, in one

of the multiverses — one in which

everyone has hot dogs for fingers

— Evelyn’s lover. In another, she’s

her nemesis.

It’s hard to know what to make

of “Everything Everywhere All at

Once.” It’s a tour de force — but of

what? It’s exhausting. It’s funny.

It’s confusing. It’s way too long

and feels like it has multiple

endings. One scene features a

silent conversation in subtitles,

between two boulders with goo-

gly eyes glued on them. Googly

eyes are a central leitmotif of the

film, for unknown reasons.

Forget “Doctor Strange in the

Multiverse of Madness.” This

movie gives new meaning to the

words “strange” and “madness.”

It’s the cinematic equivalent of an

everything bagel: a substrate of

bupkis, dressed up with whatever

you can throw on it.

ride of sci-fi gobbledygook. On

another, it’s an intergenerational

mother-daughter family drama

masquerading as a philosophical

dissertation on the nature of exis-

tence — with martial arts action.

All of this is delivered with a

pell-mell brio and a lo-fi special

effects aesthetic reminiscent of

Michel Gondry, funneled through

a fire hose that blasts everything

at you so fast that you might not

notice how silly and sophomoric

it all is.

The mechanism for verse-

jumping? It involves identifying

the most statistically unlikely de-

cision you can make at any given

moment, then doing it: putting

your shoes on the wrong feet, for

instance; eating an entire stick of

lip balm; deliberately giving your-

self paper cuts.

And the ultimate message of

the film — or, rather, messages, as

there seem to be several, deliv-

ered like desserts on a sampler

platter, over the course of the

film’s seemingly interminable

third act — are, in no particular

order: Nothing matters; be kind;

we’re all small and stupid; love

each other; and it’s all just a

pointless, swirling bucket of balo-

ney (“baloney” being a euphe-

EVERYTHING FROM 20

Movies

tial involvement with a police tip

line — and shielding his younger

brother. To snitch or not to snitch,

in other words, is the question.

And to what end? Are Marcus’s

instincts punitive, protective or

something else? As Drew notes,

sarcastically, Marcus seems to

have grown a conscience since

finding sobriety.

No, Marcus tells him: It’s pris-

on that gave him a conscience;

being sober means he has to live

with that conscience.

The screenplay is thoughtful

and nuanced, and Epps’s per-

formance anchors the narrative

with a solid, unfussy portrayal of

ethical indecision, even if the

third act detours into more melo-

dramatic territory. One of the

film’s villains, played by Theo

Rossi of “Luke Cage,” brings the

same cartoonish energy he

brought to that show, but it’s not

quite enough to derail “Devil.”

There’s an open-ended ambi-

guity to the film’s resolution that

doesn’t fully satisfy, but maybe

that’s life: There are no happy

endings or pat lessons some-

times, this story seems to say. And

some people have to learn that the

hard way.

R. At area theaters. Contains

coarse language throughout, some

violence and sexual references.

116 minutes.

In the comics-inspired action film “Morbius,” Jared Leto

plays Michael Morbius, a vigilante antihero based on the Marvel

character with an insatiable bloodlust. PG-13. At area theaters.

Contains intense sequences of violence, some frightening images

and brief strong language. 108 minutes.

Also Opening

JAY MAIDMENT/SONY PICTURES

The Devil You Know 

Fragile conscience, family bonds collide in modern morality tale

BY MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN

Four adult bothers are at the
center of “The Devil You Know,”
an efficient and well-acted family
drama with the overlay of a mod-
ern morality tale: Marcus (Omar
Epps), Anthony (Curtiss Cook),
Drew (William Catlett) and Terry
Cowans (Vaughn W. Hebron). But
the story, written and directed by
Charles Murray — an executive
producer and writer of Netflix’s
“Luke Cage,” the gritty urban su-
perhero series — focuses on the
fraught dynamic between two of
them: Marcus, a recovering alco-
holic and felon who is getting
back on his feet with a new job,
and Drew, who has just lost his
job and appears to be implicated
in the brutal home invasion, rob-
bery, double murder and beating
that open the film. (Michael Ealy
plays the dogged detective inves-
tigating the case, but this is no
police procedural.)
It’s as if Marcus and Drew have
traded places, as Drew observes.
And Marcus is torn between turn-
ing police informant — sharing
what he knows of Drew’s poten-

LIONSGATE

Omar Epps plays Marcus, a

recovering a lcoholic who is

getting back on his feet, in “The

Devil You Know.” Marcus must

decide whether to inform on or

shield his brother, who seems to

be implicated in a brutal crime.

R. At area theaters. Contains violence, sexual humor and coarse language.

140 minutes.

their dreams. (I suspect a much
longer version of this film — in
which we got to know Youri’s neigh-
bors better — wouldn’t have been
amiss.) The filmmakers were in-
spired by the forbidding Brutalist
architecture, whose long corridors
and cramped apartments Youri
navigates like an explorer trying to
find his way out of a maze.
While the directors give “Ga-
garine” a perfectly realized sense
of place, its ensemble cast gives it
the feeling of real life. In his first
film role, Bathily (whose father
grew up in the eponymous hous-
ing complex) was an unlikely
choice; the part of Youri would
seem to require a nerdy, 98-pound
weakling, staring passively at the
stars. But Bathily is made of stron-
ger stuff. Athletic yet sensitive, he
effectively conveys both youthful
alienation and a determined, DIY
competence.
On one level, “Gagarine” is a
story about dreams of a better life.
At the same time, its spirited hero
poignantly demonstrates a seem-
ingly trite but time-tested truism:
Be it ever so humble, there’s no
place like home.

GAGARINE FROM 22

Unrated. At Landmark’s E Street

Cinema and the Cinema Arts

Theatre. Contains strong language.

In French with subtitles.

97 minutes.