Everything Before Us (2015) Reviews

• An honest opinion

  Jeremy_Fu2015-06-22

  Hi Wong Fu team and fans, First off I would like to say congrats on making this movie, it's definitely been long over-due that WF would make a feature length film and I couldn't have been more anxious and excited to see how far you've come. Your short videos have been touched millions of fans across the world and for that, Thank You. Before I start my review I would like to point out that I BOUGHT the movie, watched it with my friends, and really discussed my thoughts with them before writing this. As much as I would like to give you guys praise I would also like to see you grow as a company and as filmmakers. I hope you or the fans reading this won't simply glance over it because I gave it a "sub-par" rating, but see the merit behind it. PLOT: I really wanted to get the feels WF is so famous on invoking. However what I found myself feeling was confusion and even annoyance at Ben. The plot just seems tries so hard to validate Ben and his actions when clearly he's a not-so-good-guy who gets away with cheating on his girlfriend only to end up with his ex. One major scene that irked me was when Seth accidentally fell asleep and Haley left him sleeping on her bed; really? There was no backlash from Seth about this? I get that you need to get the story moving but scenes like this that does nothing for the plot shouldn't be in the movie at all. After watching the movie I was glad that you cut the 3rd story line out as this movie as the movie right now already struggles to mesh the two story lines it has together; what I mean is that though Ben and Sara have a character arc, Seth and Haley's are not as developed. Overall I thought the plot didn't have the magical WF moment, I couldn't identify with any of the characters, and ultimately the plot didn't make me root for any one (maybe Anna.. Poor her being dumped by Ben). ACTING: As much as I would say I love Victoria's acting, I can't. I don't know if she was upstaged by Brandon but I could not take her acting seriously. A scene that stood out for me was during Brandon and Kihong's fight scene, all she could say was a passive "no.. stop..". I'm no expert in having guys fight for me but I would assume that anyone in this situation would have a better sense of urgency and say something or even do something instead of passively telling them to stop. I'm all for helping your friends and casting them in your films, but when it comes to something as big of scale as this I would maybe consider really looking out there for casting instead of going directly to cast your friends. EXECUTION: The one thing I loved about the movie was the production value. You can tell that a lot the budget went into getting the locations, sets, and overall props. However as pretty as the movie was, I was definitely irked by the amount of montages used. Sure montages might be pretty and help speed the pacing of the story, but you can't expect to use this technique multiple times to push a feature film. It works on a much shorter film but to not only have crucial moments told in montage form but to feature multiple montages gives this a feel of a glorified longer youtube video. There was also way to many CU of expressions and deep depth of field that really felt out of place. I don't know if this was because of the camera you use but if you notice in other feature films there's a point where the amount of depth of field screams "5D" vs "RED SCARLET". To WF, clearly you know your niche is making romantic films, but is that you want to make for the rest of your career? As much as I love them, you need to try to explore what other areas you're good at. Unfortunately the sad truth is WF is not relevant anymore. Your videos used to easily surpass 1 million views but now, a million is an accomplishment. Many other "youtubers" have seen a vast growth in their subscribers and yet you're stagnant at 2 million. You need to keep pushing your boundaries and grow as company; NOT push out the same sappy love story again and again (give or take a few characters). Reinvent yourself. So what if A World Away got a lot of dislikes, you need to push yourself and continue to make yourself relevant. Please don't let the amount of dislikes stop you from your growth. You have so much talent and potential in your team in Christine, Kenson, and Taylor, please don't let all that talent go to waste. If people are really your fans, they will support you through anything if that means seeing you guys become successful. As Phil mentioned in a tweet "we don't need those kind of fans"; thats right you don't. So don't let them stop you from pushing on and furthering your career. To all the fans, before you down vote this review or give WF an automatic 10 and give this movie the review "best movie ever" think about whether this movie in and of itself deserves that title. Watch this movie for what it is, not for who made it. WF deserves to know what they are doing right and what they can improve on. We owe it to them to continue to make sure that they can keep creating content that isn't only relevant to today's standards, but is successful on a global scale. I wish you all the best WF in your future endeavors. Jeremy

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• Eh

  djokawari2015-06-08

  I don't really know what compelled me to pay $5 for this movie because I don't necessarily enjoy their romantic short films, but I did. It's not a horrible movie. It had some good parts, specifically with the older actors. Vimeo really made the experience crappy, as I couldn't log in to finish the movie. Wong Fu uses the same tropes over and over again. All of their shorts and this film are romantic. It just gets kind of old after a while. I think Wong Fu understands their fan base(teenage girls), but at some point they need to change it up. I found some parts to be slightly cringe worthy.

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• Meh...

  mmmrei2016-01-15

  Big props to WongFu for making their film. But honestly couldn't watch past twenty minutes, had to skip through to reach the middle and just stopped completely. Fans need to be realistic and tell WongFu the truth, don't just fan girl it out and say everything they make is wonderful. Its true what others have said that they aren't popular as before or relevant. Please, please, please move on from the sappy romance and the typical lovers quarrel! I wasn't emotionally invested in the film, didn't like any of the characters, and it was just sooo cheesy. How could people sit through it all? Might as well watch their shorts on Youtube. Hopefully you get actors that have more depth to them and read their lines better without sounding so bland. The only guy that did it for me was Randall Park. But even his lines weren't so interesting or engaging. Try something new please. Like drama, sci fi, just something away from romance because you aren't really there anymore. I am a fan but I say it like I mean it. I was so happy to see an Asian American cast but that's about it. And no more Youtuber cameos in your films please, it takes away from the story and their acting skills aren't, well, they aren't meant for acting. Hopefully WongFu will listen to the negative side and not assume that just because everyone says its good, doesn't mean it is. Please do better and try something new.

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• Wong Fu's extended short

  jzhong922015-06-15

  I have been a big supporter of Wong Fu Productions and to be able to witness their growth from the Youtube medium to film is inspiring. They have mentioned in their Q&A that they had intended for this film to be viewed from home on a computer, so I tried to be as lenient as possible when each scene seemed to be a short of their own. Despite this precondition, Wong Fu only proves that they have fallen prey to their Youtube success of milking empty moments, cheap pauses and vague dialogue. I enjoyed the immediate parallels of emotions and intentions of each individual, and the classic sense of humor found in their Youtube shorts. Wong Fu still has a lot to learn on creating stories built on substantive context, because good stories provide context. I was left so many questions about how the DEI score determined, what kind of institution it is (DEI appears to be a bank, but is ultimately unidentifiable throughout the movie) and backgrounds of the characters and why they ended up making the decisions they did. I cringed when they started the movie the same way they started their trailer. I'm not a professional critic, but I've laid out my concerns in hopes to see more of Wong Fu and Asian Americans in films. There just isn't much point to spending two hours with the optional Youtube star cameo without a good story. I will go out to say that lazy writing is the sole detriment to this film, if I had to choose.

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• Sorry Wong Fu

  mdw132015-12-28

  I saw this with my GF whose been a big Wong Fu fan for awhile now and has been begging me to see this with her. I've seen a couple of their vids but never been a regular follower like her. Going in I already had my doubts when looking at the Vimeo comments that seem to all be made by a bunch of little fan girls calling this a master piece and flawless production. Those were immediately red flags for me that this was not going to be good and I was proved right after seeing this. Basically my complaints are the same as most of the previous reviews here have already pointed out. The acting was pretty bad, almost cringe worthy at times, it made Hayden Christensen from the Star Wars prequels look like Leonardo Dicaprio. The story was badly paced and had a ton of plot holes. The relationships for both couples fell flat to me and I really couldn't get invested in either of them. Its pretty clear that this movie is clearly targeted toward their fan base and I know that Wong Fu most likely had constraints making a film that a major studio wouldn't. However, this still does not mask the fact that the film was pretty subpar. To me its almost comical that you have to pay $15 for this on Vimeo, yet I could go for example to Freddie Wongs channel and watch the popular Video Game High School series, which is far superior in both acting and production for free. I think they charge this much because their fanbase will buy it regardless, which is pretty cheap to me. Sorry Wong Fu if you see this. I'm not being a hater, I know you have had great success and I wish you the best going forward. I'm just being brutally honest in my view of your film for whatever its worth.

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