Mamma Mia!

The inside of my brain. Photo: Universal Studios

Major spoilers for Mamma Mia! Hither We Go Again below. Read at your own risk.

I hope this doesn't come up across every bit a hyperbole, just Mamma Mia! Here We Go Once more is the all-time pic ever made. Information technology'south a follow-up to 2008'south Mamma Mia!, a musical well-nigh trying to figure out which of three dudes knocked up Donna (Meryl Streep). The new film, which is both the sequel and the prequel, tells the story of how Donna traveled effectually Europe when she was young, and what led to her musically sleep with all three of the men in the first place.

The showtime time I saw this flick was at a press screening weeks before it was released. I fell in love with the motion picture's beachy waves, perfect advent past Cher, and Christine Baranski's legs. I couldn't stop talking about it; the soundtrack played in my head on a loop. But I wondered, was my love of the film only the anticipation of finally seeing it? Would it last if I saw it once again? What if I spent a week watching it every 24-hour interval?

As information technology turns out, seeing Mamma Mia! Here We Get Again every day for a entire calendar week only made me love it all the more. I got to fixate on different plot points, notice new things, and take seven days of a much needed not-pharmaceutical serotonin hit. Even the existential spiral the repeated viewings sent me on was worth it. Here, a look at my week of Mamma Mia!:

I'd always known Andy García was a handsome man, but I never really realized just how attracted I was to him until this viewing. The second he steps out of his hotel director truck to meet Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters), delicately takes their hands, and whispers seductive yet bizarre greetings — he comments on Tanya'south beauty and tells Rosie she is wise "like a flamingo" — I melted in my seat. And the tortured passion with which he looks at Cher when he discovers she is his long-lost dearest Ruby-red? My main note for the evening asks,"Is it cheating if it's Andy García?"

One of the main reasons you tin can tell that Amanda Seyfried (Sophie) and Lily James (Immature Donna, a.k.a. a younger version of Meryl Streep) are related in the film is considering they all have fantastic beachy waves. But, upon exam, information technology turns out not all of the waves are equal. On this viewing, I became fixated on the differences betwixt their curls. Lily's appear to be natural — there are scenes where you even see a scrap of frizz, presumably because that's what happens when y'all're on a Greek island. Simply Amanda's are too perfect; the waves all hit at the exact aforementioned spots, and seem in my estimation to exist the very size of curling irons. Then I whipped out my telephone (sad, fellow moviegoers) and went to Amanda's Instagram. That'south where I realized Amanda's bouncy waves are simply moving picture magic — her pilus is not that wavy naturally. Just I'm pretty sure Meryl Streep is wearing a wig when she reappears every bit a ghost, and then I don't blame her at all.

While my last two screenings were spent primarily focused on superficial aspects, this time around, I decided to focus more on details of the plot I may have missed. I realized:

• Young Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) tends to stick with a imperial colour scheme, while Immature Rosie (Alexa Davies) tends to favor blues. When they arrive in Greece, Young Tanya has purple suitcases and a regal outfit; Young Rosie has blue suitcases and a bluish outfit. Later, when they make it in Greece as older women, the characters suitcases and outfits reflect the aforementioned color preferences.

• Tanya and Rosie accept a running fleck throughout the film: They say "eternalize, bolster" under their breaths when in need of support.

• Alexio (the aforementioned fisherman that Young Donna and Young Bill assist suspension up a nuptials) is one of the fishermen dancing at the front of the boat during "Dancing Queen."

And peradventure almost importantly:

• Sophie's son is named Donnie — later Donna, her late mother. I realized this when Neb and Harry are talking about whether the baby inherited Harry'south ears. Bill says, "The boy?" and Harry replies, "Donnie, that's right." Awwwww.

There's a function of me that's always wondered what my life would be similar if I sold all my property and traveled the world. Mamma Mia! gives me a pretty skilful idea: Mayhap I'd all of a sudden be back in my early on 20s again and travel Europe while doing musical numbers with a bunch of dudes, and and so I'd land in Hellenic republic. Maybe I'd come across a nice adult female who lets me stay in her farmhouse for costless because I'thousand kind to her horse. Maybe I'd suddenly find that I can sing and then I'd spend my nights serenading drunkard patrons at a Greek bar.

Later four straight viewings of this flick, the allure of giving upwardly my New York City life was getting fifty-fifty stronger. I whipped out my phone and looked upward tickets to Greece, only to run into if I could even afford to travel there. But then I remembered that I forgot to apply for a U.Southward. passport after naturalizing from Canada in January, so I put that dream on concord until I at least accept proper documentation.

I'd already come to terms with (and loved) the absurdity of the "Waterloo" Parisian seduction sequence, during which Young Harry begs Young Donna to take his virginity through song. But on my fifth sequent viewing, I brought along a French-American friend for some much-needed analysis. Every bit the pair danced on summit of tables, fought with baguettes, re-created the famed "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" painting, and had their heads served on platters, I asked her if this is what happens in Paris. "No. All the waiters need to become abode and change, but I love the acrobatics," she told me. Case closed, I guess.

The entire plot of the first Mamma Mia! film is that no ane has any idea who Sophie'south dad is, and the 2nd moving picture follows Young Donna as she (offscreen) has sex all three possibilities. Well, I'm pleased to say, I figured out who the real dad actually is: Bill (Stellan Skarsgård). I'thousand not basing this on fact — the moving-picture show is intentionally vague — but instead, I'm relying purely on the days I've spent staring at Amanda Seyfried's hair. There's absolutely no way a blonde and a brunette could produce such a blonde, in my stance; she must be the kid of two blondes. That rules out the brown-haired men, Harry and Sam (Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan, respectively), which means the dad has to be the just blonde one of the group, Bill. I did information technology!

Also, it turns out Harry comes from money. I assume he helped Sophie out financially with the hotel remodeling.

I showed upward to my 7th (or technically, eighth) viewing of Mamma Mia! feeling as if I were actually becoming Mamma Mia!. I attended the screening with two of my all-time friends (like the film's daughter group, Donna and the Dynamos!), my hair was frizzy considering of the humidity (similar Lily'southward beachy waves in the film!), and information technology was raining (just like in the flick!). Just most important, I figured out that Andy García's character Fernando Cienfuegos has to be Sophie'south gramps.

When Fernando spots Cher, he shouts out "Mexico! 1959!" which gives us the date of their beloved matter. And when the film opens, Donna is graduating from Oxford in 1979. If she were conceived and born in 1959, it could be plausible that she was only xix or 20 by and so (perhaps she graduated early on?). Plus, she said her dad was never in the picture. It's completely possible that Andy García is her father.

Just after figuring out this amazing mystery that, erm, Andy García himself alluded to, I'thousand not even slightly sick of this pic yet. I've left each viewing feeling absolutely blithesome and humming ABBA tunes — I don't want to let get of this daily awareness of pure happiness. Perchance I need to see the picture one or several more times to really exist sure of Donna's paternity?

I Saw Mamma Mia! Every Day for a Week