Everything Everywhere All At Once has been receiving a lot of attention lately, and with the 2023 Oscars coming up, there are so many great reasons for it to live up to the hype and win. Directed by the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the film premiered at the 2022 South by Southwest film festival and has been gaining popularity and appraisal ever since, being the most-awarded film of all time.
I am usually dubious about films which receive so many accolades, but Everything Everywhere All At Once touches on many subjects that invite deeper cinematic interpretations and critical analysis – which is always a sign of a fantastic film.
The film’s plot is wrapped in complexity, with different ideas and tangents wrapped together that make it what it is. Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a middle-aged Chinese-American woman working at her family-run laundromat. All of a sudden, Evelyn is thrown into an epic journey where she must jump through different dimensions and parallel universes to save the world.
Written with the intention that Evelyn has undiagnosed ADHD, while researching the films, Daniel Kwan himself had discovered that he also had ADHD, and for arguments sake, a film like this could only have been created by someone with ADHD. The film also explores complex topics such as existentialism, nihilism and living with a Chinese American identity, and with that, the problems of inter-generational trauma, the struggles of mother-daughter bond and language (English, Cantonese and Mandarin is spoken to different characters in the film).
While it’s safe to say that the film’s plot is complex, the film’s stunning cinematography and special effects cannot be overlooked either. The world created by the Daniels is visually engaging and chaotic, making use of special effects, slow-motion and montaging the different universes together immerses the audience into the chaos of Evelyn’s mind and experience.
Other than Evelyn, we have an outstanding performances and on-screen chemistry from a talented cast ensemble. Stephanie Hsu stars as Evelyn’s daughter Joy Wang and simultaneously as the depressed and existentialist villain Jobu Topaki. Jamie Lee Curtis hilariously stars as IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeidre and the many other version of herself in the alternate universes. This film also brought back Ke Quay Quan from retirement as Evelyn’s husband and universe jumping mentor who supersedes his expectations. James Hong, one of the most prolific actors of all time, stars as Gong Gong, Evelyn’s demanding father.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a masterpiece that uses the multiverse arc to its advantage to tell a thought-provoking story that will stay with you. While initially we may be reminded of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Rick and Morty, the Daniels deserve to claim this space as an original film that binds family drama, sci-fi, kung-fu films, fantasy, absurdism and animation altogether for an entertaining experience that is worthy of an Oscar.
If you haven’t already, make sure you have this movie on your must-watch list now.
Nadia Cheung 