Here’s why 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' is worth watching, beyond its 11 Oscar nods
The genre-bending movie takes you on a cinematic whirlwind, across the multiverse, all the while reiterating the universal truth of human life—the irreplaceable value of familial bonds and love.
Everything Everywhere All at Once. The title triggers thoughts of speed and momentum. And yes, the film is sometimes hard to keep up with. But it’s worth watching, even if you missed it in theatres.
Starring Michelle Yeoh (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame), this genre-bending movie is a medley of science fiction, comedy and drama, which takes you on a cinematic whirlwind that concludes with an introspection of your actions and life choices. It also reiterates the irreplaceable value of familial bonds and love in human life.
Directed by the Daniels (Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan), Everything Everywhere All at Once has been backed by A24, a well-known indie film company. While diversity content and independent films have won Oscar nominations in recent years, this one has literally swept the nominations with 11 nods. It has also won top honours at other film awards leading up to the Oscars.
The movie has bagged 11 Oscar nominations including best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best film, best director, best music, best screenplay and best costume design.
What is it about this film that it could stand its ground amid established names from Hollywood? It is perhaps the fact that, at its heart, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is the most unpredictable and engaging spectacle about a family.
Evelyn—played by Michelle Yeoh who puts up a virtuoso performance—is a Chinese immigrant living in America, married to Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and has a daughter (Stephanie Hsu). She runs a laundromat that is being audited by a tax woman, an intimidating and unsympathetic IRS officer Ms Diedre (Jamie Lee Curtis).
As the Chinese New Year approaches and Evelyn is morosely sorting out a pile of receipts while cooking for the party, her daughter drops by asking if she could bring her lesbian partner to the party. Unknown to her, her husband wants a divorce.
In the middle of all this, Evelyn’s father, the cantankerous and conservative Gong Gong (James Hong), is attending the party, having travelled all the way from China. Her daughter’s sexual inclination is not something Evelyn wants to share with her father.
As Evelyn visits the IRS office with her father and her meek husband, to face the music, a shred in the multiverse accidentally forces her into confronting her many alternate lives that formed with each choice she made or didn’t make.
The plot takes you on a frantic journey across Evelyn’s parallel lives in parallel verses. And in each life path, the most important aspects are her family and her love for her daughter.
Through all of this, Evelyn realises that every regret, every unfulfilled wish, and every rejection that she has faced has shaped her life. She also understands that none of what she is living through would have been any different if she had chosen a different path.
Throughout this complex and visually compelling series of unpredictable events, Michelle Yeoh stays brilliant and effective, keeping her head above water and transforming into an agile kung fu fighter, reminiscent of her earlier films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Her parallel verses have her as a Chinese opera singer, a movie star in a visual tribute to Wong Kar-wai, a chef, and a trained kung fu fighter.
Ke Huy Quan stuns with his split-second transformations, never wavering and charming in each character.
As everything occurs simultaneously in the film, the biggest risk is that of the audience getting overwhelmed by the events that unfold. Even if verse jumping is tough to keep up with, the film’s essence is its most attractive draw—the philosophy of life.
The movie is very Eastern in its belief—we always seek to love what we don’t have. The what-ifs that dominate our thinking may blindside us and prevent us from seeing and valuing what we already have.
In a lengthy, topsy-turvy climax, the film builds up to an emotional high, where family takes precedence for Evelyn. Despite all the fast-paced action and the breathless verse jumping, the story has its heart set firmly in the right place.
Everything Everywhere All at Once may not follow the rules of cinematic storytelling. Yet it is as cinematic as it can be, innovative and entertaining. It is also philosophical. And what it conveys is an essential thought for all of us to pursue in this fast-paced world.
Edited by Swetha Kannan