'Everything Everywhere All At Once' is a beautifully engaging film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinett that took Hollywood by storm at this year's Oscars in March. It is a modern classic that has revitalized cinema with its seamless blend of comedy, chaos, and creativity.
In the film, you must expect the unexpected as you navigate mass confusion and a heartfelt story of family acceptance, love, and much more. 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has reinforced the irreplaceable value of independent films that put artistry before income and has highlighted the overlooked power of Asian representation in film.
The film follows Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh), an immigrant laundromat owner struggling to keep up with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and the IRS, who is suddenly swept into an inter-dimensional war to protect reality as she knows it. As she is forced into battling an alternate version of her daughter, the uncontrollable Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn fights to save both her daughter and reality.
Accolades Everywhere All At Once
'Everything Everywhere All At Once' dominated this year's Oscars, coming away with 11 nominations and seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. This long list of praise has come with reason, as 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' is an incredibly complex yet engaging film full of careful artistry.
Tax troubles. Kung Fu. Family bonding.
Multiverse villains. You name it; this movie had it. On the surface, 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' seems like a colorful sci-fi comedy, but it goes deeper. The layers in this storyline exemplify its complexity and intrigue and create a fast-paced masterpiece that keeps you gripped the whole time. This can be seen through scenes such as the climax where Evelyn stands trying to pull Jobu Tupaki out of 'the everything bagel' and save her life, which is symbolic of many of the underlying themes in the film.
It addresses the value of family and unconditional love as it highlights how, despite Jobu Topaki's desire to destroy reality and herself, Evelyn will stop at nothing to protect any version of her daughter. It also serves as a beautiful metaphor for the mental health struggles within families, with Jobu Tupaki representing a daughter or child falling into a sense of darkness or depression, and her mother desperately trying to help her and pull her out, and not giving up despite the world telling her there is nothing she can do.
However, she demonstrates many doubts surrounding her decision to try and save her.
The ability to use comedic devices to create a heartfelt dramatic scene is a credit to the directing by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinett and the complex and hilarious performances by the star-studded cast.
Additionally, the comedic elements within the film were characterized by chaos - anything could happen anytime: from giving yourself a papercut in between each finger to save the world to confessing your love to an IRS agent and gaining the abilities of a sausage-fingered version of yourself. The pure joy and excitement of the unexpected added a layer of childlike wonder to an otherwise emotional yet sci-fi storyline.
This film really was everything, everywhere, all at once. The complex storyline in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' creates a wild amalgamation bound to appeal to the widest of audiences and displays exceptional levels of storytelling brilliance, proving why it deserved every Academy Award it took home.
Furthermore, the film received four more nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Stephanie Hsu), Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Costume Design.
The film is accompanied by the powerful and mystical maximalist composure of Son Lux, which perfectly mirrors the energy and intrigue of the film. The tempo and volume of the music steadily accompany the plot and construct the chaos that is so integral to the film's storyline, utilizing a compelling orchestra and instruments such as gongs, foil violin, and Mayan flutes made of cedar to create unfamiliar sounds for the audience, once again matching the view of the confusing, sprawling multiverse.
Furthermore, the film features the original song "This Is a Life", featuring Mitski and David Byrne, and anyone who's a fan of Mitski knows how her emotional and passionate music - her songs act as an auditory representation of spiraling and processing complex emotions - is a perfect match for this film.
The costuming choices within the film also perfectly complimented and built the characters' personal stories and emotions, especially for Jobu Tupaki. As someone who has control over the chaos and the multiverse, her random, colorful costumes enhanced the construction of her power, freedom, anger, and sadness throughout the film and further add to the strange and unexpected approach of the film.
This can be seen in one of her final looks, dubbed by costume designer Shirley Kurata as 'Jumbled Jobu', a collage of material compiled together to represent how she is pulled across so many universes and has a chaos-filled mind.
This rich artistry present in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' just reinforces why it truly deserved Best Picture, all the Oscars it received and more.
Mixing Up The Industry
The success of 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' was a vital step for the film industry and represented the changing atmosphere and slow reduction of the omnipotence of Hollywood film powers.
The film was created by A24, an independent film studio that, over the last decade, has built up a reputation for quality films and is changing the playing field in Hollywood. 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has been their most successful film thus far, with many more destined to come. This rise of independent creators is exactly what the film industry needs right now - not people who care about the money but the actual creations and films, sparking a resurgence in truly good movies that focus on artistry and the creators, which is a vital thing considering the current Hollywood writers and actors strike and the rise of AI taking creative jobs.
The rise of independent films is also critical for diversifying the market and sharing different stories and new experiences that wouldn't even have been considered in movie-producing giants.
In the case of "Everything Everywhere All At Once', it was pivotal in reinforcing the value of Asian films and representation within Hollywood. It highlighted the experiences of a demographic that has previously had very little voice in the film industry. This film created the platform for the incredible actors to gain the appreciation they deserve in a successful film and stand as influences for a new generation of actors and filmmakers.
The precedent set by 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has shown the world the rich value in films that push the boundaries of traditional Hollywood and truly give them a run for their money and highlight the changing audience and demand for films.
Multiverse Madness
'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has made Oscars history this year, setting a vital precedent for the standard of movies to come. So, take this as a sign to watch one of the best movies of the decade so far, and allow yourself to get carried away in the magical multiverse surrounding Evelyn Quan Wang.
