Everything Everywhere All At Once
Plot Overview
Chaotic. Absurd. Sad. Hilarious at the most bizarre times. The movie Everything Everywhere All At Once is broken into three parts: "Everything," "Everywhere," and you guessed it "All At Once." The setting starts out like any realist film. It begins in a laundromat. The main character Evelyn Wang (played by Michelle Yeoh) is compiling hundreds of receipts while simultaneously preparing for her father’s birthday party. Eventually we learn the Wang's laundromat is being audited. During a meeting with the IRS, it’s clear the Wang family is in financial danger. This is when Evelyn learns she isn’t living in her only reality. There is another universe called the Alpha-Verse where people can jump to different worlds and live a different version of themselves based on this algorithm that Evelyn herself made; however, Evelyn is in a world where she has no idea any of this exists (see trailer for more details). We learn the Alpha-Verse is in grave danger because of someone who is trying to destroy the entire algorithm and Evelyn is the only one who can save the Alpha-Verse.
Worth the watch?
Absolutely. I give it a 4/5 stars. The pacing is fast, almost too fast at times, but you're constantly entertained. Beware, the entertainment can come in the form of being totally weirded out. However, the acting is excellent so you never cringe in that kind of way.
As someone who usually watches realist films, I loved how this movie started "real" and then sucked us into many different worlds to address relevant themes in our day-to-day life. Despite some of the obscurity, I don't think any of you would mind a little bit (or a lot) of weirdness that you can later discuss with friends. Let's just say if this film were assigned for a class or if you watched it with a group, you would have a lot to say about it - way more than I can cover here, but I'll hit the main points.
Pacing
I loved the pacing of this film. The first thirty seconds start out as a flashback of a young Wang family laughing together, overlayed with nostalgic music. Then there's a sharp cut from the sound and music and we are snatched back into real time. From here on out, the pacing is fast. Evelyn is compiling receipts while her husband and daughter Joy are asking for her attention. No one is listening to one another and there are a ton of background noises overlaying the dialogue. In addition, the dialogue is in English and Chinese making the pace feel faster especially for an English listener. You don't have time to feel confused or attach your attention elsewhere or you will feel totally lost. There are slower moments during turning points in the film, but I appreciated the fast-paced nature because it kept me entertained. You know those card games that are harder to explain but easier to understand once you just play? That's how I understand this film. Once we learn about the multi-verses, rest of the movie hazily goes back and forth between Evelyn’s reality, different versions of Evelyn’s lives, and ‘war’ in the Alpha-Verse. ‘War’ is in quotes because the battles are so bizarre they weird you out and make you laugh at the same time. If the film slowed down its pace to try to explain every absurd moment, you would only become more lost. By continuing to watch craziness overlay craziness, you start to understand its deeper meaning.
Cool technical note
There are a lot of marshal arts performed in this film. Go to 36 seconds in this clip and notice how many marshal arts moves Ke Huy Quan performs in just one clip. Traditional marshal arts movies capture the fighting in long clips. Most fight scenes today use many different cuts and angles. This kind of filming in Everything Everywhere All At Once shows the skill of the actors and the training they had to endure.
Bizarreness and Humor
It cannot be ignored that there are some weird scenes in this movie. In one of Evelyn's alternate realities, she is in a romantic relationship with the IRS lady and they have hot dog fingers (as you can see in the top left photo). What makes this movie so entertaining is while you're weirded by some of the scenes, (right photo) they make you laugh at the same time, sometimes uncomfortably and sometimes genuinely.
The dialogue between characters is funny and relatable which is a touch to how good the acting is. The funniest scene to me is when Evelyn first interacts with the IRS lady (bottom left) while also following directions to transfer into her first Alpha-Verse. This movie really makes you feel "everything, everywhere all at once" because there are times where you're grossed out, confused, and laughing all at the same time.
Themes
Behind all the chaos, three relatable themes stick out to me.
The american dream
The financial struggles experienced by the Wang family is another representation of the miss-guided American Dream. Evelyn resents herself for not recognizing this false dream. She resents her husband Waymond for bringing her to America to start this laundromat business that has kept her a poor Chinese immigrant. Her father Gong Gong (shown on the right) disowned Evelyn for leaving her country and family for America. Now that Evelyn takes care of her father, she is reminded of his disappointment every day. There is a point in the movie where Evelyn catches a glimpse what her life would have looked like if she had not left with Waymond. When she's involuntarily jumped to back to her 'normal' universe. She tells him, "I saw my life without you. I wish you could have seen it. It was beautiful. I should have listened to my father and not gone with you all those years ago." It's a really sad scene, but before Waymond can respond she's sucked back into another Alpha-Verse. The movie gives us glimpses of Waymond and Evelyn in their younger years when they believed in the American Dream, but most of the movie represents the reality of the American Dream: hard work alone does not equal financial success. Hard work alone only equals hardship.
Mother-daughter conflict
The entire movie depicts the constant struggle between Evelyn and her daughter Joy. Joy never feels heard by her mother and her mother never acknowledges Joy’s suffering who is clearly dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. In the beginning of the movie, Joy brings her girlfriend Becky to introduce to her grandfather. Joy’s grandfather doesn’t know Joy is gay and this was going to be the moment to tell him. Before Joy can finish her sentence Evelyn interrupts her and calls Becky Joy’s “good friend.” Joy leaves with Becky. Evelyn rushes towards them and it seems like she’s going to apologize but then tells her “You have to try and eat healthier. You are getting fat.” Evelyn is experiencing the internal struggle on whether she wants to disappoint her father again by telling him his granddaughter is gay, or to upset Joy, who is usually mad at her anyway. Evelyn is so worried about her father's approval and caught up with resentment towards her husband and their struggling business that she is unable to come to terms with any of her own faults. As a result, it creates relational separation between her and Joy.
nihilism
Nihilism, the idea that life is meaningless, ties back to the other themes I've identified. Evelyn tries the 'work-hard-and-you'll-make-it' mentality from the American Dream and no matter how 'hard' she works, she's still miserable in her marriage and in her relationship with her daughter. Joy experiences the heart of this suffering. The scene above is a conversation between Joy and Evelyn in an alternate reality where there is no human existence. At this point Evelyn is trying to show Joy that there can be meaning to life, but Joy just wants to let go and escape from all the pain. While this scene is sad and reveals Joy's depression and suicidal thoughts, it also manages to be funny at the same time, and that's a characteristic of this movie that is done so nicely.
To summarize...
As someone who rarely watched/read science fictions texts before this class, I thoroughly appreciated how the film used futuristic elements to...
Tell a very real story about financial and relational struggles
Reveal the effects of mental health hardship
Illustrate the desire to be someone else and escape somewhere else other than current reality and then coming to a conclusion about the 'meaninglessness' of it all
Go give this one a watch! It's worth seeing.