Everything Everywhere All at Once
Overview
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 absurdist comedy-drama film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as Daniels). The film stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who is being audited by the IRS. Evelyn is a middle-aged woman who is overwhelmed and exhausted. She runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), but she is unhappy in her marriage. Her father, Gong Gong (James Hong), is visiting from China, and he disapproves of her. Her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), is in a relationship with a woman, Becky, and Evelyn cannot accept it. The family is being audited by a IRS inspector, Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). Then, everything changes. Waymond is suddenly possessed by an alternate version of himself from another universe. He tells Evelyn that the multiverse is real, and that she is the only one who can save it. A villain, Jobu Tupaki, is destroying the multiverse, and she is coming for Evelyn. Evelyn discovers that she can access the skills and memories of her alternate selves by performing "verse jumps" — doing strange, random actions, like eating a tube of chapstick, or putting a sticker on her forehead. She becomes a martial artist, a chef, a singer, a rock, a piñata, and even a character in a cartoon. She learns that Jobu Tupaki is actually an alternate version of her daughter Joy, a version who has seen everything and experienced everything, and who is nihilistic and suicidal. The film is a wild, inventive, and emotional rollercoaster. It is a film about the immigrant experience, the mother-daughter relationship, and the meaning of life. The film's message is that life is meaningless, but that is a good thing, because it means we can choose our own meaning. The film ends with Evelyn choosing love and acceptance, reconciling with her husband, her father, and her daughter. Everything Everywhere All at Once was a massive critical and commercial success, earning over $140 million on a $25 million budget. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, and Best Original Screenplay. The film is a landmark of independent cinema and a masterpiece of absurdist storytelling.
