Editor’s note: this article contains spoilers from the film “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
Upon first watching the preview to A24’s new movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” it piqued my curiosity as another deep dive into the multiverse concept. However, after I watched the film I found it to be so much more, possibly the best release of 2022 yet.
The film centers around Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). The family appears to live a normal hustle-and-bustle lifestyle until Evelyn is transported to another universe during an audit appointment at the IRS office. Throughout the course of the film, Wang is called on to defeat the multiverse’s biggest threat, Joju Tabaki, who is soon revealed as her daughter, Joy.
What unfolds from here pulled out laughs, tears and everything in between. From hotdog fingers to mixed martial art madness – the audience is left wondering what’s next in every scene. Beyond this, the film stands out for its new spin on the multiverse concept, the cast’s diversity and its intersection of relevant social issues.
The Daniel’s production offers a new angle on the multiverse concept. As a viewer, it was refreshing to watch a different take on the sci-fi concept outside what we’ve seen from entities like Marvel in the recent “Spiderman: No Way Home” or the upcoming “Doctor Strange” film.
An action packed plot that isn’t just another superhero movie, “Everything Everywhere…” combines serious issues with an unexpected, yet necessary, comedy and a diverse cast to bring it all together.
Beyond its refreshing nature, the cast’s diversity is one that should be celebrated. The film combined all stars like Yeoh and Quan while introducing new faces to the movie screen like Hsu, showing a beautiful representation of the AAPI community — one that we don’t see often at the box office. Diverse movies like this one should be celebrated so Hollywood knows we want more of them!
This diversity allowed the film to explore relevant social issues like intergenerational trauma, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and the tough relationship dynamic between mothers and daughters.
Throughout the film, there is a misunderstanding between Evelyn and Joy, a need for listening and communication. Joy is crushed under the weight of her mother’s expectations and Evelyn is suffocated by her disconnection with reality. Unsatisfied with her own life, Evelyn lives vicariously through Joy, which eventually transforms her into the colorful villain, Joju. This issue is compounded with Joy’s sexual identity.
Evelyn struggles with acknowledging Joy’s sexual identity as a lesbian. But Joy is looking for not just tolerance, but acceptance and embrace from her mother. Standing alongside films like Disney’s “Encanto” and “Turning Red,” “Everything Everywhere…” explores the tricky relationship between an immigrant maternal figure and the first generation daughter. It highlights the decades of unresolved pain from familial expectations that have been passed down, but the love that perseveres along with it.
Buzzfeed News reporter, Scaachi Koul said, “The movie affected me so deeply because I saw myself and my mother in it at every turn; I saw how much we love each other, but how often we’re wrapped up in our own worlds and expectations.”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” wraps all these concepts in a messy, multiverse bow that the audience is left dying to unwrap. Like many other great films, the A24 production lives on past the screen, leaving viewers with lasting questions about their own life.
If it isn’t this article that pushes you to the theaters, let it be the 97% tomatometer and 91% audience score the film received on Rotten Tomatoes.
Athena Jreij is a junior studying journalism.
