The parallel universe idea might seem like a fad, given how Marvel films are having a field day with the concept, but Hollywood’s tryst with it has long yielded franchises like The Chronicles of Narnia, Mortal Kombat films, Pacific Rim films and even the Space Jam films.
While they have mostly been about venturing into unknown territories and trying to get out of it in one piece, it takes a film like Everything Everywhere All at Once (EEAAO) to take it to... another universe. The fact that the film falls under the absurdist fiction genre, which mentors existential philosophy, might make it look sound as difficult as, if not, more than other science-backed pop-culture jargon like paradoxes.
But that’s where EEAAO begs to differ and what we get is a gender-bending film on everything from concepts like nihilism, film mediums like science fiction, fantasy, martial arts and familiar tropes like family values that would make Dominic Toretto from The Fast and the Furious shed happy tears.
Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh, in one of her career-best performances) is the epitome of the film’s title. She’s trying to figure out her tax audit, come to terms with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), run a laundromat, throw a Chinese New Year party to impress her demanding father, Gong Gong (James Hong), who has just arrived from Hong Kong, and if that’s not enough, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is trying to serve Evelyn divorce papers.
When she’s trying to process all of this simultaneously, a distressing message conveys how she is the only one who can save the multiverse from Jobu Tupaki who can experience all universes at once, can verse-jump, can manipulate matter at will and has created a black hole-like “everything bagel” that can potentially destroy the multiverse.
What follows are a series of incidents that can only be tagged as ludicrous, wacky, crazy and, of course, absurd—and they are all compliments. While those new to the work of Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) might find this to be extremely goofy, fans of their first film, Swiss Army Man, which is about a deserted man and a farting corpse, know that EEAAO is just the duo progressing to a whole new level within surrealist cinema.
EEAAO is a medley of multiversal madness, but the ribbon that ties all this chaos neatly is the emotions that flow organically into the script given it’s about a working-class immigrant family that is one misstep away from losing it all. The film is split into three segments with each one given a part of the film’s title.
While ‘Everything’ is about Evelyn understanding the plethora of issues that she has to figure out, ‘Everywhere’ is her verse-jumping to every possible universe to bring us a spectacular version of the umpteen permutations and combinations of events that could unfold, whereas the final ‘All at Once’ is the family coming to terms and reconciling.
The film explores the concept of the meaning of life and does a splendid job of playing the devil’s advocate by campaigning for both sides. Given how our POV happens to be Evelyn, the conflict comes in the form of Joy while the resolution is found thanks to Waymond.
The film also takes a shot at the ‘what if’ scenarios, given that the multiple universes are created from the choices made by us and the message that wraps it all up is how love seems to be the only thing that makes sense in a universe where nothing else does and the only way to experience it is to live it out.
Fortunately, it’s not the themes and messages that make EEAAO work for us. It’s the dark comedy and absurdist humour that really drive home the directive while being miles apart from acting preachy. It’s not every day we see a film where sex toys are handed out as awards, where our ancestral monkeys who had hot dogs instead of fingers survived evolution and where a teppanyaki chef is secretly puppeteered by a raccoon, just like Ratatouille.
And, of course, there are some magnificently choreographed action sequences that also tap into the humour quotient. No wonder they remind us of Jackie Chan and it’s interesting to know that the script was originally written for the veteran actor.
Yeoh, with her phenomenal performance, makes sure we don’t dream of a parallel universe where Chan was the film’s lead. She had to bring in a sense of differentiation between Evelyns from the other universes and she pulls it off with ease.
The film also marks Quan’s return to film acting, from which he had retired in 2002 due to a lack of casting opportunities and EEAAO is an excellent calling card for Asian talents who rarely get roles worth enough to showcase their acting prowess. Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis too are a pleasure to watch.
EEAAO works out thanks to how it manages universal threats as well as familial issues by placing them on the same scale. The film touches upon several imperative topics, right from the reason to live to sexuality, but still manages to find heart-warming answers to every challenge it puts forth, courtesy of a well-written story which also cushions us from the portions that feel slightly draggy or insanely loony.
On the whole, Everything Everywhere All at Once is not only a wacky black comedy that’s grounded while also being all over the place, but it’s also a brilliant example of the power of cinema as a medium and how ‘if it can be thought of, it can be filmed’.
Film: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis