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In 2022, the multiverse has been all the rage in Hollywood. Particularly in the superhero genre with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and the forthcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” there seems to be no limit to the stories that can be told and the characters that can appear, thanks to the narrative device of the multiverse. The creativity, much like the many universes, is infinite.

There is no better example of that creativity than the new film from A24, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Written and directed by partners Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert and starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, this film is truly a one-of-one. The actors and directors create a story that is both incredibly entertaining and emotional, all centered around a story about the multiverse and the endless possibilities of a single decision.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” focuses on how truly mind-bending a multiverse can be by exploring the various versions of its characters rather than different universes. The film follows Evelyn Wang (Yeoh), a middle-aged Chinese immigrant and laundromat owner, as she experiences all of the paths that her seemingly disappointing life could have taken if she made a few different choices. Most notably, in one universe, she decided to leave her home country of China and go to the U.S. with her sweet but slightly dim husband Waymond, played tremendously by Quan.

Throughout her multiversal journey, Evelyn encounters versions of herself where she is a hibachi chef, a Chinese opera singer and a master martial artist, among other lives. All of the different universes allow for some of the most creative filmmaking the world has seen in a long time. Daniels are able to shift between both genre and tone throughout this movie, taking the audience on an emotional rollercoaster where they never really know how they’re supposed to react and feel about a specific scene.

This film also uses the multiverse as a narrative device to tell a larger story about family struggle, which keeps the film grounded in an interesting way. As she goes from universe to universe, Evelyn’s mind is being pulled in several directions, which is a metaphor for the many ways that her normal life is being pulled apart in many ways, such as divorcing Waymond, struggling with taxes on her business and her relationship with her daughter, Joy Wang (Hsu), slowly-deteriorating.

Evelyn has constantly overworked Joy to ensure that everything in her daughter’s life is perfect in Evelyn’s eyes. As she travels through different universes and versions of herself, Evelyn realizes that the way she treats Joy leads to the disastrous fate of every universe.

The main villain of the film is an alternate version of Joy who was pushed so hard by her universe’s version of Evelyn that she vowed to destroy that multiverse. While this part of the plot is a little predictable, it ends up being the emotional crux of the film, as Evelyn uses her multiversal journey to see the error of her ways and reconnect with her daughter. Going through the multiverse and seeing how much variance there really is in life shows Evelyn that although everything may seem consequential, the best way to find peace in life is to understand that nothing really matters.

Throughout the film industry, a lot of movies are set on telling one specific story in one specific genre. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” breaks out of this mold while still telling a complete story that is grounded in familial themes. The film often reminds the audience of the struggles that the Wang family encounters, such as an impending divorce and financial problems, and encourages viewers to continue rooting for the Wangs as they travel between universes.

Although the most successful movies in recent history feature teenagers with spider powers and giant aliens, original writers and directors like Daniels make Hollywood special and being a movie fan so compelling. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” does not follow any strict structure, which makes it a really fun movie to watch, and even more fun to re-watch.

Published on April 12, 2022 at 10:26 pm