By Everything Everywhere All At Once Review
(Written by: Tahsin Aktar)
96% rating – Rotten Tomatoes
Led by an outstanding Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once lives up to its title with an expertly calibrated assault on the senses.
From hard hitting dramatic beats and farcical comedy to pulsating action and martial arts, Yeoh’s full range is on display in this wild and imaginative sci-fi movie from the directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also known as the Daniels.
Evelyn Wang is a Chinese American woman who, between running her laundromat business, is navigating the breakdown of her relationship with her marriage and her daughter. Despite the intro, this is not a touching picture about family relationships; instead,Wang is seemingly split into two different realities, one of which involves a different version of Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) telling her that not just her reality, but all possible realities, are under threat and only she can save the multiverse.
This film takes the idea of exploring the multiverse and turns it into a comedy. We witness so many various twists and turns that it’s difficult for me to categorise what they’re really about. One scene depicted a world where people have hotdogs for fingers, while another depicted the main characters as literal rocks with googly eyes. There’s a certain cadence to the bizarreness that makes it enjoyable to watch in the long run.
The real heart of the film is Evelyn’s realisation that all the baggage she has inherited from her father (played by James Hong) she is now unloading onto her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and this plays out through both the film’s more absurd and meaningful moments, without any sense of there being easy answers or resolutions. The Daniels chose not only to put every strange idea they could think of into their movie, but they ensure that every oddity adds something to the thought-provoking, emotionally resonant themes that pervade the story.
(Image: Variety)
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Rotten Tomatoes
Thomas Caldwell reviews Everything Everywhere All At Once – Afternoons – ABC Radio
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’: Why everyone is obsessed with it (russh.com)
