🔥 PHOENIX RECOMMENDED 🔥
Director and Writer (Platform): Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Prime)
Publisher (Release): A24 (2022)
Length: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Genres: Adult; Fantasy; Sci-Fi; Action; Drama
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
strong themes of existential despair, depression, and suicide
flashing lights warning
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: must watch
👍 Pros 👍
One of the best films I’ve seen, with an expertly crafted plot brimming with themes of existentialism, depression, and living with oneself
Cast to perfection, with an exceptional lead in Michelle Yeoh, who can drag out the viewer’s emotions with just a glance
Slickly paced with tantalising action and witty comedy
👎 Cons 👎
None
👀 Synopsis & Trailer 👀
When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of everything hangs in the balance.
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
Everything Everywhere All At Once is one of the best, if not the best, films I’ve seen.
An emotional, hilarious, and fucking ridiculous exploration of existence, family, and futility.
It’s cinematic perfection and has eclipsed everything I’ve ever watched everywhere all at once (I’m sorry).
🧩 Plots 🧩
Initial themes are obvious, with the creators exploring Asian-American lifestyles, roles, and expectations, tapping into the trauma caused by rigid and unchanging generations of proud parents. The consequences and subsequent generational echoes are a surprisingly subtle punch. The world, the universe, is a huge, crazy scary place that overtakes all of us at one point or another. It’s overwhelming and pointless, and living is one of the hardest things for anyone breathing to do. Everything Everywhere All At Once doesn’t judge depression and respectfully approaches the subsequent thoughts of suicide that can come from prolonged illness.
After all the tears from laughing at its comedy, Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert tore every heartbreaking emotion from me, somehow ending the rollercoaster experience with such raw hope.
Who are you?
The story on the surface is insanely goofy, and it lulls the viewer into a false sense of been there, done that. Its focus on multiverses could be seen as an attempt to snatch some of that Marvel glory, but Everything eclipses everything Marvel has ever tried to do. Kwan & Scheinert craft a hilarious and endearing journey through choice and consequence, hooking the viewer with surreal realism and a relatability that absorbs us. It’s smart and crisp, and a film I will never forget.
Serious and goofy in a perfect storm
Despite its heart-wrenching themes, Everything Everywhere All At Once is an uplifting and life-affirming adventure. It’ll break you, mend you, shatter you, and, finally, teach you how to fix yourself.
‘…living is one of the hardest things for anyone breathing to do.’
🎭 Characters 🎭
Michelle Yeoh (who plays Evelyn, our protagonist) deserves every award created and then some. We need a Michelle Yeoh Award for when an Oscar is just a child’s toy and not fit to encapsulate this kind of talent. With every glance, every smile, and every tear, Michelle Yeoh moves us in just about every direction, keeping the frenetic threads of the story from flying off into the bagel.
The cast deserves all the awards
It’d be a disservice, though, to say she does this alone. Everything Everywhere All At Once has not one weak link. The entire cast is a masterclass in casting and the chemistry and commitment are the undeniable representation of when people say ‘lightning in a bottle’. From Stephanie Hsu’s eclectically effecting Joy, Ke Huy Quan’s naive but lovable Waymond, and Jamie Lee Curtis’s surprisingly scary Deirdre, Everything has more star power than even the greatest Hollywood blockbuster.
‘…not one weak link.’
💭 Final Thoughts 💭
I’m going to go around in circles for this review, so for a tl;dr: Everything Everywhere All At Once is perfection. It’s a rapturous cinematic experience that takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster through existential dread, the crushing burden of expectations, and the overwhelming nature of life. It’s funny, ridiculous, poignant, and, above all, unashamedly hopeful. Despite its themes, Everything reminds us that, even when the world overwhelms us and brings us to our lowest, there are moments, moments when, sometimes, just sometimes, we can overwhelm the world.
