‘Everything Everywhere’ channels the multiverse
A24’s latest film, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” takes the idea of the multiverse and applies it to an independent sensibility. Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinhart present the concept of the importance of family through complex ideals.
The film follows Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) as she runs her family’s struggling laundromat. The business is getting audited by the IRS, because Evelyn didn’t file her taxes correctly. There is a direct focus on the family’s dynamic in the beginning. Evelyn’s husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), is reluctantly thinking about filing for divorce. Her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), wants her mother to accept her relationship with her girlfriend.
The film takes a sharp turn as another Waymond takes over from a parallel reality and warns Evelyn of what is to come. A parallel version of Joy tries to break into the current reality and destroy the different variations of Evelyn. The parallel Waymond explains how new parallel worlds build each time a decision is made. Evelyn jumps between different parallel worlds consciously and can use skills and abilities to help her in her current universe.
Evelyn has been trying to achieve happiness, but can never invest in it because of her chosen life. However, through the realizations of the different variants of herself, she discovers how much she values the people around her and uncovers the importance of her daughter Joy and how much Waymond actually sees and loves her.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is definitely a wild ride; there are moments of chaos and confusion, but the film wraps itself up nicely. There is an interesting narrative on queer relationships and how familial relationships have an impact on individuals. It is an original film with complex qualities, and the acting is phenomenal. The film takes the artistic quality that is present in most A24 films and gives it a Marvel movie plot, then it wraps it all together with the common theme of family.