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 (051922)
Everything Everywhere All at Once is an outrageous, unusual, innovative,
frustrating ,overstuffed, messy, inconsistent, riveting, mesmerizing, surreal,
and creative sci/fi action film that is at least as innovative and entertaining
as the Matrix. If you loved that film and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
you will probably also adore this one.
Many major talents worked on the film. It was produced by the Russo brothers who
worked on the TV shows Community (2009-2014) and Happy Endings (2011-2012). But
they are perhaps best known for several Marvel Universe films including ones in
the Avengers and Captain America series. The much less known and experienced
directors/screenplay writers, David Kwan, and Daniel Scheilnert, are known
mostly for doing the cool but little seen Indy film Swiss Army Man (2016)
Not coincidently this film explores the idea of the Multi-verse which also is
becoming increasingly important in the Marvel Universe films. This film compares
favorably with Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which was also quite
good, although this effort is far superior. While many films have too few ideas
this film is so overloaded with them that I had to leave the theatre every now
in then to give my mind a break to fully process what was going on.
The film’s cast includes Michelle (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Yeoh,
Stephanie (The Marvelous Mrs. Masiel) Hsu, Ke Huy Quan (from Head of the Class),
Jenny (Obvious Child) Slate, and Halloween's Jaimie Lee Curtis. Yeoh is
exceptional in the lead demonstrating uncommon athleticism, dramatic intensity,
comic timing, and grace. This may be one of her most memorable roles. Initially
Evelyn Wang is a Chinese American laundry owner who is going through a tax
audit, and the film initially seems like it belongs in the social realist genre.
The evil seeming auditor has the unlikely named Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jaimie Lee
Curtis), and yes, it is from the name game.
Evelyn has a very stressful life and always looks like she is about two seconds
from a total breakdown. This is not surprising when you consider that her
daughter is totally ungrateful and antagonistic, her husband is hinting that he
wants a divorce, and she is caring for needy dad that has no appreciation for
her.
One day a man who looks identical to her husband informs her that the universe
is ending and an evil megalomaniac, Jabou Topaki is trying kill everyone and
destroy all realities. He explains in a matter-of-fact way, “I am not your
husband; I’m another version of him from another universe.” He also tells her
that she is the only one that can stop Jabou, and she is a bit like a
middle-aged female version of Neo, except in real life Yeoh is an expert dancer
so the fights (which are pretty restrained) would have been highly convincing
even without digital enhancement. Of course, like Neo and most mythic hero
characters she initially rejects the call (she sees herself as a loser at first)
which follows the heroic pattern that mythic scholar Joseph Campbell wrote about
in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and his other works (check out The Power of
Myth.)
By consciously trying she can merge with her other selves and she sees that in
most other realities she is a winner. The alternate universes all diverged from
hers because she made a different choice at a crucial moment in each and often
those choices turned out better for her. In one reality she is a millionaire and
in another she is a successful actor in martial arts films (just like the real
life Yeoh). In another she is a piñata who is about to burst, and in one she is
a talking rock who oversees a funny scene that should be recognizable to fans of
2001: Space Odyssey. In my favorite reality, raccoons control chefs and make
them make great meals in a homage/parody of Ratatouille called Racacoonie.
There is even a corridor scene that mocks the most famous sequence in Wong Kar
Wai’s In the Mood for Love. The film offers endless delights for film
aficionados and serious film students.
The oddest part of the film is when the villain, Tapoki, (who turns out to be
quite familiar to Evelyn) puts all her knowledge, experiences, and emotions into
a cosmic bagel. The bagel should get an award for best performance of the year
by a pastry. Tapoki is a nihilist and has concluded from all the multi-verses
she has also experienced that there is no meaning to anything. The film asks the
philosophical question if everything is meaningless what is the point of going
on? This is also a query that troubled the existentialist philosophers like
Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, and the film suggests a surprisingly
optimistic answer.
Everything Everywhere all at Once is often thoughtful, intelligent, exciting,
and elevating, but it also feels overlong and (like
Inception)
it is not at all for the casual viewer. But in this age of franchise films and
remakes it is a delight to find a truly original risk-taking cinematic gem like
this especially in the middle part of the year which tends to be an art film
waste land.
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