Everything Everywhere All at Once — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
When it comes to independent films, namely the studio A24, I’m always eager to watch. As much as I do love going to see blockbusters on opening weekend, it’s really all about how good a story is for me when it comes down to it. Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of A24’s latest releases now playing in theatres and I haven’t seen a film this weird and also thought-provoking in all the best ways, in a very long time. It’s been almost a week since I’ve seen it and I’m just now wrapping my head around what I watched. When I first heard about this film I was excited, but I didn’t expect how deep it would be under the surface.
To put it as simply as possible, Everything Everywhere All at Once is about Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), a woman who is struggling to keep her business going. As she’s being audited an opportunity presents itself. Since she’s in just a bind, she goes along with it, but it unleashes an endless number of realities. Being able to see many different versions of herself, her husband, her daughter, and many others, she basically discovers what her life could’ve been like, for better or worse. On top of that, abilities are garnered by her, due to the studying and linking of her other, smarter selves. The way this film gets to its climax was both wacky and emotional for me.
This is the first review I’ve written in a while where I don’t feel the need to complain about a single thing and also don’t want to get into too many details and ruin it for anyone. I will say that it’s absolutely not for everyone, simply due to the sheer weirdness of it all. This will more than likely turn off some viewers. Yes, it’s incredibly weird and off-putting at times, but if you really think about the visuals on-screen, the meaning behind it all and where it leads just brought me to tears. Speaking of the visuals, for a smaller budgeted film, I was blown away by how this film was made and looked overall.
In the end, Everything Everywhere All at Once earns one of the biggest recommendations from me in quite some time, but I also want to warn those who aren’t a fan of weird cinema. It’s bonkers in all the best ways. I loved the direction by both Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, but I wasn’t surprised by that because I loved their previous film, Swiss Army Man, which is arguably even weirder. From the technical achievements to the moving dialogue, to the straight-up cheer-worthy strangeness that it has to offer, I walked out of this film overjoyed. Everything Everywhere All at Once deserves to be recognized for awards all year long and I hope it continues to get the attention it very much deserves.
Rating: 5/5
Check out the trailer below:
