Everything Everywhere All at Once. |

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Everything Everywhere All at Once is an American comedy-drama movie released in 2022, which is known for its unique and absurd concept. It was written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who are famously referred to as “the Daniels,” along with producers Anthony and Joe Russo and Jonathan Wang.

Michelle Yeoh plays the lead role of Evelyn Quan Wang, an immigrant from China who discovers that she needs to connect with parallel universe versions of herself while being audited by the IRS to stop a mighty being from destroying the multiverse. The movie also features Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong in supporting roles.

The film’s production started in 2010, and the announcement was made in 2018. The filming was completed between January and March 2020. The soundtrack of the movie features compositions by Son Lux, including collaborations with Mitski, David Byrne, André 3000, John Hampson, and Randy Newman.

Everything Everywhere All at Once had its premiere at the South by Southwest festival on March 11, 2022. It was then released in the United States on March 25, 2022, before a wide release by Manhattan-based A24 on April 8. The film gained critical appreciation for its originality, direction, acting, visual effects, costume design, action sequences, musical score, and editing.

Furthermore, its portrayal of philosophical concepts like existentialism, nihilism, and absurdism, along with its approach to themes like neurodivergence, depression, generational trauma, and Asian American identity, has been widely analyzed.

According to The New York Times, the film is a “swirl of genre anarchy” with elements of surreal comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts films, and animation. The movie grossed more than $136 million worldwide, surpassing A24’s previous highest-grossing film, Hereditary.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is considered to be the most awarded film of all time, having received eleven nominations at the 95th Academy Awards, which is a record. The movie won a record seven awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (Quan), Best Supporting Actress (Curtis), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

It also won two Golden Globe Awards, five Critics’ Choice Awards (including Best Picture), one BAFTA Award, four SAG Awards (including Best Ensemble), a record seven Independent Spirit Awards (including Best Feature), and swept the four major guild awards (DGA, PGA, SAG, and WGA).

Everything Everywhere All At Once MOVIE.

Directed by: Daniel Kwan
Daniel Scheinert
Written by: Daniel Kwan
Daniel Scheinert
Produced by: Anthony Russo
Cinematography: Larkin Seiple
Edited by: Paul Rogers
Music by:Son Lux
Production companies: IAC Films
Distributed by:A24
Release dates:March 11, 2022
March 25, 2022 (United States)
Running time139 minutes
Country: United States
Languages:English,Mandarin,Cantonese
Budget$14.3–25 million
Box office$136.6 million

Starring.

Michelle Yeoh
Stephanie Hsu
Ke Huy Quan
Jenny Slate
Harry Shum Jr.
James Hong
Jamie Lee Curtis

Plot Summary:

Evelyn Quan Wang is a Chinese American immigrant who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond. They moved to the United States two decades earlier and have a daughter named Joy.

The story follows Evelyn as she faces several challenges: the laundromat is being audited by the IRS, Waymond is trying to serve her divorce papers, her demanding father is visiting for her Chinese New Year party, and she’s struggling to accept her daughter’s relationship with her non-Chinese girlfriend, Becky.

In the midst of all this, Waymond is taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of himself from a parallel universe known as the Alphaverse. Alpha-Waymond explains that every choice we make creates a new universe, and the Alphaverse has developed a way to access these parallel universes by performing unlikely actions.

However, the multiverse is threatened by Jobu Tupaki, a version of Joy from the Alphaverse who has splintered her mind after extensive verse-jumping. Jobu has created a “black hole” that could destroy the multiverse.

Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu’s minions, and she discovers other universes in which she made different choices and flourished. Alpha-Waymond believes Evelyn has the potential to defeat Jobu, but Alpha-Gong Gong instructs her to kill Joy to stop Jobu from entering her universe. Evelyn refuses and decides to face Jobu by gaining powers through repeated verse-jumping. As they fight, Evelyn’s mind splinters and she collapses.

Evelyn and Jobu’s consciousnesses uncontrollably verse-jump across bizarre and diverse universes. Jobu reveals that she has been searching for an Evelyn who shares her nihilistic beliefs and wants to use the “everything bagel” to allow herself and Evelyn to truly die.

However, Evelyn has an existentialist epiphany and decides to follow Waymond’s advice to be kind, even when life doesn’t make sense. She repairs her damage in other universes and neutralizes Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu’s fighters. In her home universe, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond and accepts Joy and Becky’s relationship.

Later, the family returns to the IRS building to redo their taxes. Evelyn’s attention is momentarily drawn to her alternative selves, but she grounds herself back in her home universe. In the end, the family’s relationships have improved, and Evelyn and Joy embrace.

Visuals:

The visual effects post-production for the movie was carried out in-house, following the Daniels’ negative experience with a specialized post-production studio for their previous film, Swiss Army Man. The filmmakers opted to form a small team of just five artists who created all the visual effects using Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro. Resilio Sync was used to transfer the massive amounts of data once the pandemic struck.

To create Deirdre’s character, Kwan searched for an image of a genuine IRS agent he discovered online, which caught Curtis’ eye and wished to replicate. Curtis desired the character to feel as genuine as possible and used her authentic belly instead of a prosthetic one.

When Was It Filmed?

In January 2020, the filming of the movie commenced, and A24 confirmed that they would fund and distribute the film. Over a period of 38 days, shooting took place primarily in Simi Valley, California. The majority of the film was filmed overcranked at a high frame rate to enable significant time remapping in post-production.

According to Daniels, the kung-fu combat scenes were captured in a notably brief period. For instance, the fanny-pack combat scene was completed in just one and a half days. Filming concluded in early March 2020, amidst the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The initial cut of the movie lasted approximately 170 minutes.

Soundtrack/Score:

The musical score for the film was crafted by Son Lux, a trio composed of Ryan Lott, Ian Chang, and Rafiq Bhatia. Director Daniels requested that each member approach the score as an individual, rather than as a band. Lott explained that this allowed them to tap into the various creative realms they had explored separately, resulting in a vast array of sounds to draw from.

It took Son Lux two to three years to compose the score, which features over one hundred musical cues. The soundtrack album contains 49 tracks and runs for more than two hours.

It boasts an impressive list of guest musicians, including Mitski, David Byrne, André 3000 on the flute, Randy Newman, Moses Sumney, Hajnal Pivnick, and yMusic. Two singles from the album, “This Is a Life” featuring Mitski and Byrne, and “Fence” featuring Sumney, were released in March 2022. The album itself received positive critical reception upon its release on March 25.

The film includes multiple instances of the song “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” by Nine Days, both in dialogue and in audio. After reaching out to vocalist John Hampson for permission to use the song, he agreed to record three alternate versions of it for the film.

Cast Performance:

The original script for the movie had been written with Jackie Chan in mind for the lead role. However, after Kwan and Scheinert came on board, they decided to change the protagonist to a woman to make the husband-wife dynamic in the story more relatable.

The character was initially named Michelle Wang after the lead actress Michelle Yeoh. However, Yeoh didn’t want her resemblance to the character to affect her portrayal, so the name was changed to Evelyn.

In August 2018, Yeoh and Awkwafina were announced as the leads in the “interdimensional action film” produced by the Russo brothers. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Awkwafina had to leave the project, and Stephanie Hsu was brought in to replace her. The film also stars James Hong, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Kwan and Scheinert were inspired to cast Quan after seeing a meme of Andrew Yang portrayed as a grown-up version of Short Round, Quan’s character from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Interestingly, Quan had just returned to acting before he was offered the role. His former co-star from The Goonies, Jeff Cohen, was his attorney for contract negotiations.

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Quan Wang, an overwhelmed and dissatisfied owner of a laundromat. She also portrays multiple versions of Evelyn in different parallel universes.

Stephanie Hsu portrays Joy Wang, Evelyn’s daughter, and Jobu Tupaki, Alpha-Evelyn’s daughter, who has become nihilistic and poses a threat to the multiverse. Ke Huy Quan appears as Waymond Wang, Evelyn’s meek and humorous husband, who represents humanist existentialism, which counters Jobu’s nihilism.

He also plays Alpha-Waymond from the Alphaverse, as well as other versions of Waymond in different universes. Jenny Slate is Debbie the Dog Mom, a customer at the laundromat, who was originally named Big Nose but changed for the digital release due to its association with Jewish stereotypes.

Harry Shum Jr. plays Chad, a teppanyaki chef who works with an alternate universe Evelyn. James Hong plays Gong Gong, Evelyn’s demanding father, and Alpha-Gong Gong, Alpha-Evelyn’s father in the Alphaverse who wants Evelyn to sacrifice Joy to impede Jobu. Jamie Lee Curtis appears as Deirdre Beaubeirdre, an IRS inspector, and as other versions of Deirdre in different universes.

Tallie Medel portrays Joy’s girlfriend, Becky Sregor, while Biff Wiff plays Rick, a laundromat customer. Sunita Mani and Aaron Lazar appear as actors in a musical film that Evelyn watches. Audrey Wasilewski and Peter Banifaz play Alpha RV Officers, while Andy Le and Brian Le play Alpha Trophy Jumpers. Li Jing portrays Evelyn’s kung-fu teacher, while Michiko Nishiwaki appears as Evelyn’s kung-fu opponent and co-star.

Randy Newman, who has previously scored nine Disney-Pixar films, is the voice of Raccacoonie and is featured as an artist on the soundtrack “Now We’re Cookin’,” which references the Pixar-animated film Ratatouille (2007). Cameos in the movie include Scheinert as District Manager and Kwan, who appears uncredited as a man sucked into the bagel and as a mugger.

Development – Who Developed it?

The creative duo known as the Daniels, consisting of co-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, first explored the concept of the multiverse in 2010. Their inspiration came from the modal realism theory introduced in the Ross McElwee documentary Sherman’s March.

However, when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released in 2018 and tackled the same concept, Kwan was worried that their project would no longer be seen as original. To avoid being influenced by similar projects, Kwan stopped watching Rick and Morty while they were writing their screenplay.

In early drafts of the film’s screenplay, the main character was a professor with undiagnosed ADHD. Kwan discovered that he also had undiagnosed ADHD while researching for the film.

The scenes where Evelyn becomes a martial arts expert and action movie star were inspired by the works of Wong Kar-wai, particularly the romantic yearning mood he often conveys in his films. The universe where Evelyn and Joy take the form of rocks was influenced by the children’s book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and the video game Everything.

The idea of the everything bagel was originally intended to be a throwaway joke but ended up becoming a crucial symbol in the film. The directors attempted to develop the religion of bagel followers but faced challenges in creating a belief system for nihilistic character Jobu Tupaki.

Nonetheless, the everything bagel remained a simple yet effective tool for the filmmakers. Randy Newman, who has scored many Disney-Pixar films, voiced the character Raccacoonie, which is a nod to the Pixar-animated film Ratatouille.

Theme of the movie:

The film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” blends together elements from various genres such as absurdist comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts films, and animation. While the movie features action and science-fiction elements, critics note that it primarily explores intergenerational trauma and Asian American identity, while also discussing the meaning of life and philosophies like existentialism and nihilism.

The film also engages with the viewer’s world through textual and metatextual references. The “everything bagel” concept serves as a metaphor for nihilism and is used to create a cohesive story about finding meaning in a meaningless universe. Overall, the film is described as a coming-of-age story for the internet generation, with the multiverse resembling virtual environments that viewers increasingly exist within.

Furthermore, the film explores themes of family, love, and forgiveness. According to Emily St. James of Vox, Everything Everywhere All at Once is part of a growing subgenre of “millennial parental apology fantasy,” in which parents and children reconcile in fantastical worlds. The film also addresses intergenerational trauma through the lens of healing relationships between mothers and daughters.

The movie also delves into philosophical themes, particularly the concepts of nihilism and existentialism. The bagel of doom, which represents the tightening grip of nihilism on the protagonist’s daughter, serves as a metaphor for the dangers of submitting to nihilism, which is popular with the next generation. The film suggests that the only hope of recourse is to embrace love and beauty in the world.

Additionally, the film addresses Asian American identity and pessimism. The multiverse serves as a metaphor for the immigrant Asian experience and the dislocations and personality splits experienced by hyphenated Asian-Americans, including LGBT culture. The film confronts and negotiates Asian-pessimism, a term used in reference to Afro-pessimism.

The movie engages with the “real world” of the viewer, with critics noting that one version of the protagonist, a famous martial arts movie star, is a portrayal of Michelle Yeoh, and that Ke Huy Quan’s experience as a stunt coordinator is used diegetically in Waymond’s fight scenes. James Hong’s transformation into a more sinister, English-fluent, Machiavellian strategist also parallels his character Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Box Office Results: How Much Did The Movie Make?

As of April 6, 2023, the worldwide box office gross for Everything Everywhere All at Once amounted to $136.6 million, with $77.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $59.5 million in other territories.

The film debuted in ten venues in the US and Canada, earning $509,600 during its opening weekend with a theater average of $50,965, which was the second-best platform release during the COVID-19 pandemic (behind Licorice Pizza) and the highest opening theater average in 2022 at the time. In the second weekend, the movie made $1.1 million from 38 theaters and ranked ninth at the box office.

The third weekend saw the film expand to 1,250 theaters from 38, generating $6.1 million and finishing sixth at the box office. In its fourth weekend, it earned $6.2 million in 2,220 theaters, ranking fourth.The film added $5.5 million in its sixth weekend, with a broader IMAX release contributing to its success. It earned $3.5 million and $3.3 million in the seventh and eighth weekends, respectively.

By May 21, the film grossed over $51 million, surpassing Uncut Gems as A24’s highest-grossing domestic film with $50 million. By June 9, it had grossed over $80 million, surpassing Hereditary as A24’s highest-grossing film of all time.[88] It stayed in the top ten box office rankings until its sixteenth weekend, which ended on July 10.

On July 31, the movie reached the $100 million worldwide box office mark, making it the first independent film to achieve this feat during the pandemic (and in A24’s history). The United Kingdom ($6.2 million), Canada ($5.1 million), Australia ($4.5 million), Russia ($2.4 million), Taiwan ($2.3 million), Mexico ($2 million), Hong Kong ($1.7 million), Germany ($1.5 million), and the Netherlands ($1.1 million) were among the top-earning territories outside the US as of July 31.

What Do Critics Say About The Movie?

The film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has received high praise from film critics, with many considering it to be Michelle Yeoh’s greatest work. The movie has received an approval rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 81 out of 100 on Metacritic. Audiences have also given the film high ratings, with 89% saying they enjoyed it and 77% recommending it to others.

Many critics have praised Michelle Yeoh’s performance, with David Ehrlich of IndieWire calling it her greatest performance ever. Other reviewers have praised the direction, score, and imaginative plot, while some have criticized the handling of underlying themes or found the film overwhelming. Despite some dissenting reviews, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is generally regarded as an outstanding film that showcases the talents of its cast and crew.

Overall, Everything Everywhere All at Once has received widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise directed towards Michelle Yeoh’s outstanding performance in the lead role. The film has a Metacritic score of 81 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim,” and an approval rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. The website’s consensus notes that the film expertly lives up to its title with an expertly calibrated assault on the senses, led by Yeoh’s outstanding performance.

Critics have praised the direction and performances, with David Ehrlich of IndieWire calling the film an “orgiastic work of slaphappy genius” and David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter calling it a “frenetically plotted serve of stoner heaven.”

Marya E. Gates of RogerEbert.com lauded Yeoh’s performance, writing that Yeoh is the anchor of the film, given a role that showcases her wide range of talents. Meanwhile, Charles Bramesco of The Guardian praised Daniels for constructing a large, elaborate, polished, and detailed expression of a vision.

Several reviewers have specifically highlighted the emotional depth and complexity that Yeoh brings to the lead role, with Maureen Ryan of Vanity Fair calling Yeoh’s performance positively gripping and Adam Nayman of The Ringer describing the film as a love letter to Yeoh.

Jake Coyle of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that while the film can verge on overload, it also leaves the viewer with a sense of limitless possibility and a surprisingly tender portrait of existential despair.

There have been some dissenting voices, with Richard Brody of The New Yorker dismissing the film as a sickly cynical feature-length directorial pitch reel for a Marvel movie and Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian describing it as a formless splurge of Nothing Nowhere Over a Long Period of Time.

Overall, however, Everything Everywhere All at Once has been widely praised as a visually stunning and emotionally complex film, with Michelle Yeoh’s outstanding performance serving as a standout feature.

Has The Film Won Any Accolades?

The movie Everything Everywhere All at Once broke records at the 95th Academy Awards, according to IGN. It won seven of its 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (won by Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (won by Daniel Dae Kim), Best Supporting Actress (won by Jamie Lee Curtis), Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.

The film also received 10 BAFTA nominations, winning one, 13 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nominations, winning five, eight Independent Spirit Awards nominations, winning a record-breaking seven, and six Golden Globe Awards nominations, winning two. Additionally, it was named one of the top 10 films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

The movie also made history in several categories, with Michelle Yeoh becoming the first woman of Chinese ethnicity to win Best Actress and the first Malaysian to win any Academy Award.

Stephanie Hsu’s nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category, along with Hong Chau’s nomination for The Whale, marked the first time two Asian actresses were nominated in that category in the same year. It is also the first science-fiction film to win Best Picture and the first science-fiction film to win five of the top six Academy Awards.

While the film’s Best Picture Oscar win was mostly well-received by the public and industry, there were some criticisms, including from Cannes Film Festival president Thierry Frémaux.

Frémaux compared the film’s win to the win for Parasite, the first non-English language film to win the award, at the 2020 ceremony, saying that he was happy to see Michelle Yeoh rewarded but disappointed that Steven Spielberg wasn’t.

He also questioned how a non-American film could win the Oscar for best film since it’s a ceremony in honor of American cinema, noting that Parasite won, but it’s a Korean film. Below is the trailer to the movie:

Is everything everywhere all at once movie about depression?

“Everything Everywhere all at once” is a movie about the journey of a Chinese-American woman named Eva, played by Michelle Yeoh, who discovers that she has the ability to access parallel universes. The film explores themes of identity, loss, and love as Eva navigates through different versions of herself in alternate realities.

While it may not be explicitly labeled as a movie about depression, the concept of exploring multiple dimensions can be interpreted as an allegory for mental health struggles.

Depression is often characterized by feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, which can make individuals feel like they are stuck in a single reality with no way out. “Everything Everywhere all at once” offers the idea that there are other dimensions where things could be different – perhaps even better.

The film also touches on themes such as grief and trauma, which are common triggers for depression. As Eva confronts various versions of her past selves in different realities, she must come to terms with painful memories and experiences.

This process can be seen as a metaphorical representation of working through emotional baggage and finding acceptance and healing. Overall, while “Everything Everywhere all at once” may not directly address depression, it offers a unique perspective on navigating difficult emotions that many viewers may find relatable.

Does everything everywhere all at once movie have inappropriate scenes?

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American science fiction action film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The movie follows the story of a martial arts instructor, played by Michelle Yeoh, who discovers she has the ability to travel between parallel universes. The movie has been praised for its unique storyline and impressive visual effects. However, some viewers have raised concerns about inappropriate scenes in the movie.

While Everything Everywhere All at Once focuses mainly on action and adventure, there are a few scenes that could be considered inappropriate for younger viewers.

For instance, there are some violent fight scenes where characters get injured or killed. Additionally, there are a few instances of sexual innuendos and suggestive language that may not be suitable for children.

Despite these concerns, it’s important to note that the filmmakers did receive an R rating from MPAA due to its violence, language, and sexual content. Therefore, parents should exercise discretion when deciding whether or not to let their children watch this film. Overall, Everything Everywhere All at Once is an entertaining movie with incredible action sequences that will keep you on edge throughout the film! You may also like:

Dennis Gayirah

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