Meaning. Although… if anything has meaning at all.
"Everything Everywhere All at Once" is a multi-genre film from 2022in which science fiction, action, comedy, family drama, and outright psychedelia somehow exist all at once.
It was created by the directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, better known simply as "the Daniels."
And the word "psychedelic" is very important here.
The film doesn't just tell a story. It literally tries to shake up the viewer's habitual system of perception, forcing them several times to ask the question:
who is the real me here, anyway?
At the center of the plot is Evelyn Wang, played by Michelle Yeoh, an ordinary woman who unexpectedly learns that a vast number of parallel universes exist — and a vast number of other versions of herself.
To enter another universe and gain access to the skills of another Evelyn, the heroine must perform a certain algorithm — and often do something completely unaccustomed to her, illogical, strange, and sometimes frankly absurd.
And that's where the most interesting part begins.
Evelyn constantly jumps between different versions of her life, at the same time trying not to lose her connection to her husband, her daughter, reality — and, most importantly, to remember: who is she herself?
And finally, at around 44th minute she begins to see everything much more broadly.
Her other lives.
The other lives of her loved ones.
Other versions of herself.
And an excellent question arises:
which of these people will now turn out to be family to her, and which — an enemy?
Well, that's it.
We won't tell you any more. 😃
Because from this point on, they definitely won't let you get bored.
And yes — there exist not only alternative versions of individual people.
There are alternative branches of our entire Universe.
How is all this actually filmed?
This is where the standing ovations come in.
How the fight scenes are staged.
What special effects.
How the editing works.
How the screenplay is written.
How, out of a completely absurd situation, the film shifts within seconds into drama, then into philosophy, then into an action movie — and a minute later makes you laugh.
And the actors were given a task of utterly insane complexity: they essentially have to play several versions of one person, sometimes fundamentally unlike one another.
Michelle Yeoh is simply stunning
Michelle Yeoh — “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Mechanic: Resurrection”, “Last Christmas,” “Star Trek: Discovery” — here received one of the most difficult roles of her career.
And she didn't just handle it.
She deserves ovations, endless praise and, as it later turned out, a thoroughly well-earned “Oscar.”
Her natural mastery of martial arts here combines with comedy, drama, absolute absurdity and very subtle emotional scenes.
Beside her is the magnificent Ke Huy Quan — “The Goonies,” “Loki,” “American Born Chinese.”
Stephanie Hsu — “The Fall Guy,” “Step Sisters” —incredibly vivid, strange and emotional all at once.
Jamie Lee Curtis — “True Lies,” “Knives Out,” “Trading Places,” “Freaky Friday,” “The Villain” —here allows herself things that one could never have expected from her at all.
And, of course, James Hong — “Balls of Fury,” “You Can’t Win” (Russian title of “The Man with the Iron Fists”), “The Day the Earth Stood Still” —a legend with an enormous filmography, whom viewers have seen in dozens of well-known films and series.
All in all, when it comes to the actors here, everything is very good.
And that’s not even the half of it.
Very, very good.
A few quotes—just to give you a sense of where you’re being invited
The film is literally strewn with phrases that at first may seem part of a science-fiction plot, and then unexpectedly begin to sound almost like a philosophical treatise.
“You just don’t understand how every one of your decisions affects your life.”
“Nothing matters.”
“You do understand, right? You see that everything around you is merely random reorganizations of the particles of an oscillating superposition.”
And right away:
“We’ll cut off her oxygen, at least in this dimension.” 😄
And then again:
“You do know that our every action vanishes in the boundless field of our other possibilities. You are everywhere.”
Or:
“Do the right thing!” — that’s a tiny box created by people, and it presses down on you.
And also:
“You’re young, your mind is changeable. But I know who I am!”
And then:
“I was only looking for someone who could see what I see. Who could feel what I feel.”
And one of our favorites:
“If I choose only the good, that doesn’t mean I’m weak. It’s a strategy. It simply helps me survive it all.”
So what is the film really about?
This is where it gets most interesting.
On the surface, it’s a film about the multiverse.
But if you strip away the science fiction, the fights, the special effects and all the magnificent absurdity, a very interesting meaning takes shape:
you have to constantly break your own patterns.
Change your habitual chains of thought.
Create new connections.
Step out of automatic reactions.
Because every decision made shapes a new version of your life.
And the task is — amid this infinite number of variants not to lose your own self.
What's more, the film literally forces the viewer to look at the question:
Who am I?
If you have ever searched for an answer to this question — you can press play.
It definitely won't leave you indifferent.
Someone will say: "Brilliant."
Someone else: "What did I just watch?"
And someone will sit and think for several more hours after the film.
And perhaps that is precisely its purpose.
And the humor. So much humor
Important: don't picture a heavy two-hour philosophical film where people gaze thoughtfully out the window.
No.
There is such a level of absurdity here that at times you will laugh precisely because your brain already refuses to explain what is happening.
And one more thing:
don't rush to turn off the film around the 82-minute mark!
Yes, yes.
This is also a move by the screenwriters.
Here too they decided to play a little with the viewer.
The film is unlike practically anything else
And that is precisely why we decided to make this big breakdown at all.
Not long ago we published our TOP-5 science fiction of all time and all nations, where we put in first place “The Immortals. War of the Worlds”.
And the reason was not only the quality of the film.
The main thing — originality.
When after watching it is hard to say:
“Well, it's roughly like that one film.”
And here it is the same thing.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is practically impossible to compare properly with any other cinema.
It simply exists in its own category.
Seven “Oscars” — and that already says something
The film received incredible acclaim from critics and audiences alike.
At the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, the film won in seven categories, including:
“Best Picture”;
“Best Directing” — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert;
“Best Actress” — Michelle Yeoh;
“Best Supporting Actor” — Ke Huy Quan;
“Best Supporting Actress” — Jamie Lee Curtis;
and also received awards for original screenplay and editing.
In other words, all this chaos turned out to be very carefully organised chaos.
And here, perhaps, lies yet another hint from the film.
What at first glance seems like absurdity, sometimes simply means:
you are being offered a change of direction in your thinking.
Right now.
Psychedelic? And then some
Let us remind you: the film is psychedelic.
So it will not merely tell you about the need to change your habitual perception.
It will make you do it.
Fasten your seatbelts.
Because in the end you will find a conversation about Choice, and about freedom, and about the art of being the Creator of your own life.
And the analogy with the rock — with that magnificent state of “just being” — is for us altogether one of the masterpieces of the picture.
No speeches.
No struggle.
No proofs.
Rocks.
And suddenly — one of the most human episodes of the entire film.
The bottom line
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a very strange film.
Very funny.
Very smart.
Very loud.
Sometimes utterly absurd.
Sometimes unexpectedly tender.
Sometimes so philosophical that a minute after a scene with yet another insane fight, you suddenly catch yourself thinking about your own life.
The film literally forces the viewer to see their own self from different sides.
That is precisely why it can be forgiven for practically everything.
Except its length. 😄
Gaya’s rating: 9/10.
And that is even though we also deducted 0,1 points for the running time — let us remind you, we are generally proponents of a good film fitting, where possible, into roughly the standard 1 hour 40 minutes.
But here it is forgivable.
Almost.
In short:
a must-watch.
And after everything we have seen, a perfectly wonderful formula remains:
We can do anything we want! Nothing matters!
