Everything everywhere all at once movie review 2023

The film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a love letter to genre cinema, written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels. The film follows the story of Evelyn Wang, a laundromat owner under IRS audit who, after being visited by another version of her husband Waymond from the Alpha verse, finds herself in a universe-hopping adventure that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her life, failures, and love for her family.

Michelle Yeoh gives a virtuoso performance as Evelyn, who is juggling her father’s visit, the tax audit, her daughter's sullenness and her husband's intention to talk about the state of their marriage. As the story progresses, she must battle the IRS agent Diedre, security guards, and possibly everyone else she’s ever met, in a seemingly endless cubicle-filled IRS office building in Simi Valley.

The action in the film is set in different universes, each with a distinct look and feel, with nods to winking film references such as “The Matrix,” “The Fall,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “In The Mood For Love,” “Ratatouille,” and Michelle Yeoh’s own legacy, including her Hong Kong action film days and the wuxia classic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The fight sequences, choreographed by Andy and Brian Le, are beautifully shot by cinematographer Larkin Seiple, with Yeoh given a role that showcases her wide range of talents, from her fine martial art skills to her superb comic timing to her ability to excavate endless depths of rich human emotion.

The film also stars Ke Huy Quan as Waymond and Stephanie Hsu as their daughter Joy. Quan's unique career brings facets of Waymond into the story, from his comic timing in his childhood roles in “The Goonies” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” to his work as a fight coordinator, to his time as an assistant director to Wong Kar Wai on “2046”. As Evelyn and Waymond’s relationship ebbs and flows through the multiverses, it’s their daughter Joy who proves to be the lynchpin.

Joy carries the weight of Evelyn’s fractured relationship with her grandfather and the disappointments of an American dream unattained. Her queerness is as foreign to her mother as the country was when she herself first arrived, and her aimlessness is a greater disappointment because of all that Evelyn sacrificed for her to have more options in life than she did. This pressure manifests in a rebellion that stretches beyond the multiverses into a realm where a giant everything bagel looms like a black hole ready to suck everyone into the void.

The film's production designer, Jason Kisvarday, crafts a seemingly endless cubicle-filled office where everything from the blade of a paper trimmer to a butt plug-shaped auditor of the year awards become fair game in a battle to save the universe. The editor, Paul Rogers, matches the script’s frenetic dialogue with a breakneck pace, with layers of universes simultaneously folding into each other while also propelling Evelyn’s internal journey. Match cuts seamlessly connect the universes together, while playful cuts help emphasize the humor at the heart of the film.

In summary, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a visually stunning and emotionally resonant film that seamlessly weaves together different universes and genres, resulting in a truly unique and unforgettable cinematic experience. It explores the weight of generational trauma, the power of unconditional love, and the beauty of embracing who we truly are. With virtuoso performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu, as well as outstanding production design and editing, this film is 2023 Oscar accademy award winning film. Seven awards win.