*This piece is part of our Critics In Conversation series, where two writers offer different perspectives on the same film. Read Steven Gong’s review here, and Wesley Stenzel’s review here.*
From my perspective, my mother doesn’t actually know anything about me. She knows my sister and I like to read, but doesn’t know what kind of books, so she would always buy random ones from the bookstore for our holiday gifts. She knows I like Korean entertainment, so she’ll try to tell me about the Korean celebrities she encounters on TV, but they’ll never be the ones I like the most. Her knowledge of my favorite foods hasn’t progressed beyond when I was a picky ten-year-old, so whenever I’m home she stuffs the fridge with the apple pie, ice cream and orange juice I loved in my youth that sit too heavily on my tongue now.
Just like my mom, Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) arguably doesn’t know a single thing about her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). If they actually took a moment to sit down, they probably wouldn’t be able to have a conversation that lasted longer than five minutes without some sort of argument or slight. Nevertheless, just like my mom, Evelyn loves Joy with her whole heart and will go to the ends of the earth for her daughter. The latest film from the directing duo Daniels (Swiss Army Man) follows Evelyn on a wondrous, chaotic, magical, nonsensical journey toward doing just that—and ending up with far more than she expected in the process.
Evelyn first discovers the existence of parallel dimensions that make up the setting of Everything Everywhere from the version of her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) that comes from the world that innovated interdimensional travel, called the Alpha Universe. During a trip to the IRS, Alpha Waymond spits theory at her, explaining the logistics of leaping from universe to universe at a speed far too quick to actually internalize. As they duck from file cabinet to file cabinet to escape attacks from IRS auditor Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), one part of his spiel sticks: There is one verse jumper who has gone rogue, and now that person is hunting Evelyn down in every single universe, set on destroying her as well as everything else around her.
Despite the levity of Evelyn’s situation, the absurdity that ensues involves a raccoon chef, dildos, butt plugs, hot dog fingers, death, resurrection and an everything bagel. Amidst the layers of pandemonium throughout the 139-minute run time, its core messages ring as clear as a bell, delivering the importance of empathy and family alongside ludicrous jokes. Ironically, the completely unrealistic set up grounds the film. According to Brian David Johnson’s concept of science fiction prototyping, the futuristic genre can be used as a tool to speculate and explore futuristic ideas. While Everything Everywhere doesn’t contend with the future, it does utilize genre to create a setting so outlandish that viewers are unmoored from the beliefs they hold on the earth as we know it, whatever they may be, and are instead forcibly thrust into compassion toward a family living through a multitude of lives, yet struggling with the idea of love in every single one.
The work of Daniels, made up of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, comes together as if created by one entity, which is likely the result of their decade-long partnership directing music videos, commercials and films as a pair since they first met at Emerson College. Their direction puts their passion for cinema on open display, paying homage to film’s greats, including Wong Kar-wai, Stanley Kubrick, Ratatouille, and lead actress Michelle Yeoh herself. In fact, the film demonstrates a clear love and respect for its entire cast—one that is rather notably made up of those who haven’t had the chance to showcase their full range in Hollywood. In a now semi-viral interview with GQ, Yeoh tears up while expressing how meaningful it was that Kwan and Scheinert recognized her capability to show the tremendous range of emotions required in the script. Ke Huy Quan has similarly spoken to the uncertainty he felt about his recent return to the big screen in the U.S. for the first time in 30 years (alongside his role in 2021’s Finding ‘Ohana, which was released exclusively for streaming on Netflix), making the praise he is currently receiving all the more meaningful. Meanwhile, Stephanie Hsu ensures her performance will be far from her last through the charismatic and angry confidence with which she wears the vibrant, fashion-forward outfits designed by Shirley Kurata, and James Hong continues to mark himself as one of the most prolific actors of all time by adding his role as Evelyn’s father to the over 650 credits to his name.
It’s almost frightening to think that we could have missed out on the award-worthy acting that shines through the film if everyone involved didn’t wholeheartedly believe in the project. Waymond’s impassioned monologue about love being as simple as doing laundry and taxes together had some (my roommate) sobbing in the theater, but as someone who feels every centimeter of the chasm between my mom and I, even when we’re sitting right next to each other, Joy’s storyline hit me the hardest. To some extent, I want my mother to continue to live in ignorance of everything about me. At least that way, I won’t disappoint her; after all, if she really knew the things I like and thoughts I think, I’m not sure if she would look at me the same way. A part of me is deeply afraid that if my mother truly saw me, as Joy says to Evelyn at one point, why wouldn’t she go somewhere where her daughter is more than this?
At the same time, a part of me connects with Joy’s obsessive and destructive desire to go to the ends of the earth for her mother to see her point of view, even when doing so hurts both of them. As a result, watching a mother that will follow her daughter to the ends of the earth, even once she views her daughter for who she truly is, is both painful and cathartic to watch. Evelyn steps into a surrogate mother figure for all of us rebellious daughters seeking maternal approval as she delivers the lines we sorely need to hear: “I will always, always want to be here with you.”
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a technical feat and a masterful story woven together with the tender love, care and passion of everyone behind it, and those emotions have produced an outstandly original, laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreakingly emotional end result. While the film contains so many elements that just about anyone can find pieces to draw them in, it is also a distinctly Asian American story about Asians being messy, mediocre, queer, angry, sad, in love, in the wrong and everything in between. Just like Michelle Yeoh, people from our communities have been waiting for a long time for a movie like this to come along. Hopefully, this is just one of many.