I Watch FIlms: Everything Everywhere All At Once

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once

This is a film about Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant to America and her family. Her husband who seems kind of useless. Her daughter who she disapproves of; too American and too gay. Her father who has come to visit for Chinese New Year, and doesn’t approve of anything. They own a laundrette, and there’s a problem with the taxes. At the tax interview it’s revealed that she’s claimed lots of things as businesses; karaoke, novel writing, many things. As though she wants something, anything else.

This is a film about amazing, ridiculous kung fu stunts. On arrival at the tax office Evelyn is given strange instructions and some odd ear buds; these propel her into a fight against alternate universe enemies. By doing unlikely things she and others can connect to other timelines, including one where Evelyn becomes an amazing martial artist and also a film star* after turning down her husband.

This is a film about alternate universes and how people might be effected by choices. How in another universe Evelyn’s daughter was pushed to become a verse-jumper, and so splintered her mind, experiencing everything, everywhere, all at once. She became Jobu, and created a bagel topped with everything, a singularity that might destroy the universe.

Since everything that can happen does happen then nothing matters, and Jobu wants to be understood before she ends it. But also, as everything that can happen does happen, then who we are and where we are now matters, to us here, now.

Anyway the film’s good.

Watch This: It’s fun, it’s exciting, it has something to say
Don’t Watch This: Kung fu and jokes about raccoons and hot dogs are no way to explore the mysteries of the universe, or even human relationships

 

* The film initially glosses over the obvious irony that Evelyn is played by Michelle Yeoh, martial artist and film star, until it goes off the rails when the events of the film so far are hinted at being the events in a film that kung fu Evelyn is at the premiere of.