There is a universal understanding amongst human beings that life is hard and different for every person as we are all different in infinite ways. As we journey through the story that is our own lives, perspective becomes more and more important and a distinguishable trait from person to person. The perspective, or the lack thereof, to see the struggle of someone else is how we build empathy. We put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and feel for their situation. After all, everyone is the main character in their own story. Sometimes, unfortunately, we can get caught up in vain attempts to compare and contrast the human struggle to put ourselves on a pedestal or build our own self esteem at the expense of someone else. We tell ourselves, “Well, at least I’m not that bad.” Although, when it results in empathy and perspective, there is growth within ourselves. The central theme of finding peace with our own shortcomings, failures, and accepting who we are is one that is hard to approach and receive across any medium, but the increasing relevance of it has been parallel with the growing focus for mental and emotional health.
Perhaps, no industry has this been more showcased than the industry of show itself: Hollywood. The increasing diversity within the industry has led to more poignant stories for more and more individuals. The film industry always has had and always will have its genres -action, romance, comedy, drama- and overall types -blockbusters, independent, character studies, etc. One of the most successful movies of 2022, however, is showing Hollywood and the world alike that what we know and expect of movies is beginning to evolve and change.
Written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively and hilariously known as Daniels) for A24, Everything Everywhere All at Once touched hearts as it embraced the trendy prospects of “the multiverse” that we see in Marvel and science-fiction genre by being a science-fiction dramedy essentially about a family on the verge of falling apart. In the midst of any of our struggles, we always ponder the decisions and regrets that led us to that very moment and think, “What could have been different?” Everything Everywhere answers that question and brings us and the characters involved peace.
Usually, with what film historians call the classical Hollywood narrative, there is clarity with the story, the how and why of the plot, and the setting is usually present with the film itself. The goals and motivations of the protagonists and antagonists are specific as they go through challenges and obstacles to get through it. All of this will usually compile into a strong ending with closure as it all is resolved into the traditional Hollywood “happy ending.” Sometimes, blockbusters or films with larger budgets are confined to try to appeal to a larger audience by taking less risks, keeping things simple in plot and practice, or, generally, just sticking to what works. American independent films and foreign films just sort of do their own thing outside of that. You can find more ambiguity with the plot, more room for the audience to make their own assertions about what is happening or how they should feel. The action is usually more so within the dialogue between the relationships present in the story. It is difficult to describe them because generalizations do a disservice to the near infinite amount of diverse stories one can find out there.
Everything Everywhere is just there in the center of it all evolving what we can expect from movies and the classical Hollywood narrative into something more contemporary and unapologetic about what it wants to accomplish. At the box office, Daniels turned a budget of $25 million into a return of nearly $100 million for A24 with rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. A24 is a production company known for its unique storytelling and independent films. Almost oxymoronic, one could consider it the big studio for independent filmmakers. With the success of this film, studios and filmmakers are going to be looking at this project for years to come.
Starting out as a story of a Chinese-American family struggling with the IRS over the bookkeeping of their laundromat and themselves, Everything Everywhere became a high action science fiction movie to save every universe from the antagonist of Jubo Tubaki. This is the first headlining role for Michelle Yeoh, as Evelyn Wang, and she is supported by Ke Huy Quan, as her husband Waymond, in one of his first large roles since he was a child, and Stephanie Hsu, as their daughter Joy. The first act, appropriately deemed “Part 1: Everywhere,” does a great job giving all the plot lines: Waymond wants a divorce but has not told Evelyn, Evelyn is controlling of Joy who does not feel accepted for who she is, Evelyn’s hard-to-please father is in town, and Evelyn talks down to those in her life because she feels like life as passed her by and she is disappointed in herself. This is the biggest problem that truthfully projects itself as a cause throughout all of the family’s issues. Everyone is in the midst of their own existential crisis seeking some sort of validation.
In a different universe, a version of Evelyn developed the technology to cross into a different one. The different universes are caused by the decisions leading to different results and therefore different futures and timelines. Well, in that universe which is also known as the Alpha-verse, the technology spread wide and many people were taught how to “verse-jump,” or use the talents of a different variation of herself. The Alpha Evelyn, from the Alphaverse, put that version of Joy through so much intensive training for verse-jumping that, essentially, her mind was fractured and she began to see all of the different versions of her life at once: “Now her mind experiences every world, every possibility, at the same exact time, commanding the infinite knowledge and power of the multiverse. Now she’s seen too much, lost any sense of morality, any belief in objective truth.”
So with this desolation set in her mind, she “put everything on a bagel.”
Joy Wang (Jobu Tupaki): I got bored one day, and I put everything on a bagel. Everything. All my hopes and dreams, my old report cards, every breed of dog, every last personal ad on craigslist. Sesame. Poppy seed. Salt. And it collapsed in on itself. Because, you see, when you really put everything on a bagel, it becomes this. The truth.
Evelyn Wang: What is the truth?
Joy Wang (Jobu Tupaki): Nothing matters.
Evelyn Wang: No, Joy. You don’t believe that.
Joy Wang (Jobu Tupaki): Feels nice, doesn’t it? If nothing matters, then all the pain and guilt you feel for making nothing of your life, it goes away. Sucked into a bagel.
It seems silly to consider a pastry as a weapon of destruction, but when you put all of life’s hardships into one vessel it will always have the capacity to swallow us- and sometimes those around us- whole. This was where everything began to make sense a bit for the audience as Daniels set the tone for the plot, dialogue, and comedy. It is almost Coen-esque in its nihilistic commentary.
Through the plot’s problem is also where we find the solution and the catalyst for Evelyn to persevere. She sees all of the other possibilities her life could have taken her and begins to believe she has to accept Jobu’s declaration that “nothing matters” to defeat her. Then, Waymond makes his case by making his strength known. In one of her happier universes, where Evelyn is a movie star at a premier, she sees a different version of Waymond who is successful. From a conversation with him, she realizes the strength he had carried with him the whole time to support his family in her version of their lives:
“When I choose to see the good side of things, I’m not being naive. It is strategic and necessary. It’s how I’ve learned to survive through everything. I know you see yourself as a fighter. Well, I see myself as one too. This is how I fight.”
His dejection regarding the loss of love between him and Evelyn in the story's native universe almost boils over witnessing all the fighting. Evelyn had always fought the world and did not care which bridges she burned in the process to feel above herself in life because of so many failures. Fighting with genuine kindness and taking the high road like Waymond proved that life comes with the meanings and values we give it. Despite a rage for the ages that lands Joy in handcuffs, she is let go by her initially-seeming deplorable IRS agent, Deirdre. Before she can have a chance to fight or put her foot in her mouth, Deirdre, played by a committed Jamie Lee Curtis, empathizes due to the divorce. It leads to Evelyn comforting her with a sweet and short line that best fits the Daniels way of storytelling:
“There is always something to love. Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we get very good with our feet.”
Seeing the silver lining is rarely easy. Daniels wrote a script that played to its title so well that led to a degree of resolve for every character. Hollywood happy endings are not just a cornerstone of the classical narrative form, but life itself. Evelyn experiencing every possibility, world, and life at a cosmic level while still coming away with a positive approach over the desire to end all the pain and suffering, like Jobu, proved that it can happen to anyone. That resonation is what will leave audiences and filmmakers inspired for years. Not the existential nihilism.
It is not new for Hollywood and big movie studios to attempt to resonate with their audiences’ emotions, values, and mental health, but it is new for it to be accomplished so casually. Contemporary Hollywood narratives are much more than one simple plot structure.
In Everything Everywhere, Daniels brought all three of our main character’s issues to the forefront with equal representation and importance for the resolution to happen successfully. Another great line from the successful version of Waymond told the successful, but still unhappy, Evelyn that, “even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” The overarching takeaway is that if we are always looking back and asking ourselves, “What could have been different?” may just lead us to miss out on the opportunities in front of us and our loved ones.
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