Directed By Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Starring – Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan

The Plot – Evelyn (Yeoh), an aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.

Rated R for some violence, sexual material and adult language

Everything Everywhere All At Once | Official Trailer HD | A24 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Just when it seemed like the duo of directors knows as The Daniels climactically peaked with their debut feature film triumph, “Swiss Army Man”, they converge once more on a transcendent experience in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” that will long go down as the magnum opus in both of their remarkable careers. I say this with confidence because The Daniels direct the hell out of this film, in both visual and thematic capacities, cementing not only a finely tooled engine of picture-perfect production that fires on all cylinders throughout the mesmerizing engagement, but also a storytelling spectacle that creatively weaves its sentimental fabric to the audience through a roller-coaster of emotions that it continuously earns along the way. When it’s funny, it uses sharp humility and awkwardness to deviate from the immense stakes circulating in the foreground of the narrative, but when it’s sad or inspirational, it pieces together profoundly rich and meaningful insight in eye-opening realizations about life, love, regret, and universal insignificance that audiences can easily interpret without feeling like they’re being spoon-fed exposition. This is especially important in a film dealing with multiple universes, as the science and rules can become convoluted if done underwhelmingly, but The Daniels here use every minute of the ambitious 139-minute run time to coherently construct the rules and realities at eye level, all the while leaving just enough room for interpretation in visual cues that humble with metaphorical mixed messaging demanding rewatches. This is only further elevated with the magnitude of the visual capacities, which when combined with Larkin Seiple’s breathtaking cinematography and the single best editing to a film that I’ve seen since last year’s “The Father”, fleshes out multiverse travel in ways that Marvel can only talk about. The character framing shots here through various wardrobes and exotic backdrops do elicit with them the necessary believability in the form of simplicity, but the various camera movements take it to a whole other level, serving as a creative extension to Evelyn’s circumstantial A.D.H.D, in that it’s always frenetic and kinetic in the most exaggerated kind of way. While on that very same emphasis, the unforeseen dominance of action set pieces command attention with crisp choreography and blunt brutality that only further enhance the infectious good time of the movie’s aforementioned comedy, with unforgiving impact and unrelenting intensity that would even make John Wick cry out in surrendering mercy. What’s most apparent here are the various fighting styles that make up the abundance of its directional majority over the screenplay, catapulting many evidential Asian cinematic influences like Steven Chow or Jackie Chan for the occasion that, similar to its cultural relevancy in thematic impulses, the film wears like a badge of prideful honor. Everything previously conveyed would instill an idea that the film is carried by its direction, but the extent of its talented ensemble also provides alluring engagement for the experience in ways that prescribe something uniquely compelling to each of the characters. It starts with Yeow’s momentous turn as Evelyn, which not only supplants her single greatest performance to date, but also one that is unnervingly authentic for the way she naturally conveys mid-life crisis with a palpable emptiness that motivates her many bad decisions. Yeow’s transformations through the various Evelyn’s bring with them an evidential variance that does make each of them feel diversified, but never in ways that sacrifice the identity of the person they all uniquely spring from. She’s got Oscar written all over her. From there, Ke Huy Quan’s return to the silver-screen from his childhood turn in “The Goonies” cemented my favorite character of the film, and one whose quirky hopeful resonance tenderly influences characters and perspectives throughout the film, serving as the agent for chaos and the catalyst for change that endears us to the same zany familiarity that he thankfully hasn’t lost in his thirty-five years away from the silver screen. Finally, Stephanie Hsu follows up the momentum from her turn in “Shang-Chi” with a dual identity role here that feel like two entirely different people performed them. As Joy, Hsu captures all of the angst, humility, and vulnerability of a teenager that endears her to audiences, all the while persisting with a progressive form of ideals that frequently rock the boat of this already crumbling family dynamic. But as Joku, the film’s primary antagonist, the dual identity and intentions of why she’s cast in the role become apparent, as this version of her daughter is everything that Evelyn sees her as; the careless, reckless immature juvenile side that she blames for being the catalyst of her family’s untimely destruction.

NEGATIVES

Though not particularly problematic for me, I can say that the lengthy run time will be an alienating factor for some audiences diminishing attention spans. This is partly due to the redundancy of the story’s structure, but also the magnitude of the material and its various themes, which wear the mileage accordingly in an emotionally draining experience. For my money, there isn’t anything that I would remove to dwindle the time allowance, as I felt the personality of the film’s evolving tone kept me endeared to the engagement, but I certainly see it as the primary benefactor that either keeps casuists from experimenting with it, or enthusiasts from fully reaching the same spiritual level that it supplied myself.

OVERALL

A24’s latest from The Daniels is a complexly ambitious film that encompasses a variety of meaningful subjects and corresponding themes through universal exploration. It alludes incoherence with an introspectively insightful script, a spellbinding ensemble, and a nourishing dose of comedic humor to counter its occasionally bleak outlook on family dynamics. It’s original, it’s profound, it’s inspirational, it’s “Everything Everywhere All At Once”.

My Grade: 10/10 or A+