Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAO) got so many wins—seven out of eleven nominations—at this year’s Academy Awards that they could probably do an “Oscars haul” video.
EEAO won Best Picture, Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert A.K.A. the Daniels), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan as Waymond), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis as Deirdre), Best Original Screenplay (Daniels), and Best Film Editing (Paul Rogers).
If you haven’t seen the film, perhaps you’re more familiar with the memes about hotdog fingers, googly eyes, and an adult toy parading as a trophy. But what made EEAO truly Oscar-worthy? Let’s dive deeper into this Verse and find out.
A stressed-out lady trying to manage Everything Everywhere All At Once
In A24 Films’ production notes, Academy Award-winning co-director and cowriter Daniel Scheinert shared, “In a lot of ways, the movie is just a family drama and then we came up with the most insane, enormous, overcomplicated hyperbolic metaphors for generational gaps, along with communication errors, and ideological differences within a family.”
He wasn’t kidding because the whole film felt like a fever dream with its outlandish scenes already securing pop cultural relevance. There’s the concept of Verse Jumping, a way of summoning the skills of your alternate universe self by doing something unusual like eating a wad of chewed-up gum from under the desk, wiping someone else’s snot, and other cringy actions that wouldn’t look out of place in a social media “dare” challenge. A hilariously disturbing scene, involving shoving up a certain object, has been burned into the collective consciousness of the audience.
Another flex were the crazy awesome fight scenes by brothers Andy and Brian Le of Martial Club fame (who both appear in the film). They went hard (not like that) on the Hong Kong-style martial arts with its fire choreography and improbable use of random objects as weapons (belt bag, laptop, stapler, and the like). But they went even further with someone duel-wielding a pair of floppy dildos.
And this all goes down while Evelyn is struggling to finish her taxes on time and keep their laundry business running. Regarding the inspiration behind the story, Academy Award-winning Co-director and cowriter Daniel Kwan stated, “This project came out of our own anxieties about living in the modern world.”
Even without the burden of saving the world, many can relate to being constantly distracted by everything else.
Creating a blockbuster on a tight budget
Jamie Lee Curtis said in her Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech, “I know it looks like I’m standing up here by myself, but I am not. I am hundreds of people…we just won an Oscar together.”
The EEAO team took on the challenge of working with a modest budget—by movie standards at least—of around $25 million (over a billion pesos) and even finished shooting in 30-40 days, filming mostly inside an old office building at Simi Valley, California.
Due to the expansive quality of the film which explores different fictional worlds, it’s an impressive feat to have less than 10 people on the visual effects (VFX) team executing this vision. Each Verse Jump reflects a corresponding style change with a particular one even serving as an homage to filmmaker Wong Kar-wai’s iconic aesthetic.
Acting across the multiverse
The entire cast brought their A-game to this film and did some multiversal multitasking playing different versions of their respective characters. Evelyn’s father, the frail and eternally disappointed Gong Gong (James Hong) suddenly turned into a more battle-ready rebel leader. Waymond went from dorky dad and husband into a badass hero. On the meta level, Jamie Lee Curtis, who’s known for more action roles, played a boring, pencil-pushing IRS worker. Michelle Yeoh, who’s always had a strong and regal vibe, had taken on a comedic out-of-touch Asian mom role.
And then there’s Stephanie Hsu’s one-woman circus act! She was able to quickly shift from wearing a bored expression with sarcastic delivery to having exaggerated and mocking reactions as she gives an anime villain monologue. So basically, the whole cast ate it up!
The chemistry between Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan’s characters was also top-tier content. When Waymond said, “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you,” we knew it was going to be heard in wedding vows the world over.
Seeking kindness and acceptance amidst the chaos
EEAO makes the effort to present layers upon layers of visually assaulting imagery in quick succession but at its core, the movie is a simple story about the Asian immigrant experience and the generational divide within the family. There’s also LGBTQIA+ representation from Joy and another spoilery couple.
In the film, Evelyn is brimming with the potential of “What could have been?” Her alternate selves are a manifestation of the many other lives she could have lived if she chose a different path. Since she had to start from scratch in America, Evelyn was too busy surviving to pursue her own dreams, which is similar to the plight of many breadwinners (parents, eldest children, guardians) who are hyper focused on providing for their family.
Because Evelyn is lost in the chaos of her everyday life, she doesn’t pay attention to her loved ones and even herself. Joy on the other hand, has expressed mental exhaustion from living and refused to feel anything anymore, believing the world is a void of meaninglessness. But if life is too busy and nothing matters anymore, how do we go on?
EEAO takes us on a journey to find out the answer for ourselves, encouraging us to create our own meaning as if we’re sticking googly eyes on an inanimate object and giving it new life.
A quote from the film seemed to foreshadow EEAO’s underdog journey to greatness and went like, “Every rejection, every disappointment [has] led you here. To this moment.”
That message was carried out in the Academy Awards acceptance speeches. Ke Huy Quan said, “Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out here, please keep your dreams alive.”
Michelle Yeoh said, “This is the beacon of hope and possibilities…And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you [that] you are ever past your prime. Never give up.”
Daniel Kwan also said, “There is greatness in every single person. It doesn't matter who they are. You have genius that is waiting to erupt.
You just need to find the right people to unlock that.
The film’s premise might be a crazy concept but the message is grounded in reality. We’re all just trying to be seen, heard, and loved by the people who matter to us even if it means traveling to different dimensions to find that safe space so we can finally feel at home.
Everything Everywhere All At Once returns with another theatrical run and is now showing at Powerplant, Cinema ’76, and select SM Malls.
H/t: Variety, The Wrap, Entertainment Weekly, Digital Trends
