Review: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
“What is the truth? Nothing matters.”
By the time I finished writing this, I would most likely have to resist the urge to revisit this film for the third time. The amount of work and creativity that has been poured into this piece of art has been nothing but astounding from the very beginning to the end credits. No piece of media that comes to mind even begin to match the level of originality and inter-woven plot that is served up here.
Everything Everywhere All at Once serve as a really fun multiverse spectacle yet at the same time, able to give the audience a really personal story about generational trauma, living up to one’s potential, and the meaning of it all. The film starts with Evelyn, a laundromat owner, struggling to make do and struggling to reconcile with what could have been. This familiarity of regret and permanent decisions is what pulls me in, and it is what propels the story and plot forward due to it being intertwined with the abstract concept of the multiverse itself.
Looking past the excellent story for a minute, we are given one of the most stylistic depictions of any form of media that tries to tackle the multiverse. The diverse style of cinematography that includes references to Wong Kar Wai films, Korean dramas, horror flicks, and more is truly a breath of fresh air in the sea of monotonous films that are devoid of any form of creativity. The numerous fight scenes that are shown is also accompanied with unique and really stylized cinematography that just reinforces how much love and care is put into this film.
Regardless, the way these personal issues and unthinkable notions mingle with each other is truly the selling point of this movie. How Evelyn's Dad let go of her so easily and seeing Evelyn trying her best to not repeat the same mistakes, and yet still managing to hurt her daughter, Joy. The cycle of trauma, pain, and hurt is depicted in such a clear manner, and one can’t help but think “Is there someplace out there where they are truly happy?” The infinite multiverse gives a “Yes” to that question but if the quest for lifelong contentment is truly that easy to achieve, does anything even matter at all?
As the story moves forward, the topic of the meaning of everything is brought up more frequently and in a really stark tone. If the multiverse exists, and one is able to move between them, why would they stay in a universe where they are miserable? By looking at the grand scheme of things, it is not difficult to imagine that what we are all doing right now just does not matter, the work we do every day, the conversations we have with each other, once we try to boil it down to its most basic form, it all seems devoid of meaning. Most of us are just too caught up in our own lives to notice this. And yet, in an indifferent universe that is absent in any form of meaning, we are the only beings that yearns for it.
Although the film does not directly try to tackle this issue in a deep and philosophical manner, it gives us a new perspective to engage in, that is to break free from the nihilism and realize that the only person that is able to give meaning into their lives is themselves. Because in a world that cares very little about us, the only agency we have over our lives is that we get to choose how we want to live it.
Nothing matters, and yet everything does.
