Everything Everywhere All at Once is a multiverse masterpiece

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a multiverse masterpiece

It’s nearly impossible to overstate the winking vulgarity of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s work as the Daniels filmmaking collective. Their first feature film, Swiss army man, saw Paul Dano riding the farting corpse of Daniel Radcliffe to freedom and glory. Their best-known music video, for DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What,” Kwan feels the beat so hard his crotch smashes through walls and ceilings, infecting the tits and asses of all who see him with a similar destructive energy. . In their short film Interesting ball, a cosmic event causes Scheinert’s body to be sucked into Kwan’s rectum. Their imagery is often cheerfully raw and almost always surprising, as it goes places most creators wouldn’t dare.
But at the same time, it’s equally difficult to overemphasize the humanistic messages their work embraces. All of these projects cause people to find a strangely compelling, life-affirming power in the weird and gross places the world takes them. Swiss army man in particular is downright surprising in the depth of its reflections on cynicism, existentialism, and the meaning of human connection. Daniels’ Latest Project, Wild Martial Arts Multiverse Fantasy Everything everywhere all at once, continues the trend with bloody killer dildos, weaponized snot, and fast-paced, hilarious anal insertion warfare. But it’s also a painfully honest examination of despair, cynicism, anger and boredom, all leading up to a message that’s all the more moving than before affirming that life is worth lived, he looks deep into the abyss, considering all the reasons why people might think otherwise.

Photo: A24
EverywhereThe plot of is best discovered in the moment, as it unfolds with a speed and verve that converts each new revelation into a new jolt of electricity. Suffice it to say, martial arts superstar Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, an overwhelmed first-generation Chinese immigrant who owns a laundromat with her lovable husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), but barely has time to him or their frustrated adult daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) in the midst of her daily business struggles.
Among other things, the laundromat is audited by humorless IRS agent Deirdre (a fully disguised Jamie Lee Curtis), just as Evelyn tries to impress her contemptuous visiting father, Gong Gong (James Hong). Meanwhile, Joy tries to get Evelyn to recognize Joy’s girlfriend, Becky, and Waymond tries to get Evelyn to recognize him. When Evelyn is informed that she is the key to combating a vast evil that threatens the entire multiverse, her knee-jerk response is a distracted and exasperated “very busy today, no time to help you.”
When the threat still catches her, Everywhere absolutely explodes into a series of creatively and comically over-the-top battles, a journey through different timelines and realities, and an incredibly fast-paced series of personal explorations and revelations. The worlds Evelyn accesses are silly, sad, or strange, but none of them challenge her as much as the things she failed to understand about herself, her family, and her own past and future.

Photo: A24
It’s a movie that works at the accelerated pace of stories like Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the world or the recent animated Oscar nominee The Mitchells vs. the Machines, with the characters dragged breathlessly from one manic action sequence to the next. And yet, Kwan and Scheinert continue to find quiet little pockets where Evelyn can reflect on how she let herself and others down, what she owes them and what she can still offer them. For a film that frequently throws Evelyn through realities and through walls and windows, it’s admirably focused on her well-being and understanding of herself. And more than that, it’s about understanding how people inevitably limit their possible future every time they make choices, and how meaningless life can feel after a series of choices go wrong.
EverywhereThe multiverse of is a remarkably flexible metaphor. It is appropriate for expressing some common frustrations that audiences can relate to, about botched choices and wasted opportunities. But it’s equally suited to setting up a series of ridiculously kickass action sequences where literally anything is possible, as the characters aren’t bound by reality or causality. Kwan and Scheinert use this core idea of ​​the multiverse to let their characters change bodies, costumes, skills, and settings on the fly in visually stunning and even overwhelming ways. But they put it all together with a clarity of thought and intent that makes it surprisingly easy – and thrilling – to follow.

Photo: A24
And while they’re focused on the bigger picture of a million universes collapsing around a single predatory evil, they’re equally aware of the smaller picture. Much of this story is told in tiny telltale details, like how Joy wordlessly nervously rolls up her girlfriend’s sleeves to cover her tattoos before trying to introduce Gong Gong to her. Or the way Waymond wistfully watches two older Chinese people at the IRS exchange a demure kiss, and clearly longs for the same kind of tenderness in his life. Above all else, the Daniels trust their viewers to follow the story even when these types of grace notes fade away at lightning speed, without explanation or underlining.
Everything everywhere all at once operates in a pop culture universe filled with familiar detritus to genre fans: a little Douglas Adams nonsense here, a visual quote or a concept or a line or a mood taken from a whole host of other films out there. But while the quote from Daniels 2001: A Space Odyssey in a scene and The Terminator in another, the greatest contact point of the film is The matrixand not just because Evelyn discovers, to her surprise, that she knows kung fu.
Despite a long string of Matrix sequels and re-quels, rip-offs and imitators, this is the first film that genuinely feels as surprising, daring and completely game-changing as the Wachowskis’ 1999 original. . The special effects, with this kaleidoscopic approach to changing shapes, look as radical now as bullet time did when it first arrived. The heady deconstructive ethos of the film’s universe seems as ambitious and sweeping as The matrixThe Gnostic view of reality did at the time. And the martial arts combat, carefully positioned between impressive and overtly silly choreography, feels as radical as ever in a fight choreographed by Jackie Chan or Woo-Ping Yuen.
But where the matrix is fully caught up in his own sense of airless cool, in his humorless cybertech-gothic aesthetic and love of kickass paintings, Everywhere has a sense of playfulness and humor that helps get all the existential philosophy across more easily. One of the effects of this lightning-fast storytelling is that the film occasionally jumps from pathos to punchlines and then back again, fast enough to cause whiplash. But in this environment where anything goes, the changes don’t sound like tonal contradictions. They just feel like an acknowledgment that life is both painful and absurd, and that the tension between the two helps define what it feels like to be human.

Photo: A24
The cast is just stellar. Ke Huy Quan – Short tour in 1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and data in The Goonies — may be the cast’s biggest revelation, with a demanding role that sees her changing affects and personalities many times throughout the film, while maintaining that sweet longing throughout. But the Daniels demand a lot from all of their actors, and Yeoh, Hsu, Hong, and Curtis are up for the film’s deeply bizarre challenges. (Jenny Slate and Joy(‘s Harry Shum Jr. also appears in minor roles that no one is likely to forget.) Like all of Kwan and Scheinert’s projects, Everywhere stands out, both for its grand ambitions and its subversive coarseness. Nobody else makes movies like this. Maybe no one else would.
That might be a little sad to consider – even in a multiverse of endless possibilities, we’re unlikely to see a movie like this again. But at the same time, it means that every moment of Everywhere is an exciting unknown. It’s impossible to predict where a Daniels project will go at any given time: up a character’s ass or in their wildest dreams. Sometimes it’s both at the same time. The miracle is that Scheinert and Kwan make it all feel natural, even when they go places no one else could imagine.
Everything everywhere all at once is now playing in major cities, with a nationwide rollout starting April 8.

#multiverse #masterpiece

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a multiverse masterpiece

It’s nearly impossible to overstate the winking vulgarity of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s work as the Daniels filmmaking collective. Their first feature film, Swiss army man, saw Paul Dano riding the farting corpse of Daniel Radcliffe to freedom and glory. Their best-known music video, for DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What,” Kwan feels the beat so hard his crotch smashes through walls and ceilings, infecting the tits and asses of all who see him with a similar destructive energy. . In their short film Interesting ball, a cosmic event causes Scheinert’s body to be sucked into Kwan’s rectum. Their imagery is often cheerfully raw and almost always surprising, as it goes places most creators wouldn’t dare.
But at the same time, it’s equally difficult to overemphasize the humanistic messages their work embraces. All of these projects cause people to find a strangely compelling, life-affirming power in the weird and gross places the world takes them. Swiss army man in particular is downright surprising in the depth of its reflections on cynicism, existentialism, and the meaning of human connection. Daniels’ Latest Project, Wild Martial Arts Multiverse Fantasy Everything everywhere all at once, continues the trend with bloody killer dildos, weaponized snot, and fast-paced, hilarious anal insertion warfare. But it’s also a painfully honest examination of despair, cynicism, anger and boredom, all leading up to a message that’s all the more moving than before affirming that life is worth lived, he looks deep into the abyss, considering all the reasons why people might think otherwise.

Photo: A24
EverywhereThe plot of is best discovered in the moment, as it unfolds with a speed and verve that converts each new revelation into a new jolt of electricity. Suffice it to say, martial arts superstar Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, an overwhelmed first-generation Chinese immigrant who owns a laundromat with her lovable husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), but barely has time to him or their frustrated adult daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) in the midst of her daily business struggles.
Among other things, the laundromat is audited by humorless IRS agent Deirdre (a fully disguised Jamie Lee Curtis), just as Evelyn tries to impress her contemptuous visiting father, Gong Gong (James Hong). Meanwhile, Joy tries to get Evelyn to recognize Joy’s girlfriend, Becky, and Waymond tries to get Evelyn to recognize him. When Evelyn is informed that she is the key to combating a vast evil that threatens the entire multiverse, her knee-jerk response is a distracted and exasperated “very busy today, no time to help you.”
When the threat still catches her, Everywhere absolutely explodes into a series of creatively and comically over-the-top battles, a journey through different timelines and realities, and an incredibly fast-paced series of personal explorations and revelations. The worlds Evelyn accesses are silly, sad, or strange, but none of them challenge her as much as the things she failed to understand about herself, her family, and her own past and future.

Photo: A24
It’s a movie that works at the accelerated pace of stories like Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the world or the recent animated Oscar nominee The Mitchells vs. the Machines, with the characters dragged breathlessly from one manic action sequence to the next. And yet, Kwan and Scheinert continue to find quiet little pockets where Evelyn can reflect on how she let herself and others down, what she owes them and what she can still offer them. For a film that frequently throws Evelyn through realities and through walls and windows, it’s admirably focused on her well-being and understanding of herself. And more than that, it’s about understanding how people inevitably limit their possible future every time they make choices, and how meaningless life can feel after a series of choices go wrong.
EverywhereThe multiverse of is a remarkably flexible metaphor. It is appropriate for expressing some common frustrations that audiences can relate to, about botched choices and wasted opportunities. But it’s equally suited to setting up a series of ridiculously kickass action sequences where literally anything is possible, as the characters aren’t bound by reality or causality. Kwan and Scheinert use this core idea of ​​the multiverse to let their characters change bodies, costumes, skills, and settings on the fly in visually stunning and even overwhelming ways. But they put it all together with a clarity of thought and intent that makes it surprisingly easy – and thrilling – to follow.

Photo: A24
And while they’re focused on the bigger picture of a million universes collapsing around a single predatory evil, they’re equally aware of the smaller picture. Much of this story is told in tiny telltale details, like how Joy wordlessly nervously rolls up her girlfriend’s sleeves to cover her tattoos before trying to introduce Gong Gong to her. Or the way Waymond wistfully watches two older Chinese people at the IRS exchange a demure kiss, and clearly longs for the same kind of tenderness in his life. Above all else, the Daniels trust their viewers to follow the story even when these types of grace notes fade away at lightning speed, without explanation or underlining.
Everything everywhere all at once operates in a pop culture universe filled with familiar detritus to genre fans: a little Douglas Adams nonsense here, a visual quote or a concept or a line or a mood taken from a whole host of other films out there. But while the quote from Daniels 2001: A Space Odyssey in a scene and The Terminator in another, the greatest contact point of the film is The matrixand not just because Evelyn discovers, to her surprise, that she knows kung fu.
Despite a long string of Matrix sequels and re-quels, rip-offs and imitators, this is the first film that genuinely feels as surprising, daring and completely game-changing as the Wachowskis’ 1999 original. . The special effects, with this kaleidoscopic approach to changing shapes, look as radical now as bullet time did when it first arrived. The heady deconstructive ethos of the film’s universe seems as ambitious and sweeping as The matrixThe Gnostic view of reality did at the time. And the martial arts combat, carefully positioned between impressive and overtly silly choreography, feels as radical as ever in a fight choreographed by Jackie Chan or Woo-Ping Yuen.
But where the matrix is fully caught up in his own sense of airless cool, in his humorless cybertech-gothic aesthetic and love of kickass paintings, Everywhere has a sense of playfulness and humor that helps get all the existential philosophy across more easily. One of the effects of this lightning-fast storytelling is that the film occasionally jumps from pathos to punchlines and then back again, fast enough to cause whiplash. But in this environment where anything goes, the changes don’t sound like tonal contradictions. They just feel like an acknowledgment that life is both painful and absurd, and that the tension between the two helps define what it feels like to be human.

Photo: A24
The cast is just stellar. Ke Huy Quan – Short tour in 1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and data in The Goonies — may be the cast’s biggest revelation, with a demanding role that sees her changing affects and personalities many times throughout the film, while maintaining that sweet longing throughout. But the Daniels demand a lot from all of their actors, and Yeoh, Hsu, Hong, and Curtis are up for the film’s deeply bizarre challenges. (Jenny Slate and Joy(‘s Harry Shum Jr. also appears in minor roles that no one is likely to forget.) Like all of Kwan and Scheinert’s projects, Everywhere stands out, both for its grand ambitions and its subversive coarseness. Nobody else makes movies like this. Maybe no one else would.
That might be a little sad to consider – even in a multiverse of endless possibilities, we’re unlikely to see a movie like this again. But at the same time, it means that every moment of Everywhere is an exciting unknown. It’s impossible to predict where a Daniels project will go at any given time: up a character’s ass or in their wildest dreams. Sometimes it’s both at the same time. The miracle is that Scheinert and Kwan make it all feel natural, even when they go places no one else could imagine.
Everything everywhere all at once is now playing in major cities, with a nationwide rollout starting April 8.

#multiverse #masterpiece