A Michelle Yeoh led Hollywood feature film.
“About bloody time” would be the first statement to make. Having grown from Ballerina to Beauty Queen before starting their climb into Action Royalty with 1984’s The Owl vs Bombo, Yeoh now has the sort of renown where if they show up then you’re in for a fun time. Further developing on their craft with standout appearances in Crazy Rich Asians and Star Trek: Discovery, it culminates in their casting by Directing team The Daniels in a film which feels like it may have all been leading to this.
Part 1. Everything
We dash into the ordinary life of Evelyn Wang (Yeoh). A small glimmer of happier times flips into the mundane, as they struggle to find a home for a lone receipt. It’s auditing time. Their family clambers around them in tatters of organised chaos as the multiverse starts to shine its eye upon them. Except Evelyn is the only person privy to this information. The organised chaos just got a little bit unorganised.
Part 2. Everywhere
As Evelyn is dragged through the multiverse, the film becomes a calamitous romp of cringe and cool; Impressive in its thoughtful and implicit story. The cringe in this case is not bad, it’s that it errs on the line between normalcy and abnormality. Something which Yeoh effortlessly commands. Surrounded by a cast which supports the delivery of this delirium, it’s all set to reinforce the cultural sensibilities of our characters. We see a stunning return to feature films from Ke Huy Quan, who has as many references to their past works as Yeoh. Stephanie Hsu‘s performance as Joy is the much needed emotional gumption to guide Yeoh’s ‘Evelyn’ to revelation. And Jamie Lee Curtis appears to have the most fun she’s had on-screen in years as every version of IRS inspector Deidre.
Part 3. All At Once
Art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form”. When it’s come to film, I’ve often wrangled with what art may look like in this medium to me. With my investment typically steeped in the world of the Blockbuster, will I see what this art looks like?
Yes.
Because it’s in Everything Everywhere All At Once. And it feels hard not to commit to the idea of it being my favourite film of 2022. It’s weird and wonderful. Funny and action-packed. And it’s original. With what may be the best explanation for why we exist, our significance realised in the insignificant. If there’s a film I’m going to recommend seeing this year, then it’s this one. Everything. Everywhere. All at once.
