Everything Everywhere All At Once is a critically acclaimed film produced by A24 and directed and written by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheiner. The film takes a middle-aged immigrant woman on a series of adventures through the multiverse.

My first time viewing the film was in theaters and it was mind-blowing. I experienced a full range of emotions during the 2-hour film. The story follows Evelyn Wang as she ventures through the multiverse to save her daughter, Joy, and their relationship.

Joy Wang is presented as the antagonist that has it out to destroy the universe and her family, but when the film begins the viewer is shown the meaning behind Joy’s rage and sympathy forms. Joy Wang is a first-generation Asian woman whose sexuality is overlooked in her mother’s eyes. The movie explores this challenge through the eyes of the multiverse allowing Evelyn to find a life where she is content with herself and her family. Throughout her journey, she doesn’t realize that her daughter is the villain she is being warned of. Yet, instead of fighting her daughter, she sees her for who she truly is and restores her relationship and thus the multiverse.

The film has astonishing performances by Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan. Their performances were why this movie was able to be as good as it is. The performances by the actors show the raw emotions that each character truly feels.  The care and dedication that went into the movie are shown throughout the film, as the attention to detail for every character’s costume designs, and the way we were able to see so many versions of our characters. It allowed for the film to feel immersive and to allow the audience to feel all the emotions the chargers thought throughout the movie.

I had the opportunity to witness this movie in theaters and it was everything and more. The intense lights and deep story about a mother and her relationship with her daughter were nothing like I had witnessed. The visual effects of the movie were incredible. The movie was made over quarantine allowing the five visual effects artists to spend time making each shot of the film meaningful. The viewer is shown the care that has gone in the film by all of the different variants of each character. The film brought me to genuine tears because of the relationship between Evelyn and her husband and Evelyn and her daughter. 

We are shown how in every life of Evelyn some things are inevitable, but through the multiverse, her persona stays the same. She will always be a woman who cares for her family and wants the best for the people she cares about even if what’s best is through her eyes. In the film Evelyn’s enemy is herself. Her values and what she has done to push the people around her away from her.