In Everything Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn Wang visits different universes through several fascinating versions of the same person.
By now, most have heard of 2022's new multiverse movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, starring Michelle Yeoh and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, in which the titular heroine plays a woman named Evelyn Wang who struggles with her business and her marriage to her husband, Waymond.
She soon discovers she must connect with a number of versions of herself in other universes to save the multiverse itself. Yeoh's varied depictions of alternate versions of herself are utterly genius, breathtaking, and hilarious, a once-in-a-lifetime performance from the vaunted screen actress.
One of the initial variants Evelyn jumps to is a version of herself wherein she didn't flee to the United States with her husband Waymond, played by Key Huy Quan of Indiana Jones and Goonies fame, instead training in the martial arts and becoming an international wuxia star, a not so subtle meta nod to Michelle Yeoh herself.
While wildly successful, this version of Evelyn is lonely and never had her daughter, and the Daniels team shot a darkly lit scene in which the Waymond of this world meets with her in an alley and discusses their mutual isolation, in homage to Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love. It's a lovely sequence showcasing not only the leads' considerable talents, but also exquisitely captures the dangers of thinking the grass is always greener on the other side.
This variant proved wildly popular with audiences, what with the ketchup and mustard slapstick comedy, a gentler side of Jamie Lee Curtis' Deidre, a 2001: A Space Odyssey tribute, and an inclusive portrayal of two LBGTQ+ women who must navigate the emotional ups and downs of their relationship, as well as managing to live a day to day life with ridiculous uncooperative fingers.
This variant of Evelyn offers audiences two integral components of the story arc including Deidre's eventual softening and Evelyn's skills in using her feet in a later sequence and is a key component in the film's overall core embracing the need for love and empathy over all else.
In several of the film's most comical scenes, Evelyn jumps to a version of herself who's struggling to keep her chef skills in pace with Glee's Harry Shum Jr., only to discover her rival's prowess is due to a raccoon controlling him under his chef hat. It's a parody and a tribute to Pixar's infamous food movie, Ratatouille, and a wonderful testament to Yeoh's heretofore unknown depths of comedy chops.
When Prime Evelyn explains to her Prime Waymond and daughter, Joy, how the multiverse exists by comparing it to the plot of what she calls 'Racca-Coony,' it's as side-splitting as it sounds. Many fans are calling for a spinoff of this delightful version of Evelyn and Shum Jr.
One of the more shocking and scintillating scenes in Everything Everywhere All At Once shows Evelyn jumping into a maid variant of herself who doubles as a dominatrix to her BDSM loving employer (played by director Daniel Scheinert). It's quite a sight to see the normally demure and sophisticated Yeoh take on such sex dungeon caliber shenanigans.
Naturally, she does it with style, grace, and no small amount of hilarity, priming the audience for what will surely become an all-time classic fight sequence involving the less than surreptitious use of butt plugs. Watching Yeoh toe a fine balance between martial art action and comic effect is an undeniable guilty pleasure and a watermark for future sci-fi frameworks.
This version of Evelyn was pushed to meta extremes by Team Daniels and is a wonderfully executed send-up of a common favorite in Latino cultures. During Evelyn and Joy's extended debates on finding meaningfulness in an apparently meaningless universe, the film quick-cuts to a world in which they're literal pinatas, being struck by pinata sticks by seemingly unknown parties all the while as they continue pondering existential strife.
The double entendre metaphor isn't lost on viewers as mother and daughter endure 'attacks' from outside concurrently with their own internal battles with finding true connection and meaning with each other.
The scenes in which Evelyn and Joy become a pair of rocks in a quiet world where life did not evolve and there's nothing but vast stretches of empty, barren landscape are among the film's most profound moments, despite the fact neither Michelle Yeoh nor Stephanie Hsu have any actual vocal dialogue or screen presence during them.
The magnificent juxtaposition of subtitled yet heartfelt dialogue between mother and daughter, coupled with the segment's absolute silence is a heretofore unparalleled use of simplicity and emotional impact. When Joy asks Evelyn to let her go and her rock topples down the mountainside and when Evelyn's rock puts on its googly eyes, cinematic magnificence falls into history.
Of course, the film's main character is obviously the most intriguing of all, as it's her heroine-quest journey the audience follows throughout the story. Included in this is her reluctant yet eventual embrace of her importance as the sole counterbalance for Jobu Tupaki, which was inadvertently created by Alpha Evelyn's ambitious projects to give Alpha Joy universe-jumping abilities.
Watching Prime Evelyn madly trying to navigate the multiverse while also undergoing her own metamorphosis in realizing what's most important is a veritable feast for our emotions, unquestionably showing moviegoers how Michelle Yeoh has rendered a hallmark role firmly entrenching her amongst the A-list caliber of modern actresses at the top of their game.
