”We discovered a way to temporarily link you’re consciousness to another version of yourself, accessing all of their memories, their emotions, even their skills. It’s called verse jumping. You can live up to your ultimate potential.”

– Waymond Wang

 

“Everything, Everywhere All At Once” is an A24 film produced by directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, most commonly referred to as the Daniels. A24, known for its expressionistic cinematography and eclectic characters has produced movies such as “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” and this film doesn’t stray from the unique plots. Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn, husband to Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). The film opens with the two preparing for Evelyn’s father to visit while balancing their struggling laundromat, struggling relationship with their daughter, and unknown too Evelyn, their struggling marriage. 

The Daniels produced the movie and composed it in three parts. Evelyn is summoned as a necessary hero to combat the evils and villains in other universes and all parts follow her journey. The film, which falls under six genres–action, comedy, science fiction, adventure, fantasy and dark comedy–is filled with intrinsic details in all scenes. It has paved a new way for multiverse movies, heavily differing from some we have seen from Marvel. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Everything Everywhere” was in part a product of the “contradictions and emotional whiplash” of being very online at the time. “The internet had started to create these alternate universes,” Kwan said. 

While the film follows the journey of Yeoh as she weaves her way through verses, deeper themes of sexuality, transgenerational trauma, and representation present themselves in ways that strengthen the production. 

In comparison to other A24 films, “Everything, Everywhere All At Once” has brought in one of the greatest measures of profit. It was first premiered as an opener at Austin’s own SXSW, receiving praise nearly immediately. It was then released to only 10 theaters and brought in an average of $50 thousand per theater. The film continued to grow quickly and took the spot of the highest rated film of all time on Letterboxd, a movie rating app popular with film enthusiasts and critics. 

The film is two hours and 20 minutes long and is rated R.