“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is a quirky but beautiful film following immigration and financial struggle, while also creatively incorporating a multiverse to tie the subjects to an interesting story. Racking up eleven nominations at the 95th Academy Awards and seven awards, it finished as the most decorated film of the Oscars 2023. The accomplishments this movie has achieved are well beyond deserved.
“Everything At Once” encompasses the struggles of being an Asian immigrant in America desperately trying to find a stable lifestyle. Evelyn Wang and her family are shown throughout the film dealing with IRS meetings due to their struggling laundromat business. The film artistically intertwines Evelyn’s background as a Chinese immigrant with ‘the multiverse,’ going as deep as surfacing her root struggles involving her father’s disapproval of her leaving China to seek a better life in America. The multiverse literally represents a thousand outcomes of what Evelyn could have decided to do with her life and this causes her to face what could’ve been; at least something far more than IRS meetings and sorting receipts. This aspect of the film is a big part in its connection with its audience, as Asian immigrants or children of Asian immigrants like myself were able to delve deeper into the struggles that are faced when entering the US. Although a sensitive topic for many, the film opened doors to sharing a common experience.
Additionally, Everything At Once takes on an even more unconventional topic– LGBTQ+ and interracial relationships within a conservative, Asian household. Evelyn’s daughter has a white girlfriend and while Evelyn is still trying to make amends with the relationship herself, she is faced with the obstacle of having to reveal Joy’s relationship to her father. Her father is the most conservative of the family; Evelyn knowing his negative views on her own actions of stepping out of the norm, she can only imagine what he would think of her daughter having a girlfriend. To this day, LGBTQ+ relationships are taboo in many traditional, East Asian households, as well as interracial marriage. It is generally expected of East Asians to marry among their own race/ethnicity to keep traditions going, as well as promote chauvinistic pride among our communities. In the motherland, it is not common to date outside of our race with the general lack of non-aAian citizens and even more uncommon for gay or lesbian relationships due to the strict, conservative culture in Asia. In America, there is an emphasis among immigrant parents to continue to conform within these boundaries despite the changing of surroundings and seemingly more freedom to do as people please.
What makes this film exceptionally unique is its unconventional use of fantasy to blend with a story full of very real issues. The perfect incorporation of humor and quirkiness, as well as using the multiverse as a distraction from the heaviness of the subjects at play was brilliant. It added a great amount of lightness to make the film something more than a depressing uprising without taking away from the importance of the real story being told.
Written by Naima Cho-Khaliq of Wootton High School
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