“Everything Everywhere All at Once”, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, was a seven time Oscar award winning film in 2023. Similarly to “Inception”, the film explores the deep complexities related to nature and limitations of the human mind. The story follows Evelyn, an immigrant from China, who struggles with her husband, Waymond, to keep their laundry business afloat while also dealing with family relationships, and saving the entire universe. Although confusing at times, it allows for the audience to reflect on themselves and their lives, as do the characters throughout the film.
The only organized aspect of the film is the three stated parts, the “Everything”, the “Everywhere”, and finally the “All at Once”. Otherwise, the film is completely chaotic, from Evelyn jumping from parallel universe to universe, to the tear jerking moments, as well as the comedic reliefs. The whole film is an adventure as Evelyn’s only mission is to save her daughter from sucking the entire universe into a bagel, yet somehow with all the plot twists it all pieced together at the end.
The themes of self discovery and family relationships are prevalent throughout the film, and multiple generations can relate to them which is why the film is a great success. The thought of a “Baby Boomer” parent finally understanding her child's needs and pain is every Gen Z’s dream. At first, Evelyn is unable to connect with her daughter, Joy, and cannot accept her for who she is, as well as is unable to tell her father that Joy has a girlfriend. Evelyn constantly dismisses any serious conversations with Waymond as well, as taught by her father. As Evelyn travels through parallel universes, she realizes different realities of herself she could have become, which makes her finally realize at the end how far kindness can go. Waymond shows her how quickly their reality can change just by being kind, and Evelyn learns what she must do to save her daughter.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” exemplifies the aspect of consciousness narration in “Mrs. Dalloway”. Although the two pieces are created in very different times, they both share the innermost thoughts of its characters deliberately and consistently. In “Mrs. Dalloway”, the audience learns about her feelings and reflections of her life as she interacts with people, and reflects on her past. An example of this would be when the Big Ben chimes and she reflects on her time and mortality. Her thoughts were continuous and flowed throughout the passage, forming an intimate connection with the reader. Subconsciously, the reader also reflects on their life due to the fact that they just learned something personal about Mrs. Dalloway. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” uses consciousness narration to create a quirky cinematic experience that blends reality with illusion in order to grab the audience’s attention. Evelyn’s memories and feelings are displayed through flashbacks and parallel universes that continuously challenge the audience’s mind. These scenes also allow the viewer to reflect on their own lives, relating to similar aspects of pain which also help draw in the viewers. In both pieces, the use of consciousness narration allows the audience to understand the characters motives and reflect on their own experiences on an intimate level.
Furthermore, in both “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Mrs. Dalloway”, the recurring theme of memory helps the audience further their understanding of the characters, and makes deeper connections within themselves to realize who they truly are. The concept of learning from past memories helps people understand themselves better and make different decisions.
There is so much more to the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, and the only way to understand it yourself, is to watch it and see what I mean. I highly recommend to anybody looking to just watch a movie and be prepared to cry.
***I was inspired by "Everything Everywhere All at Once" because I can relate to it on a very personal level. My mother is an immigrant from Taiwan, and I can see aspects of Evelyn's character that are extremely similar to my own mom. It was also very eye opening to me to see the perspective as a parent, as my mother does so much for me, and has worked incredibly hard to get to the place she is now. It was nice to see how Evelyn affected her child, and eventually discovered her needs and breaking the generational trauma as seen through her father.
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