Part 1: Points of Reference
In 1994, Quentin Tarintino became a household name. The Pulp Fiction meteor hit the movie going world and it hasn’t recovered since. No one had ever heard dialogue or seen a story like it. Tarintino wore his influences on his sleeve, using cinematic alchemy to combine the movies he as a film nerd loved into ones the next generation of cinephiles would idolize. Pulp Fiction was good and more importantly it was entertaining.
A new “Pulp Fiction” is rare and in a time where cinema is Marvelized it is even rarer. A risk in a modern movie is when Batman wears eye makeup. Creativity comes from established auteurs, like Paul Thomas Anderson or Jane Campion, who make serious “important” films for nerds while the normal people watch Morbius (lol actually no one watched Morbius). No longer. Right now, most of the world has not heard of the duo called “Daniels.” But they will. Their new film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, is a modern “Pulp Fiction.” I will describe the movie in this review, so if you have not seen Everywhere Everything All At Once yet, I urge you to determine which theater and showing is most convenient for you, mentally schedule when you’ll watch it, and then stop reading this review.
Ok for the rest of you:
The similarities between Everything Everywhere All At Once and Pulp Fiction are numerous. They’re both the second feature from auteurs who deeply love movies (EEAAO references The Matrix, 2001, Wong Kar Wai, Edgar Wright, Jackie Chan, other wuxia films, and more I probably missed), produced by small critically acclaimed studios (Miramax for Pulp Fiction, A24 for EEAAO) that stretch a small budget. They both feature neglected stars giving career best and career reviving performances (more on that later) playing complicated characters. The dialogue is great and the structure unorthodox. They make risks and blend tones, with the confidence of someone who has done it for years.
Part 2: What It Is
The multiverse in Marvel is an excuse for them to mix lego sets and have different Spidermans play out fan fiction. That’s not interesting, that’s a cash grab (Into the Spiderverse excluded ofc). In EEAAO, Daniels shows us that the multiverse is actually really interesting if it serves a story rather than IP law. The different universes center on Evelyn Wong (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant struggling to keep her marriage, a connection with her daughter, and laundromat. Due to means too complex you explain here, she discovers how to tap into all of her other lives, each one better than the one she has. Scifi shenanigans, marital, comedy, and emotional confrontations ensue. The cast bring their A game, with Michelle Yeoh and Le Huy Quan star opposite each other in career best performances, infusing the film with sincerity, while Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Tsu bask in the two more comedic parts bringing pathos when needed. The cinematography is outstanding, maintaining a flexible style that works for whatever the story needs at each moment. The editing brings visual comedy and action intensity. The action choreography and direction combine for perfectly executed fight scenes. Daniels barely modifies the Jacky Chan style (you can’t improve perfection), but introduces clever fight mechanics which would make him proud. EEAAO is technical mastery and everyone involved should be nominated for an Oscar.
Part 3: What It Means
The main influence on EEAAO is the Matrix, itself a revolutionary “Pulp Fiction” which combined critical and audience appeal to change movies forever. The Wachowskis combined their love for wuxia and anime into a sci-fi flick, which stood out for the powerful allegory of its story. Taking the red pill meant something personal to every viewer, with the metaphor so successful it penetrated our lexicon. The Matrix was successful not for the complexity of its theme, but for the power of its delivery. EEAAO has a simple message. Life is meaningless, painful, absurd, and full of disappointments. But we must not give in to despair. People in our life who care about us and depend on us. We should be grateful for what we have and be kind to one another. Things aren’t as bad as they seem. This message has been done many times, sometimes in movies for babies. But as Ebert said, “it's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.” EEAAO uses the multiverse and a metaphor involving a bagel makes us feel that life is meaningful. The sci-fi driven plot derives from the drama between the characters. The characters are the source and become the solution to the central conflicts. All the action scenes and multiverse jumping are merely tools to explore the emotional problems of Evelyn and her family.
In her 1964 essay “Against Interpretation,” Susan Sontag argued that allegory ruins the appeal of art and the best way to consume media is literally. We should quit trying to find the true meaning and enjoy something for what it is. Everything Everywhere All At Once refutes thesis. The film forces the viewer to see the metaphor.
Just like we all live in the Matrix, EEAAO tells the story of our lives. We live in a vast world where every event is a mathematical impossibly and a statistical inevitability. Each decision has potentially massive consequences, yet we can only observe the path taken. We’re surrounded by people who are suffocating and too distant. Time and space are infinite and always running out. Life most daunting questions come from the things too big and too small, from our inability to judge it compared to ourselves. EEAAO deals directly with the existential making up for lack of answers with honesty. They look right into the Bagel and say “we’re not sure either but maybe we should be empathic.” Some may view that as a cop out, as I’ve heard rumblings of the coming film backlash from the deep abyss of discourse, but I think it’s an insight that a deep question doesn’t need a deep answer. We have people in our lives who love us and we love them. Existential questions try to get us to somehow doubt that, the only thing we know which is true in the world. They are important but not essential. Somehow I suspect the happiest people don’t spend much time thinking about the meaning of life. Joy (not coincidentally a character name) is their thesis and their product.
I hope everyone sees this film and we can see more movies that provoke and entertain. This film has certainly brightened my outlook to the state of film. Cinema is dead. Long live Cinema.