Why We Loved “Everything Everywhere All At Once”

“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” released in 2022 and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, absolutely dominated the Oscars this year, taking home seven awards including Best Picture. Although this win was undeniably deserved, it was surprising because, put simply, the film doesn’t feel like an Oscar winner. It’s weird, heartfelt, and thrilling — a mix that lands somewhere between intimate and beautiful. The plot of the film revolves primarily around Chinese immigrant Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) who is struggling both to maintain her marriage to her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and to keep her laundromat business afloat. On top of this, her strained relationship with her daughter Joy/Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu) threatens to unravel the fabric of existence as she knows it. After some exposition, Evelyn is told that she is one of many Evelyns across the multiverse and that she is the only one capable of saving it.

Despite being shot on a moderate budget, once “Everything Everywhere All At Once” began to generate buzz, it could not be stopped. The film is beautifully shot, with impeccable coloring and detail throughout the 139 minute run time. Watching the film in theaters was an experience unlike any other. Viewers walked out having formed tacit bonds with the rest of the audience. They screamed, cried, laughed, and held their breaths together. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” kept its prominence because watching it was an experience nobody wanted to miss out on.

Another reason for the world’s obsession with the film was its insanity, and more specifically, the ways in which the film asked the audience to find the beauty in its absurdity. Looking at the teary-eyed audience out of context, you would never imagine that they’re watching a movie about evil bagels, googly-eyes, and hot-dog fingers. But this absurdity was only fodder for conversation. Thousands of fans congregated on TikTok to analyze the meaning behind some of the film’s iconically absurd scenes; The three-minute silent rock scene. The reference to the animated 2007 Disney drama “Ratatouille.” The random end-credit scene midway through the film. What does it all mean? And why is it all so beautiful? The compulsion to find answers to these questions made “Everything Everywhere All At Once” incredibly appealing to both audiences and critics.

The third aspect of the film that contributed to its Oscar win was its heartfeltness and relatability. Underneath the intense fighting and confusing action scenes lie moments of true sadness and vulnerability.

“Even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you,” Waymond says to Evelyn in one heart-wrenching scene.

“I have felt everything your daughter has felt and I know the joy and the pain of having you as my mother,” Jobu Tupaki says to Evelyn in another.

Even though the audience might not relate to the life of a verse-jumping Asian man or a lesbian from the Alpha timeline hell-bent on destroying space and time, they can still understand the bittersweetness of an uneasy marriage or the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship.

It is impossible to discuss this Oscar sweep, of course, without touching on the significance of this win. It proves not only that Hollywood is changing — maybe for the better — but also that American audiences are changing too. They are willing and eager to watch a hectic, beautiful film about a Chinese immigrant family that is partly in Mandarin and Cantonese. Not only are they willing to watch it, but they learn to absolutely love it.

Overall, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” swept the Oscars because it did all the right things. It was a welcome burst of creativity and otherworldliness in a time when people were looking for a way to disconnect from the stillness of a post-pandemic world. Audiences loved the film for its experience, its insanity, its beauty, and its love. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is changing the awards landscape for the better, and audiences need to strap in and get excited.

—Staff writer Najya S. Gause can be reached at najya.gause@thecrimson.com.