A Chinese-American laundromat owner discovers she has to connect with versions of herself from parallel universes to stop a nihilistic force from destroying the multiverse. She also learns that the only answer is her relationship with her daughter. I feel like this is the defining American film of the 2020s.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 action, adventure and comedy film directed by Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Snatch uses several of the same techniques.
Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.
How this film uses it
The Daniels fold martial arts film, tax audit drama, absurdist comedy, sci-fi multiverse thriller and mother-daughter melodrama into a single work. Each genre is done properly (the action sequences are really choreographed, the family drama is really felt). When they collide, you get meaning where you would expect chaos.
Where to see it
The IRS building fight sequence. Martial arts choreography is played seriously inside a bureaucratic comedy inside a multiverse sci-fi film, and all 3 genres are running at the same time.
Timing the cuts to the rhythm of the action or the music. The fast, precise editing gives a scene momentum you can almost feel physically.
How this film uses it
Paul Rogers's editing cuts between universes, timelines and moods at a speed that is disorienting and still precise enough to follow. The first act is overwhelming on purpose. The editing puts you through Evelyn's scattered attention and the multiverse's information overload before you have any tools to handle it.
Where to see it
The universe-switching sequences. The cuts between realities come faster than you can consciously take them in, and the fast editing makes the multiverse something you feel in your body.
Showing extreme, violent or surreal events while the characters react as if nothing unusual is happening. That mismatch is funny and unsettling at the same time.
How this film uses it
Googly eyes are the symbol of cosmic acceptance, hotdog fingers are a tender love story and the everything bagel is the void. The Daniels play each absurd idea with total commitment and nobody winks. That straight face lets the film make real emotional points through ideas that would fall apart if they were played with irony.
Where to see it
The everything bagel. Jobu Tupaki explains the void through a snack, and the film delivers its nihilism as earnestly as a TED talk.
Building up to a big emotional release slowly, by investing in the characters and giving small bits of hope. When the release comes, it feels deserved after all the suffering.
How this film uses it
The mother-daughter reconciliation arrives after more than 2 hours of maximum chaos. By then, the audience is worn out and also emotionally ready. The Daniels earn the ending because Evelyn's choice (love over nihilism, her daughter over the multiverse) costs something real.
Where to see it
Evelyn choosing Joy. Mother and daughter reconcile, and the emotional release is as big as the chaos that came before it.
Questions
Everything Everywhere All at Once: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Everything Everywhere All at Once use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): Genre Collage, Kinetic Editing, Deadpan Absurdism and Earned Catharsis.
Who directed Everything Everywhere All at Once?
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert directed Everything Everywhere All at Once, released in 2022. CineCode also covers Swiss Army Man (2016).
What films are similar to Everything Everywhere All at Once?
Films that share techniques with Everything Everywhere All at Once include Snatch (2000), Some Like It Hot (1959), Blood Simple (1985), Hail, Caesar! (2016).
