EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Or,

THIS IS MY THESIS, MAN!

THIS IS MY CLOSING ARGUMENT!!!

A trailer dropped today for the next film from filmmaking duo wunderkinds The Daniels. Called EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, it releases in March and will be the opening film of SXSW 2022 (plague dependent, I’m sure). Here it is:

Kinda looks like Michel Gondry ventures into Asian cinema with the latest trend of multiversal stories, right? Here’s the logline on it from marketing:

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can't seem to finish her taxes.

So why am I so high on it? I’m glad I asked.

A. The Daniels - I love the work of these two gentlemen. I’ve featured INTERESTING BALL in Afternoon Delights before, and that post includes the playlist I made of a bunch of their work along with a tease for this very movie. Theirs is an utterly unique mixture of the puerile and the profound that creates beautifully singular visuals that linger with viewers for years after seeing their work.

B. Michelle Yeoh - Yeoh is arguably one of the greatest cinematic martial artists of all time. From SUPERCOP onwards—including her work with Cynthia Rothrock and her majestic turn in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON—she has graced audiences with outstanding performances.
But lately she’s kind of just been relegated to a role that fills the purpose of “lady action hero of yesteryear” whether it’s in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2, GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS…she’s mostly there to grant legitimacy to the current production while filmmakers “honor” her numerous contributions but don’t actually give her that much to do (also, there are other older Asian actresses that speak English that can play those parts, casting directors…doesn’t just have to be Ms. Yeoh). This is also kind of happening to EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE’s fellow actor Jamie Lee Curtis a bit, but hopefully continued work with Rian Johnson and others will prevent that.
Here, Yeoh isn’t just a visual prop or shallow token of appreciation but given a massive range that pulls from her martial artistry along with deep well of emotions and characters she’s had for decades.

C. Ke Huy Quan - I was so jazzed to see this actor back on my screen in a new role. Formerly known as Jonathan (to appease shitty white Hollywood), Ke Huy Quan was great in INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM as well as THE GOONIES (which I believe I’ve established as an oddly big part of my life). During the pandemic, when there was a cast reunion online, Ke Huy Quan mentioned he had changed his professional name back to his actual name and was seeking out acting work again. Clearly he had already shot this, but still—it’s awesome when people throw off the shackles of youth or other limitations that have been imposed on them by others.

D. Multiverse - Full disclosure/unfortunate tangent: I come up with stories and scripts all the time. Sometimes I write them down but usually I don’t so as to avoid failure and criticism because I am fairly pathetic in my brittle mental ecosystem. This story seems very similar to an idea I’ve been working on for a few years which may kill it outright, but that’s a small price to pay if it’s an amazing film by The Daniels. Yes, everyone and their mothers are doing multiverse stuff right now (mostly as a way of tying up narrative loose ends as well as preying on nostalgia by folding back in actors in popular roles that have since been recast as a way to cash in on audiences’ adorations for those performances); but this seems more in line with CLOUD ATLAS, THE ONE, and MILLENNIUM ACTRESS in which a singular person (or soul) traverses time and space and situations to show off the heart of the character while utilizing breathtaking visuals and imaginative production design for the new universes. Plus cool movie fighting.

This doesn’t even touch on James Hong being there or Jamie Lee Curtis, or the Douglas Adams’ sort of play on the story trope of the fantastic and individual pitted against the sneaky subjugation by the bureaucratically mundane. Or that it seems like a family gets to come together to decide the fate of all existence in a manner more fitting A Wrinkle In Time or even the best Fantastic Four stories.

March cannot get here fast enough.