The Weird, Absurd, and 7 Oscar-Winning: "Everything Everywhere All At Once" Explained
One of the most prestigious awards in cinema, the Oscars, took place for the 95th time this year at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, and this year's celebration night was held without scandals, slaps and fights. The choice of the calming soft champagne colour instead of the traditional red carpet this year may have influenced the dominance of this positive spirit, or maybe the minds were too busy to create a scandalous moment with "Everything Everywhere All At Once".
"Everything Everywhere" has won 7 Oscars out of 11 nominations and is signed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, two not-so-well-known directors in their 30s. Their creation of a multiverse story that combines action, dark humour and even absurd comedy in the sci-fi genre resulted in this year's success story for the Oscars. While the lead actress, Michelle Yeoh, received awards in the Best Film and Best Actress categories, the film also won the Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor awards. Only twice before in Oscar history had three of the four best actor awards go to the same film. Besides," Everything Everywhere" is also become the most awarded film since "Slumdog Millionaire" with 8 Oscars.
The Absurdities & Reasons Behind The Success
The film's premiere was full of absurdities as much as its fantastic story. Among all productions crowned with the Oscar award, the premiere of the winners of the last 16 years gathered cinema lovers with prestigious events in the industry, such as Cannes, Venice or Toronto. Whereas "Everything Everywhere" first appeared in front of the audience at an event held in South by Southwest, Texas, a famous culture festival. Besides, even in England, considered one of the castles of the cinema industry, due to the low expectations for the film, it was concerned whether it should be shown directly on the online platform. The turning point for the film was that some of the industry's leading names convinced A24, the distributor of the movie in the USA, to show it in theatres.
The film, which British newspaper critics did not like, generated 73.3 million dollars in revenue in the American market. Although it returned empty-handed from the BAFTAs, "Everything Everywhere" left the Oscars with a seven awarded great victory. There's no doubt that Americans loved "Everything Everywhere", but why? According to some commentators, the reason is that the film has a structure that speaks to the culture clash in the USA by providing many criteria in terms of diversity. After all, the not-so-well-known film directors are young, the lead actors are not white, and even the main character is an Asian actor in his 60s who is not much appreciated professionally. Is it that simple? We don't want to give spoilers, but the film reveals a touching mother-daughter relationship that combines bitter and sweet. This relationship also presents the dilemma of the American dream and the reality of immigration with the multiverse concept, making it possible to look at a familiar story with different eyes.
One reason the film is attractive is that the alternative destinies created in other universes where the main character Evelyn Wang is sometimes a singer, sometimes a chef, and sometimes a famous movie star make it appealing. After all, when it is inevitable for our audience to question our existence and preferences, which of us would not be curious about the lives of our alternative selves?
