Everything, Everywhere All at Once

Everything, Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Every now and then the Oscars surprises me and decides to champion an outsider. A film that comes along that challenges traditional storytelling and creatively shakes things up in a surprisingly fun and delightful way; think The Matrix, Being John Malkovich or Birdman but more absurd.

Gosh, how to even blurb this is a challenge; There’s the most riveting scene between two rocks.

No wait. From the top; Chinese immigrant Evelyn runs a laundrette in California and the burdens of life are finally crushing her down. Her disengaged, meek husband, her bratty, gay daughter, her archaic, homophobic father… and to top things off she has to face down a humourless IRS agent intent on destroying her. Fun, eh? Don’t panic, proceedings take a turn for the surreal when, anchored in the reality of an IRS building, Evelyn ventures into multiple parallel universes to glimpse how life could have been vastly different.

Nominated for 11 Oscars I don’t even know which to advocate more. The score is exhilarating, the story and vision is pure wonder and the acting grounds this preposterous spectre in authenticity.

Best Actress nom goes to the heroine Michelle Yeoh, who besides demonstrating equal parts confusion, vulnerability and robustness hasn’t aged a day since squaring up to Pierce Brosnan’s Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997.

Speaking of ageless. All you fellow 80’s kids will thrill at the revival of Ke Huy Quan. Best known for the kid in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies (two personal faves) his recent awards season journey has been an unadulterated triumph. Watch his THR Roundtable on YouTube where he explains that through lack of roles for Asian actors he had to abandon his work as an actor and pick up jobs as a fight coordinator for 30 years.

And then we have Jamie Lee Curtis. As someone who’s not a fan of horror I can only relate to her fandom through my family’s love for A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies. BAFTA, being that quirky weird sister, have encouraged her efforts for years, but what a thrill to see her have so much fun and be rewarded with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

And finally, written and directed by - there’s a lot of that this Oscar season - Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, sweetly referred to collectively as Daniels (no relation to Helen), this is the most innovative, daft and fun film I’ve seen in a long time and these captains deserve all the applause for a fun night in after a bonkers 3 years.

10 Sausage-Fingers/Thumbs Up! 👍🏻