The multiverse created by team Everything Everywhere All At Once, which won seven Oscars, is futuristic as well as philosophical

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BE it at 95th Academy Awards or the awards that went by — Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG and Critics’ Choice Awards — this film has won everything, everywhere! As Everything Everywhere All at Once converts seven out of 11 nominations into victory at the Oscars, it has evoked a phenomenon similar to Parasite (the first non-English film to bag an Oscar in The Best Picture category)

For her role in the film, Michelle Yeoh clinched the Oscar for Best Actress while becoming the first South-Asian woman to do so.

The film, which has grossed over $ 100 million worldwide, successfully did the unimaginable — beating top contenders at the Oscars this year, such as Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Cate Blanchett’s Tár, and the German war drama All Quiet on the Western Front.

Available on OTT platform SonyLIV in India just a day after the big win, watching it grounds your soul in humanity and kindness. The comedy-drama genre doesn’t really justify the multi-layered film. Just like the protagonist, Evelyn (Yeoh) and her daughter/villain Joy, played by Stephanie Hsu, who face the dilemma of ‘you could be anything, anywhere’, the writer-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert come out as the real heroes for making a film which is about everything. It might sound controversial, but the verse-version that the film has created seems better than the multi-verse of MCU.

Ticking all the boxes

The film, which operates on a macro as well as micro level, is breathtakingly wonderful, as it talks of real things yet imaginary, focuses on family yet is scientific. There are clueless moments and then deep down relatable. There are moments that leave you in splits with absurd comedy and yet has an emotional climax. As Parasite was hailed for a shocking twist that didn’t follow three-act structure, this American-comedy drama also employs something new to engage viewers.

It’s an idea beyond imagination; a futuristic belief that there exists another version of you in some other verse. Dwelling upon that, it marries all the relevant themes — from generational family trauma to identity crisis (here Chinese-American) to mid-life crisis of Yeoh to depression — yet somehow manages to dwell upon love and kindness.

One such love theme doing the rounds on social media comes from Best Supporting Actor Male, Ke Huy Quan, as Waymond. He says, “In another life, I would really have liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”

Not so teen, the 32-year-old Stephanie Ann Hsu as Joy and the multi-verse villain Jobu Topaki, played half her age, and yet aced the character. But the actress was competing with her own co-star, Jaimie Lee Curtis, and the latter took the trophy home. That reminds of another powerful moment when Evelyn (Yeoh) tells Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Curtis), “You are not unlovable. There is always something to love. Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we get very good with our feet.”

Pocketing all the awards

• Oscar Award in the Best Picture category for it’s a breakthrough film, which showcases Hollywood diversity with Asia-American themes and Asian cast. Or, as actor Ke Huy Quan said in his acceptance speech, ‘This is American Dream.’
• Best Director and Best Original Screenplay to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for bringing a breath of freshness to cinema and attempting various subjects, genres and mediums in one project.
• Best Actress to Michelle Yeoh (Oscar and Golden Globes) for her multifaceted performance that involved characters of a martial artist, singer, laundermart-runner, traffic instructor, chef and many more.
• Best Actress in Supporting Role for Jamie Lee Curtis for her role as IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre and others.
• Best Actor in Supporting Role to Ke Huy Quan (Oscar and Golden Globes) for his character made you believe in the goodness of the world.
• Best Film Editing (Oscar and BAFTA) to Paul Rogers for the shift from one scene to another with sudden ‘verse jumps’ without any disconnect