Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once sweeped the 2023 Oscars, winning Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and among others, Best Picture. Some believe the wins were undeserved, but the film’s dedicated fans disagree. EEAAO follows a Chinese-American family managing a struggling laundry business. The titular character, Evelyn, disapproves of her husband’s carefree nature and her daughter’s homosexuality, choosing to stick to her own traditional values. However, this changes when an alternate version of her husband, Waymond, tells her an evil force, known as Jobu Tupaki, is planning on destroying the universe. Using an everything bagel. That is also a black hole. The alternate version of Waymond guides Evelyn through various different realities in which, among other things, she is a chef, opera singer, movie star, and even just a woman with hot dog fingers. In order to defeat Jobu, who is an alternate version of Evelyn’s daughter Joy, Evelyn must fight her with her newly found multidimensional powers. On the surface, the film is a mind boggling science fiction drama, but in reality, it paints a poignant picture of first-generation immigrants and their families. The film explores themes of resentment, sexuality, self-hatred, and love, all through the lens of science fiction. Nothing like it has ever been done before, and it is truly a testament to the complicated nature of familial relationships.