The movie Everything Everywhere All at Once is a movie that will surpass all of your expectations for a sci-fi movie. Alongside the comedy and plot, the cinematography is carefully crafted to really make you feel the characters emotions. Here is my review for the movie.
The Production Studio
The studio that produced this movie is A24. A24 is a studio that is known for giving lesser-known directors a large budget to work with as well as a few well known actors to act in their film. The director for Everything Everywhere utilized this to the highest degree to produce a film that felt very whimsically funny and well-crafted while iThe studio that produced this movie is A24. A24 is a studio that is known for giving lesser-known directors a large budget to work with, as well as a few well-known actors to act, in their film. The director for Everything Everywhere utilized this to the highest degree to produce a film that felt very whimsically funny and well-crafted while introducing us to a complex storyline. Other films that A24 have produced include Lady Bird, The Farewell, and Midsommar.
the cinematography
The cinematography in Everything Everywhere is something completely unique that the film industry has been lacking for quite some time now. Every single shot of the film felt so thorough and thought out.
One particular shot that I really enjoyed was the opening scene. The shot opened on a room, crammed with tons of paper and debris scattered across — somewhat chaotic with no central character yet. The camera slowly panned in on a mirror to which the music began to ramp up, a character then came into the scene through the mirror which we see lined up perfectly with the camera. The mirror then suddenly tilted down on its own to reveal another character in the shot while maintaining the story telling. The scene finally switches to our central character in the middle sitting at a table through a very cluttered room, and we can see the person she is talking with through a mirror on the table in the background.
Shots like this really capture what this film is. The whole film is about the concept of the multiverse, so they really get creative when it comes to figuring out how to film these shots across different universes. The framing is what’s key for a lot of the shots in the film. The central “antagonist” is able to be active in all different universes at the same time, so as they cut between different universes, you can see her character still remaining in the shot, in a similar position but fitting the narrative of that universe. They use the concept of the multiverse to pull off some very interesting cinematography tricks that have been a nice change of pace for cinema.
the comedy
The comedy in this movie is something ridiculous. There are many different things that make the comedy out of this universe (literally). With the film revolving around the concept of the multiverse, the directors really thought hard wThe comedy in this movie is something ridiculous. There are many different things that make the comedy out of this universe (literally). With the film revolving around the concept of the multiverse, the directors really thought hard when thinking of the question, “What can all different kinds of universes really look like?” The film contained such a wide variety of weird characteristics from sausage fingers, evil versions of certain characters, and googly eyes on rocks. Another comedic relief antidote was the weird requests the characters had to perform before they could jump from universe to universe. This includes paper cuts in between the fingers, eating gum off the bottom of the desk, telling your IRS agent you love them, sticking a trophy up your butt, licking snot off of someone’s nose, etc. These crazy and random acts had to be performed in order for the characters to link themselves with the right alternate versions of themselves from different universes to gain their skills.
the story
The plot of Everything Everywhere revolves around the concept of the multiverse. If you’re not familiar, the multiverse is a concept in which they believe that many different universes, other than our own, exist. Thus, infinite possibilities can be true as opposed to our own. For example, in an alternate universe, I could have made a different decision in my life 10 years ago which would then lead me to a whole different life path. These universes can go from minor changes to very drastic changes. This film takes this idea to the extreme.
The plot revolves around our main character, Evelyn, her husband, Waymond, and their daughter, Joy. As a family, they own a laundromat business, but are struggling with their expenses as they have many purchases and payments that aren’t exactly going the way they would have hoped.
Evelyn’s connection with Joy is also broken, and Evelyn sees her life in a very negative way. She’s then introduced to the idea of the multiverse through an alternate version of her husband that comes into his consciousness to explain to her that there is a great multiversal threat that Evelyn must help defeat. This is the main idea of the plot, but it develops much more than just that. They dive very deep into all different kinds of universes from versions of Evelyn that were famous because of different life choices, to universes in which she takes an interest in an IRS agent in a world where everyone has hot dogs for hands.
Yes, it can get very weird. But that’s what makes this movie great: the uncertainty of what different universes can all mesh together, with a thick and intriguing storyline, combined together to create a story in which we have not seen in the film industry for many years.
my favorite sequence
My favorite sequence from this movie is when Evelyn and Joy are jumping from universe to universe and they finally land on a desert mountain as two rocks in a world where human life never existed.This scene was especially deep when the only form of communication they had was through subtitles on the screen.Throughout the scene, Joy and Evelyn share their perspective on how nice and quiet the world was. They expanded their thoughts and talked about the chaos they had seen as they were jumping universes to universe, billions of other worlds out there were like this one. Lifeless. This scene was eye-opening as many other multiverse films never dive into this notion. As this scene ran through, you almost got an eerie feeling as the camera expanded to get a bigger shot of this lifeless earth. Despite the eeriness and seriousness of this scene, comedy was still present when Evelyn popped her googly eyes on her rock-self, which is what made this scene 10x more perfect than it was.
rating
10/10
The reason for this review consists of a couple different factors. The production studio, the cinematography, the comedy, and the story all played a part in what made this movie unique.
Overall, you have to go watch this movie. It’s amazing.