Everything Everywhere All At Once
This is a movie that I have heard many good reviews and in-depth analyses from. The awards it received are very well earned; for example, the movie was ranked top 10 movies of 2022 by the National Board of Review and American Film Institute and totalled 46 awards nominations for its casts members and won 7 awards (Wikipedia - shorturl.at/yGLM6). The movie attempted and successfully portrayed a dysfunctional family and tackled themes of nihilism, abandonment, suicide, taxes and hope.
When I heard a Discord community member recommend me to watch this movie last year, I said I will; now, one year later, I'm glad I finally did. SPOILERS - I will attempt to analyse some of the movie's ideas so that I will be spoiling parts of the film.
This is probably the only movie from my memory that has made me go through a rollercoaster of emotions that starts with all highs, laughter, and subliminal messages through funny hand signs, jokes, fights and anal fight scenes. To the lows of abandonment, immigration, family disowning each other, divorce, references to suicides and shattered identities. Then was grounded out with messages of hope, gentleness, attempts to communicate to each other, acknowledgement of traumas and googly eyes. This is probably the only film that I remember to make me cry and feel authentic to the experiences that are portrayed; I won't hesitate to recommend this movie to anyone who has ever gone through family trauma and used this as a case study so they can attempt to understand their situation better.
I want to talk about the character Waymond Wang, the character I relate most to in the movie. In the film, he was the most grounded character in all the movie, where everyone else can dimension hop and be whoever they want to be; Waymond was only himself but managed to get his wife to a point where she took on some of his mannerisms and philosophy so that she can save the multiverse and their daughter. His story beat started from the beginning but was not given significant attention until the divorce papers began to matter in their story.
Waymond was a boy who was disowned by his own family and eventually his in-law, who also was the one who supported Evelyn. They both decided to uproot and move to America, opened and lived in a laundry mat and eventually became supportive fathers. In a few flashbacks that Evelyn experienced, we see that even though life had never really dealt him a perfect hand of cards, he always made the best of what he had. He was always jolly, full of energy, always willing to engage in difficult situations and always attempted to help his wife out of any sticky situations. I relate to this sentiment as, for most of my life, I have always kept the same energy and attitude as Waymond, even when life gets tough. Sometimes I felt like giving it all to myself, especially to my loved ones, but I kept going. Just like when Evelyn decided to get drunk, smashed her business during the Lunar New Year celebration and signed the divorce papers to agree to the proceeding. Waymond, despite all of these actions, still plead for his wife, Evelyn, to the Police and IRS member so she can have more chances to redeem herself and also start to clean up the mess that she made during the destruction of the laundromat.
When those scenes were played, I started tearing up, and slowly, the ugly cry started to come in; I have never really related to a character this much. Waymond always kept his head high while being morally grounded; he convinced his wife to stop being destructive and be more gentle. Evelyn began to adopt the googly eyes and placed them on her forehead for the later half of the movie to represent a change in her while fighting the black bagel. His efforts of being gentle and balanced balanced for most of his life were finally rewarded through the triumph of the characters and movie.
No wonder why Ke Huy Quan won the best supporting role for the movie; Waymond Wang is such a well-grounded and morally conscious character. He is not the most intelligent or charismatic; he loves those who did not love him back for a long time; he always manages to save his wife from sticky situations even though she does not appreciate it. In the end, all of this effort, all the complex work work, pays off as he is given a prolonged kiss by his wife, the only time we see them kiss in the movie.