Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (film): One of the most innovative films in a while

I had been putting watching this movie off for a long time now and I think part of the reason was because when I initially turned it on months ago I only listened to the first 4 minutes or so, saw that it was in Chinese with subtitles, wasn't in the mood for reading a movie at the time, and then switched it off and put it on the back burner. Now that I watched it last night I feel as though turning it off initially was a mistake because that was a truly unique experience that combined a lot of elements of films together that I personally really enjoy and the mix was just perfect.

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I don't really pay much attention to awards shows so until a watched this and did a little digging around online I was completely unaware of the fact that it was nominated for more Oscars than LotR and ended up winning 7 of them including "best picture." Had I been aware of this, I likely wouldn't have waited so long to finally see it.

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The film goes in so many different directions that it is really kind of difficult to put a label on exactly what it should be categorized as: There is a lot of Kung-Fu action and I kind of figured that would end up being the case because of Michelle Yeoh playing the lead role, but I hadn't expected some of the other people in the cast to also get involved in combat, especially Jaime Lee Curtis, who I didn't even recognize (but knew I knew who she was) until the credits rolled at the end.

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The movie is so much more than just your usual choreographed punch ups though. It is also a complicated sci-fi adventure that explores multiple universes and how so many other versions of ourselves are "possible" in this regard. The main character "Evelyn Wang" is taught how to tap into her alter egos across multiple universes in the film and this is the underlying premise for the entire film. In addition to the sci-fi aspects we also have a tale of family love and much of this is quite touching. I won't spoil the other aspects of it, but it all ties in together in what I would consider to be quite weird in a good way, but also extremely evident and easy enough to understand, but complicated enough that it leaves a great deal of the interpretation of WTF is going on to the audience. This is one aspect of the movie that I truly enjoyed, while there is some level of hand holding that is going on, we, the audience are left to come to our own conclusions about much of what is happening on screen.

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They didn't hold back with what they put on screen either and some of the scenes are actually quite unnerving. One thing that I think that most people probably felt a bit squeamish about was when one universe where humans evolved with hot dog fingers is featured regularly and I found some of it difficult to watch as well as humorous as hell.

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I enjoyed basically everything about this film and when it was over, it could have carried on for another half an hour and I wouldn't have complained. This is quite unusual for me with a film, especially when said film has a runtime of over 2 hours. There are certain segments of this movie that must have taken absolute ages to film and the direction and choreography departments must have been extremely busy people.

This movie is a work of art and deserved the awards that it received.

Should I watch it?

I might be really late to the party on this one and would guess that most people already HAVE seen it that are going to. However, if you are one of the people like me that somehow managed to not watch this already for some reason, you should change that as soon as possible. While much of the film is in Mandarin and Cantonese, it was ultimately designed for an English-speaking audience. This is one of the best made films that I have seen in years and in my mind, is a must-see.