With permission from the amazing ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, the big surprise of 2022 is here. ‘Everything at once everywhere’ (Everything, Everywhere, all at once, 2022) opens in Spain on June 3 and is a candidate to be the definitive experience on the big screen this year. Not only has it become the highest-grossing film in the history of A24, but it also represents a step forward in the company’s production policy and how it is perceived by the general public.
SI with ‘X’ (2022) they removed a good part of the image of a “Bergmanian” horror producer associated with films like ‘El faro’ (The Lighthouse, 2018), with the new film by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known for having performed the excruciating ‘Swiss Army Man’, not only show that the couple of directors can and have known how to be much, much more than balance provocateursbut instead gets into the great fantastic adventure with hints of the eighties and oriental cinema, not without its trademark extravagance, but definitely more ambitious.
The less you know about her the better.but the only thing that should be known beforehand about ‘Everything at the same time everywhere’ is that it tells us the story of Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant who discovers that she is the only one who can save our world and for this she must explore other universes in where there are countless versions of herself, which give her abilities that she didn’t know she had but that will also complicate her mission until she discovers that the key to everything lies in deciphering her most buried internal problems.
Action, surrealism and identity crisis in maturity
What is presented as an adventure of parallel realities, with a marked style of Amblin cinema, is evolving towards an odyssey of action and martial arts full of visual explosions and philosophical ideas that transform it into a costumbrista version of ‘Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness’, but that changes the dark pulp comic tone of that one for an unexpected and much more imaginative exploration of the concept of parallel dimensions, giving the sensation that during its almost two and a half hours anything can happen.
In addition to the Hong Kong movie star Michelle Yeohthe protagonist about whom the plot circulates almost as a tribute to her career, in her cast there are also other faces known as Jamie Lee Curtisin a brutal role that turns her into a kind of ruthless Michael Myers, or Jenny Slate. Also, in ‘Everything at once everywhere’ we witness the brand new return of Jonathan Ke Quan, mythical Data de ‘The Goonies’ or Plug in ‘Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom’ in a surprising role that shows his skill in action movies.
To complete the aroma to the decade of the 80, james hongthe Lo Pan from ‘Little China Coup’ (1986) plays a small but very amusing role within a development that condenses dozens of unusual ideas per minute. The Daniels play with ideas of lax science fiction, going through ‘Terminator’ and ending in ‘The One’ (2001) by Jet Li, to which he seems to respond with another Hong Kong action star acquiring skills, but in his proposal the scenes vertiginous films are complemented by excerpts from fantastic cinema in its broadest sense.
A cult work in progress
Because deep down, ‘Everything at once everywhere’ retrieves the idea of fantasy as a key to understanding the midlife crisis not unlike what happened to Robin Williams in ‘Hook’ (1991), and, while making a plot that could be in a Philip K. Dick novel, between ‘Ubik’ or ‘We can remember it for you wholesale ‘, the idea reaches an almost elemental metaphorical value, with similarities to ‘The Neverending Story’ or ‘The Wizard of Oz’, to which he makes constant visual references.
The Daniels are also true to form and fill their journey with scatological humor, although this time it makes a lot more sense in that a key element of mythology has to do with many of the wildest and most absurd ideas, getting that in its maelstrom of situations it ends up having internal logic. Yes, it can be noted that his second half has less interest in unstoppable action, but he goes to an unusual depth in the study of his character that reveals a dramedy with the conflict of ‘Lady Bird’ (2017) at its core.
With a climax that manages to bring together all the aspects that the film plays with in its journey, it is not difficult to shed a tear while there is a joke about dildos. That is the experience of ‘Everything at the same time everywhere’, difficult to define, as unclassifiable as the work of Richard Kelly, and which will probably end up leaving a legacy comparable to that of ‘Donnie Darko’ (2002) in its day. He exudes so much creativity, such labyrinthine editing work, such a lack of laziness in imagining, presenting and filming his ideas, which is Impossible to assimilate it in a single viewing. A totally unpredictable surreal journey of pop existentialism and kung-fufrantic and unexpected: an instant classic.