I’ve had the same film bro favorite movie since 6th grade, though it wasn’t basic or film broey at the time. I was 11 when I first watched “Interstellar” because I’d seen it was about space and I liked that sort of thing. We were on vacation at the beach and I was on a pull-out couch where I watched it on my brand-new phone under the covers for all 3 hours with my janky headphones. It’s hard not to understate how blown away I was. I’d been reading books about galaxies and astronomy and the far reaches of our telescopes and to stumble upon this movie that none of my friends had seen made it feel like it belonged to me. It was the right movie at the right place at the right time.
This love for astronomy evolved into an obsession with cosmology and astrophysics. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, and Carl Sagan books littered my bedroom floor as I searched for something that could make me feel like I had all the answers I required, but I hit a wall: I’m really bad at math. That didn’t stop me from getting into quantum physics and exploring the different theories surrounding the makeup of reality, though over time, I got frustrated and moved on to microbiology and neuroscience.
My love for space and the physics of reality has stayed strong despite mental obstacles, but for the past 7 years, I’ve had two favorite movies: “Interstellar” and “Center Stage.” Two pretty different movies, and yet they always hit the spot. Well, this changed about two months ago when I saw “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” with my twin and my best friend.
We laughed (a lot), we cried (a lot), but even in the moment, all I could feel was that (at least for now), I had all the answers I needed. After trying to read dense science and science fiction over the years where authors refuse to explain a second of their books, I’ve come to appreciate stories that take a magical sci-fi concept like the multiverse and have as much fun as possible. It feels like there are new psych thrillers or mind-bending movies more often than people taking both sensational emotions and a sense of humor and making something that manages to be heart-wrenchingly profound, despite its best efforts.
The ability to not take yourself too seriously is priceless. It’s worth everything when it comes to making something as vulnerable and layered as a movie like “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.” You enter understanding that this movie is about the multiverse, but it’s endlessly more than a movie meant to confuse people that don’t like to think much during movies or are above the age of 50.
The characters themselves are tragically human, to the point where I feel like there is no antagonist in the entire movie simply because you can relate to whoever’s on screen no matter what. With a cast headed by Michelle Yeoh, you know you’re in for some of the most complex and effective acting of your life. But let me tell you, Stephanie Hsu gives one of my favorite performances of all time followed closely by her on-screen father, Ke Huy Quan. They both played their roles with an honest and a soul-deep understanding of their respective stories that I went back to the theater alone at 9 pm just because I wanted to experience their parts of the movie again. Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, and James Hong were obviously highlights, but to see two phenoms getting the kinds of roles they deserve makes me so happy. Also I’m obsessed with Stephanie Hsu, but that’s more of a biased point of love for this movie. Do any of you have a “Be More Chill” bootleg downloaded on their twenty-pound Mac laptop from the early 2000s? No? That’s what I thought. Know that I am both smug and deeply embarrassed.
I could never stop talking about the visuals and the costuming. There were so many moments when even with everyday clothing, it felt so right for the character. Everything felt so intentional and cared for with no detail left to rot in uncertainty. The editing, the sound production, the set design, the fight choreography, THE SCRIPT, THE DIALOGUE, THE EDITING, THE ENDING, STEPHANIE HSU. The bagel. The endless gorgeous shots. The everything bagel at the center of everything. The bagel that beckons us and the people that rescue us. STEPHANIE HSU.
I need to take a breather.
I love it deeply. As someone that loves dimensions and galaxies and parallel universes and strings of reality, I love it. As someone that thinks poop jokes and chugging a carton of half & half is funny, I love it. As someone that has had a lifelong crush on Stephanie Hsu, I love it. As someone that loves good movies, I love it.
I adore this movie and it has more than earned its spot among the singularities of “Interstellar” and the broken-in ballet slippers of “Center Stage.” WATCH THIS MOVIE, PLEASE. IT’S NOT A REQUEST, IT’S A DEMAND BUT I’M NICE SO I ADDED A PLEASE.
Take a deep breath in… And out… Thank you for listening to my rant about “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.”