Just like how people say that Die Hard is really a Christmas movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once should really be a CNY movie, alongside the classics like All’s Well Ends Well, Fat Choi Spirit, and My Lucky Stars. Even though it was not released during CNY, here are 5 reasons why it should be.
1. A movie about family
This has to be the most important element of any CNY movie. As chaotic as the multiverse as the main feature and plot device of the movie, at its core, it is really about family. It explores the relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children, the generational trauma, and the messiness of all of it. It also portrays accurately how different Asians show care and affections to family. It is often reserved and awkward. A hug simply doesn't come around so often in Asian family.
2. Set during the Chinese New Year
This one is evident, as half of the plot revolves around a CNY party and the preparation for it. The headache and the exhaustion from a CNY party is something that every parents could understand.
3. Meet the parents (and the anxiety that comes with it)
It is a custom to bring home your significant other to meet the family during CNY. It is like some version of reality check, anxiety is sometimes unbearable. In the movie, the grandfather is coming from China to visit the daughter Evelyn and her husband Waymond in the States whom he has always deemed as a disappointment, while from the granddaughter, Joy brings home her girlfriend to meet her old-fashioned grandfather for the first time. Conflict is setup and it is a mine field to navigate through.
4. Celebration of Chinese cinema
It is not too far-fetched to call this movie an action film. It features so many fight scenes that are clearly a homage to Jacky Chan's slapstick action comedy style. Not only it has some awesome martial art sequences, it also pays tribute to Wong Kar-wai's style of dreamy cinema, which brings along the feeling of nostalgia, regret, and the inevitable passage of time. Combining these two almost contradicting styles into one movie alone, is no easy feat in itself. And EEAAO just nails it perfectly.
5. Michelle Yeoh
Talking about homage and celebration, this movie is also a celebration of Chinese Asians in cinema, as it stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and James Hong. Even one of the Daniels, Dan Kwan is also Asian. As a Malaysian myself, I am just so happy about how this movie is so obviously tailored for Michelle. It is because Michelle is not only a martial artist, she is above all an incredible actor. Her acting range has the chance to shine fully under the spotlight in this movie. Watching the emotional interview she did with GQ, I got emotional too. It is like after all these years in the industry, finally she gets the validation she deserves.
EEAAO is probably my favorite movie of the year 2022. I am so glad that I went to cinema to watch it last year in late April. Although it gets a lot of buzz recently after it gets many nominations and awards, it was not the case when it was released. When it was released, it was only doing averagely in the box office. By the time I was free, it only left with one cinema in my area that was showing the movie. I had to drive almost an hour just to get to the cinema. Very often we like to call a movie as an emotional rollercoaster, but after this movie, I can safely say that only EEAAO deserves this description. How the movie makes me laugh and then cry and laugh-cry again in the span of 5 mins is unbelievable. After the credit rolls, I had to stay at my seat for quite awhile because I was just a mess. Although there were only me and another couple in the entire cinema hall, I had to tidy up my face a bit to be more presentable because I still had to walk a long way through the shopping mall and back to carpark. The movie truly wrecked me.
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