“Everything Everywhere at the Same Time” reflects on lives that “could have been”

The true multiverse arrived in Brazilian cinemas with the story of Evelyn, a Chinese immigrant to the United States who is married, has a lesbian daughter, a strict father, and a somewhat lame laundry room.

In the midst of tax confusion, she has to go to the Internal Revenue Services, a type of US federal revenue, to explain her spending, but not before being elected the savior of various realities, threatened by an evil entity.

if you think “Everything Everywhere at the Same Time” it’s an action movie, it’s right and wrong too.

“There are several genres in one film”, says Michelle Yeoh , who plays the protagonist Evelyn. “Action, comedy, drama, science fiction… The title of the film says it all”.

In an interview with the film’s producer, A24, the actress said that as soon as she received the script from the two directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, she couldn’t refuse to play the role.

“I had to meet these crazy directors who sent me this script about a middle-aged Chinese immigrant woman, when I met them, I realized they weren’t crazy, but they were insane in a good way,” she says.

For the actress, having the opportunity to act in a movie like this only comes once in a lifetime.

“I’ve waited many years in my career to find a story like this, but at the same time, my experience has helped me develop this character that is Evelyn,” says Michelle.

The trajectory of the actress, in addition to helping in the construction of the main role, is honored in the film itself.

Whether through Michelle’s red carpet inserts in several features such as “The Tiger and the Dragon” (2000) and “Beyond Freedom” (2012), or in the great fight scenes starring her.

However, Evelyn doesn’t do it all alone. To save the multiverse from a malicious being, she enlists the help of her husband, or a version of him, Waymond, played by Ke Huy Quan .

The Vietnamese actor made his debut in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) and, in almost 40 years of career, he worked in 15 films. A small number, but nothing that the multiverse of “Everything, Everywhere at the Same Time” doesn’t make up for, making the actor embody a dozen characters in the alternate realities of the long.

Other highlights of the film are Stephanie Hsu who plays one of the many allegories that we see throughout “Everything in Everywhere…”, and perhaps the most profound, and for James Hong, the more than veteran actor who, at 92 years old, plays, in one of the realities , Evelyn’s grumpy father.

The icing on the cake lies with Jamie Lee Curtis , who plays the US tax inspector, Deirdre, who is responsible for putting Evelyn against the wall, despite revealing herself to be melted butter throughout the film. A self-confessed fan of actress Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee did not hesitate to accept the role.

“My agents sent me the script and were trying to explain it to me, saying that my character wouldn’t be as prominent…” says Jamie. “But then I said, ‘Wait, is Michelle Yeoh going to be in the movie? I do””.

The actress said in an interview with producer A24 that she did not understand the script at first, but she understood who the characters Evelyn and Deirdre were. And that, for her, was enough.

repercussion

Acclaim was unanimous in the United States for the film in April. Critics and moviegoers considered “Everything, Everywhere at the Same Time” to be the best movie of 2022, despite having only spent 4 months of the year.

Two more months have passed and the opinion of those who watched the film remains the same.

Whether on specialized review sites, on “Letterboxd”, “Rotten Tomatoes” or “IMDB”, platforms where movie lovers get together and write their reviews, the score for “Everything in Everywhere” approaches 5. stars, a fame that is reflected in the box office.

After nine weeks in theaters in the United States, the film became the highest-grossing production company A24, surpassing the film “Hereditary” (2018) and reaching US$ 80 million in gross.

For Jamie Lee Curtis, the formula is simple.

“The combination of low budget, spectacular visual effects and depth is what I hope will surprise audiences. I want them to say, ‘Damn! The cinema is back. This is a capital ‘F’ movie,’” he declared.

Another feature that has also lasted for several weeks in American and Brazilian movie theaters is “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”.

When the Marvel movie debuted on the big screen in May 2022, Jamie published several posts on social media calling the film to the fray, saying that the posters of both films were strangely very similar and that “Everything, Everywhere, at the Same Tempo” was proof that independent cinema was alive and well.

In this same interview with producer A24, Jamie adds fuel to the fire.

“Our movie is a billion times better than the Marvel movies and it cost the same as those movies just to serve lunch on set,” he said.

One of the features cost approximately 25 million dollars, the other 200 million – you can already tell which is which.

At this point in the interview, Michelle lets out a nervous laugh, as she made her Marvel Universe debut a few years earlier in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021).

The actress did not mention Marvel, but praised the film and its message.

“Have we forgotten the first time we fell in love with that person, that we made concessions, that we allowed the other to be different and now we regret it? No, you love the person for who they are and not what you want them to be,” says Michelle.

So, if you go to the cinema looking for an action movie, just prepare your handkerchief, because you will find a film with very high level fights, very well choreographed, but also sensitivity, discussions about love and family base.

And how, at the end of the day, nothing really matters, only what it purports to be in reality that is among the billions out there.