Never has a title done more to both intrigue and repel me...at once. I feared that the movie would be either overdone or oversold. Maybe some of each. But it's popular enough that I predicted its Best Picture win, so I opted to see it in a theater.
Somewhere in the modern U.S., Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is already overwhelmed at the start of the picture. She's planning a big Chinese New Year party; the family laundromat business is struggling; a droll IRS auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis) is giving them an ultimatum; husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) can't get her attention long enough to serve divorce papers; her elderly father (James Hong), who doesn't speak English, is a handful; and she doesn't want to break it to him that her young adult daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), is dating a White woman (Tallie Medel). But in private, Waymond suddenly shifts to a different personality, as signaled by removing his glasses, and tells her she'll have to shelve all these concerns. This personality eventually reveals that he is an alternate Waymond from "the Alphaverse," where people have developed technology to "verse-jump," taking over their alternate universe counterparts' bodies temporarily without said counterparts' knowledge or consent. They can also borrow counterparts' memories in order to use their skills in another universe. The problem is that an alternate Joy, by verse-jumping pretty much to the point of experiencing the title, has become nihilistic and powerful enough to threaten every universe. (No wonder she changed her name.) Based on comparison with other Evelyn Wangs, Alpha-Waymond believes that this ironically underachieving Evelyn is the best hope for stopping her.
Since there are only four I haven't seen, I think it's fair to say that this is easily the most bizarre Academy Best Picture, with The Shape of Water a distant second. This is not to say that I couldn't follow it, or even that I was left wondering why the filmmakers made certain choices. It makes an internal kind of sense, despite not fully explaining its premises. Familiarity with multiverse stories helps. Some of the universes we see merely stem from Evelyn having made or not made a life-changing decision; others diverged millions of years ago and look like a fever dream. The other especially weird element is that in order to channel alternate memories, first you have to do something random and out of character for yourself.
If there's a three-act structure, it can be discerned from Evelyn's behavior. At first she finds Alpha-Waymond as absurd as we would and takes a while to agree that paying taxes should not be her highest priority. Then she's convinced but making a lot of amateur verse-jumper mistakes along the way. Then she has the confidence to face the final boss without fear, making her own rules. Be warned that each act involves more rapid verse-jumping than the previous.
The movie I'm most reminded of is The Matrix. A seemingly ordinary protagonist is approached as a suspected savior and given mind-blowing existential revelations. She learns impossible kung fu almost instantly with mechanical assistance. She and her allies fight basically good people who could turn into villainous agents at any moment. She even comes to stop bullets in midair. Throw in multiple roles per actor and an LGBT theme, and I can only assume the Wachowskis wish they'd made this.
Fortunately, EEAaO avoids a number of TM pitfalls. It's not half as depraved; Evelyn doesn't kill anyone, and her solution is mostly morally agreeable. There isn't nearly as much wooden acting, as you may have guessed from the Oscar results, probably because no one should cut corners on an ambitious project like this, apart from a few comedy-enhancing lower-budget effects. And on that note, it's not so self-serious. I'm glad the live audience assured me I wasn't the only one finding it funny.
Of course, when dealing with "everything," you can't expect it to be always tasteful. I could do without the dildo combat gags, tho at least we get a blur effect at a key moment. (Are movies engaging in more self-censorship lately?) Apart from that, the R rating appears to relate less to violence and innuendo than to scattered profanity.
I later heard that a couple friends whose cinematic taste my parents trust almost walked out. That said, they did walk out of Wakanda Forever, which I didn't mind much. For my part, I found EEAaO nothing if not interesting for its 139 minutes. I might even agree with its top award, if only because All Quiet on the Western Front lacks variety, diversity, and modern iconic quality.
See it when you want something different. Just make sure you're not half-asleep when you begin.
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