Orice, oriunde, oricând, by its original and already mega-known name Everything Everywhere All at Once, is probably the most daring and inventive film since Being John Malkovich (1999). That's 23 years of who knows who having seen the most original and innovative in terms of storytelling. It's no surprise: the two Daniels behind it, Scheinert and Kwan, took the film world by storm before, in 2016, when the quirky Swiss Army Men premiered at Sundance, but Everything is on a whole other level. It's probably the closest feature-length version of the cookie-cutter music video for Turn Down for What, which they directed in 2014.
Brimming with infectious energy, it tells the story of Chinese immigrant Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh, as awesome as ever, in a role originally written for Jackie Chan), a laundry owner who doesn't get along with either her conciliatory husband (Ke Huy Quan, returning to the big screen nearly 40 years after the second Indiana Jones) or her teenage daughter (Stephanie Hsu, a revelation), who would do well to hide her girlfriend from her visiting grandfather. He has a chaotic life, but he's most terrified of the IRS worker (Jamie Lee Curtis) who handles their taxes and knows they cheated to pay less. From here it's just one step to a mind-bending adventure that has her exploring parallel realities, where the bodies of the people in her life are controlled by more and more bizarre universes (in one of them people have wieners for fingers, with ketchup-smeared fingernails).
A bonkers cocktail of head-spinning Sci-Fi, kung fu scenes à la Bruce Lee and weirdness galore, Everything anchors its wacky premise with a stellar cast and ingenious direction that puts many recent blockbusters in a corner. Perhaps stepping down from the helm of the Marvel series Loki to bring their own vision to the screen was the best choice the Daniels ever made. The numbers, at least, seem to say the same thing: the film became the most successful title in the portfolio of beloved American indie distributor A24.
The screening of Everything Everywhere All at Once takes place today, 19 June at 21:45 at Bánffy Castle Bonțida.
Articol written by Laurențiu Paraschiv