At the 95th Academy Awards ceremony held on Sunday evening, Malaysian Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win best actress in her role in the 2002 film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (EEAAO). Yeoh said in her acceptance speech, “To all the Asian boys and girls like me, keep dreaming; the dreams will come true.”
In January, Yeoh won best actress at the 80th Golden Globe Awards. She also won the best actress at the 94th National Board of Review Awards, becoming the first Asian actress in 45 years to receive the honor.
EEAAO, which went on to receive seven more awards at Sunday night’s ceremony, reveals a phenomenon that is often overlooked: The value of martial arts stunts, a selling point of predominately Asian-cast Hollywood films for more than 70 years, has greatly diminished. Although Yeoh’s martial art skills are impressive, and on-screen husband and co-star Ke Huy Quan showcased great skill with his fanny pack battle scene, the dazzling costumes and special effects seem to take center stage.
Fans are happy that Yeoh has risen from her roots as a martial arts star to a serious actress with unprecedented exposure. Her role also garnered a much warmer response than her recent guest appearances as a Kung fu master in some action films or her role as a wealthy, evil mother-in-law in the hit film “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Fan-like parallel universes
In EEAAO, Yeoh’s character Evelyn has the ability to jump between parallel universes. She is an opera singer in one universe, a chef in another, and in one universe she is just a bunch of ripe purple grapes. She must use this power to defeat a big boss in multiple universes to save herself and her family in a parallel world.
Stripping away the sci-fi complexity, this is actually a fairly simple story about family loyalty.
Before obtaining superpowers, Evelyn is a stressed mother and laundry shop owner. Her spiral downward began when she eloped, causing a rift with her father and the missed opportunity to realize her dreams. When we first meet Evelyn, her husband and daughter are both dissatisfied with her — one wants a divorce, and the other wants to break ties.
Parallel universes are a common theme in science fiction films. Usually, protagonists can rewrite past decisions, but the resulting outcomes are never satisfactory, so they go back again and again to try for a new result, leaving them trapped in an endless cycle like Sisyphus rolling his rock up the hill day after day.
Movies such as the “Butterfly Effect” and “Frequency” are examples of this, and they share similar settings but opposite endings. In these two works, the concept of parallel universes is developed through linear storytelling, where one possibility leads to another, linking together to form a complete story.
Today, however, perhaps because the concept is more frequently discussed in everyday conversations, parallel universes have been romanticized, and people like to associate them with the “what ifs” in life. How many times have you thought, “What if I had chosen a different path, maybe I would have had a better life?” When we question the choices in our life, this idea can help people escape the truth.
The award-winning film cleverly captures the concept’s evolution and does not attempt to gloss over it. It caters to people’s imaginations, showing how infinite choices occurring simultaneously would bring chaos.
Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert took a rather unique approach in this film — the parallel universes are presented like an unfolding fan, with each “universe” equivalent to one fold of the fan, all able to completely overlap when folded. Each time Evelyn crosses over into another universe, not only does her appearance and identity change dramatically, but she also acquires new skills and abilities that are unique to each version of herself, resulting in a cumulative increase in her strength and power.
The fan-like design intuitively illustrates the beauty of parallel universes in that all possibilities are happening at the same time. The complete timeline is reserved for Evelyn’s family drama, with the exaggerated versions of her family members appearing in the parallel worlds: Her weak husband becomes brave, her father becomes a cold-hearted villain, and her most quarrelsome daughter becomes the ultimate female boss of the universe. At this point, we realize that the parallel universes seem to be Evelyn’s dream, reflecting a mess of reality.
The trivialities of life have deprived Evelyn of hope. She must have asked herself “what if?” many times over. Many of us, like Evelyn, realize the bearing of irreversible fate – we cannot go back, nor can we see ahead, and limited time allows for only one choice.
A happy ending
While no one in the film dies, the sense of despair is starkly present and repeatedly reinforced.
While Evelyn’s husband and daughter are given the option to rewind and redo their decisions, she cannot, and she can no longer trust the family she has devoted herself to.
The movie resorts to the Eastern value of harmony to wrap things together at the end, reducing the complexity of the world to two simple and conflicting directions: confrontation or reconciliation. In one universe, Evelyn does not elope and becomes a movie star. The man who would have been her husband says thoughtfully, “I always see the good in things, not because I am naive, but because it is necessary and required. That is also my way of survival.”
The movie’s happy ending has been criticized. Some feel it was too sentimental and unconvincing. In fact, many parallel universe stories inevitably resort to family ties in the end because kinship itself is an unchosen truth in life. Family could limit many people’s paths and choices, but it also allows people to avoid the loneliness and desolation of the universe.
The movie reminds me of Jet Li’s film “The One.” Interestingly, the protagonist in both movies tirelessly travels through parallel universes. In “The One,” Jet Li must kill 124 versions of himself to become the strongest being in the universe. This was his shining moment in Hollywood, and martial arts remained a very appealing element, with thrilling action scenes almost filling the entire movie. The final fight between the two Jet Lis lasted almost 10 minutes. However, it now seems that “The One” only emphasized the value of bravery, with little to no emotional draw.
There is no definite information about when EEAAO will be released in China. There were constant rumors on domestic social media about the movie’s postponement when it was released, and finally the Huayi Brothers have secured the film’s distribution rights for the Chinese mainland. The enthusiastic anticipation of moviegoers was genuine. After all, it has been a long time since we have seen such a lively and strong Hollywood comedy film on the big screen, and its sweeping the Oscars shows the enthusiasm is universal.
Guan Cong is a senior writer at Caixin Media.
Contact editor Leila Hashemi (leilahashemi@caixin.com)
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