Everything’s in place for an Oscars hit
A surrealist tale of a Chinese-American laundrette owner is in pole position for best picture. Here’s how to create your own smash movie.
It is the relentlessly paced film that never stopped – the outsider Hollywood hit that became an awards juggernaut by digging in for the long haul. In the past week, Everything Everywhere all at Once, a blend of comedy, martial arts and surrealism, has emerged as a clear favourite to win best picture at the Oscars on Sunday. But its journey began when it went on limited cinema release in the US in March last year.
Twelve months is an age in the Oscar race. Films that win the biggest prize almost always come out in autumn, so that an industry famous for short attention spans does not have time to forget them. Yet that was not the only counterintuitive trick up the filmmakers’ sleeves. Here is the Everything Everywhere all at Once guide to winning everything, everywhere, all at once.
Be weird …
Everything tells of a Chinese-American immigrant, Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who runs a laundrette facing a tricky tax audit. Her elderly father, Gong Gong (James Hong), is over from China, while her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), wants a divorce, and daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is not only dating a woman but, even worse, a non-Chinese woman. The last thing Evelyn needs is to discover that she has to connect with a parallel universe to prevent the destruction of the multiverse – yet that is what happens.
The film, which talks about something called the “everything bagel”, can feel like being stuck in a club listening to 17 friends coming down from ecstasy. It is not for everyone. But it is a fillip to those who deride most multiplex offerings as a childish parade of endless superheroes. Everything is significantly more inventive than, say, Avatar: The Way of Water, a sci-fi film ceaselessly talked up as being innovative that most likely will walk away with nothing interesting from the Oscars.
But have a heart
Despite its whiz-bangs, the secret to Everything’s success lies in its emotional punch. “While the hectic action sequences and flights of science-fiction mumbo-jumbo are a big part of the fun, they aren’t really the point … (The movie is) a hurt-filled ballad of mother-daughter love,” AO Scott wrote in The New York Times, and it is word of mouth that has lifted the film to unexpected places.
It has spawned its own multiverse of zealous fans. Behind the pizzazz, the directors touch on depression, identity and that question of why we are on this planet. Despite using the multiverse trick exhausted in recent Marvel films, Everything pushes the philosophy further. It has a lot to unpack, which young fans have lapped up, and flies in the face of the idea they don’t have the attention span.
Ditch Cannes
The film took its first bow at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas – a bourbon, barbecue ribs and indie gathering far from the black-tie glitz of Cannes, Venice and Toronto, the usual launch pads for films that backers think will win awards. After the SXSW premiere, one expert predicted that Everything might, at most, be in the mix for sound and editing next time around. It was a reasonable prediction. You have to travel to 1992 and Silence of the Lambs to find the last best picture winner released so far ahead of the ceremony. Further back, The Godfather and The Sound of Music both came out in March (in 1972 and 1965 respectively) and went on to win best picture at ceremonies more than a year later – helped by huge commercial success.
Be backed by A24
The independent American production company A24 is little more than a decade old but has scored 49 Oscar nominations. Set up in 2012 by the movie business stalwarts Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges, A24 has set about dominating its sector of the industry with a terrifying precision and expertise. For this year’s Oscars, it has 18 nominations – the most of any studio – with Everything leading the way with 11. The company won best picture with Moonlight in 2017. With $US107m ($162m) in box office takings, Everything is A24’s highest-grossing film yet.
Avoid big names
Everything has won gongs at events run by producers and directors, not to mention the populist Golden Globes. Then, last weekend, the film obliterated records at the Screen Actors Guild awards by winning four of its five nominations. That could well give it the momentum it needs for the Oscars, where the film is up for more prizes than any rival – despite being made by unknowns.
If the film, directed by the previously obscure duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – aka the Daniels – takes best picture, it will do so at the expense of big hitters such as Steven Spielberg emoting about his mother (The Fabelmans), Tom Cruise saving cinema (Top Gun: Maverick), and Baz Luhrmann reviving an American icon (Elvis).
Embrace diversity
Everything’s critical and commercial success points to a change in Hollywood – an industry that is slowly realising that movies are also watched (and made) by people who are not white. This has been shown by the box-office success of the Black Panther films and Crazy Rich Asians, and by the recent best picture wins for Moonlight and the South Korean film Parasite – the first winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ top prize that was not in the English language.
Yeoh is the first woman of east Asian descent to get a nod for best actress, while Quan – best known for playing the scampish Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – gave up acting in 2002 because he lacked opportunities. He has now spent weeks posing for photos with the same Hollywood power players who made him unemployable for 20 years.
Be a breath of fresh air
A win for Everything would go a long way towards resurrecting the flagging reputation of the Academy. It has had to escape the shadow of Harvey Weinstein, who pioneered the modern Oscar campaign with a combination of aggressive charm and flat-out bullying in the course of acquiring more than 300 nominations for his films. There has also been a slide in viewing figures, plus the #OscarsSoWhite scandal. While A24, too, plays the Oscar-chasing game, Everything Everywhere all at Once is a relatively organic success story. It is not leading because people feel cajoled into backing it or happened to see it recently. Voters just think it is good.
The Times
