I spent a lot of time thinking about this film and read/viewed a variety of interpretations and the creators’ comments to gain a more holistic understanding, from “everywhere”, in a way.
On a deeper level, it is an overwhelming film tackling a number of subjects (not just from the general “everything everywhere all at once” material that leads to the main theme of the story) that a single score or even a short review can do justice to. I agree with the consensus takeaway that, in this never ending universe (let alone multiverse) of endless possibilities, nothing truly matters on a meta level, we can accept that choose what matters to us on our own localized level/realm of reality. Many people relate to this because of the relatability to an existential and internalized debate that so many of us experience but had so few avenues or representations as large as a film such as this. Further, the superb acting of the main cast (in particular how this film was able to display so many of Michelle Yeoh’s talents and how the multiverse concept allows for the actors to act out a variety of “versions” that I can imagine was just as much as a delight to do as an actor as much as it was to watch as an audience member), the multiverse and bagel as a medium for these concepts to develop, the incredible pacing to handle the heavy emotions with proper but meaningful asides and comedic moments, among many other notable accomplishments, make this film deserving of so much of its praise.
I’m hopeful that this film with serve as an opportunity for more people to actively discuss these topics of nihilism and existentialism, but from the positive twist that this film provides. There is so much to enjoy in this world once we choose what to enjoy and what to put our efforts in. Things may not matter on the meta-cosmic scale, but we all have different interpretations of what matters in our individual, aforementioned “local realities” of our known existence, and thus our actions, such as that of Evelyn’s when she first embraces the “nothing matters” prove to be destructive to others as it affects what they care about. Thus we need to be cognizant of what everyone individually cares about, and I think there’s a beauty in taking that time to understanding one by one what those things are in the people around us and to learn everyone’s stories and their possibilities. Through this understanding of the stories and “realities” people around us have, we can learn, even within our own laundromat, just how expansive the universe is.
*To those wondering why I didn’t give this five stars, I go back to my earlier comment on how this film tackles many concepts beyond the primary ones of existentialism/nihilism, such as sexuality and its relationship to Eastern culture (such as on a language level, even), the generational gap, the internet age, depression, and the overwhelming amount of choices and the subsequent thought of the paradox of choice (slightly different from existentialism/nihilism), and feel like while they individually didn’t need to be explored more in order to keep the film at a manageable pace/length and to achieve their intended goals of getting people to think about these topics, I think it still was too much and that these topics that deserve more discussion did not “need” to be in this film/deserve more attention, maybe through a different medium. But I do understand that without this film mentioning these themes they would not have the same level of exposure to the masses that they need in the first place to have more of these discussions and access to be shown through such different mediums. Thus I’m conflicted but need to go with my gut that I was not blown away enough/convinced enough that this was 5 stars per my book. That being said I cannot comment or say what a 5 star film is. At that point it really becomes arbitrary and subjective, which a review is all about.
