When we reviewed Everything Everywhere All At Once back in May this year, not only did we give it a well-deserved five stars, we asked: Is it the best film of the year?
A bold question to ponder so early on in the year but our question may be answered with a resounding ‘yes’ if this year’s Gotham Awards are anything to go by, with the film’s star Ke Huy Quan winning ‘Outstanding Supporting Performance’ and the film itself winning ‘Best Feature’.
Directed by filmmaking duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka the Daniels), Everything Everywhere All At Once follows unlikely hero Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) a Chinese-American woman who co-owns a struggling laundromat with her meek husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). And she’s not having a great time. Waymond is wanting a divorce, her demanding father’s (James Hong) health is failing, her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is frustrated by Evelyn’s own snippy disapproval, and a ruthless IRS worker named Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis) is auditing her for, among countless other dubious decisions, claiming a karaoke machine as a tax expense.
When an interdimensional rupture threatens to unravel reality, the fate of the world is suddenly in Evelyn’s hands and as bewildering dangers emerge from the multiverse, she must channel her newfound powers to save her home and her family.
“We’re feeling a little shock right now,” Dan Kwan said when asked what the award means to him. “When we premiered this new film in March, we thought we’d be lucky if people even went to the theatres go see it. This was right at the point in the pandemic as the theatres were opening up. So the fact that people are still discovering the film, still talking about the film, already feels like such a win.”
First set up over 30 years ago, the Gotham awards are presented annually to the makers of independent films.
“We have so much respect for the Gotham awards and any institution that tries to uplift independent films, independent voices,” Kwan continues. “Those are the films that changed our lives and those are the films that we really hold with high regard. So to be amongst them is incredible.”
It was clear in Ke Huy Quan’s emotional acceptance speech that the award means very much to him. After starring in a flurry of blockbuster films as a child (in roles in The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) Quan gave up acting for 20 years after roles dried up. “It was tough,” he told People back in April this year. “I was waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely did.”
After the success of films like Crazy Rich Asians, Quan decided to step back in front of the camera and we’re rather glad he did!
“It’s so incredible,” Quan said when asked about his award. “I can’t thank our family enough. I’m staring at Dan and Daniel and Jamie and I’m just so so so grateful to be here.”
“With Ke being given that award last night – as far as I’m concerned, it is as strong an example of perseverance, of belief in oneself and of understanding the realities of the industry,” Quan’s co-star Jamie Lee Curtis added. “At one point Ke stepped away from the industry because the industry rejected him. As an actor it didn’t offer him any work and so he created other work for himself.
“Then his making his way back into being a performer, seeing a movie like Crazy Rich Asians and then to be able to have this opportunity, this beautiful, multi layered, incredible role, written. Then he won that role through an audition process with the Daniels… Last night’s win is an example for every single person who’s ever dreamed and lost the dream and found it again, that anything is possible. That’s to me the beauty of Ke and his expansive heart and great talent.”
Addressing his emotional speech, Quan says that it’s pretty much been the theme since he started doing press for the movie… “Ever since our movie came out, I have not done one single interview where I don’t get choked up,” he says. “And my wife put up with it all these months and then finally, I think in the last month or so, she says Ke, I think you’ve cried way too much.
“Then when Emilia Jones, was announcing all the nominees [at the awards], I thought there was no way that I was going to win because sitting right at the next table was Gabrielle Union, which I loved in The Inspection, and all these wonderful actors. Then when she called out my name, I looked over to my wife, and she was crying! She was crying uncontrollably. And I started to cry. And then I went over to hug The Daniels and I hugged our producer Jonathan and our daughter Stephanie and they were crying.
“So even before I made it up to the podium, I was a mess!”
Everything Everywhere All At Once is out now on digital, 4k, Blu-ray and DVD.
