"The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind. Especially when we don't know what's going on."
I've been hearing about this film for a long while and two months since it's initial US release the film has finally arrived at my local cinema here in the UK. After all the hype, one couldn't help but wonder if I'd actually love this as much as most people seem to have done. Fortunately, the general consensus is the correct one.
Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) has a lot on her plate what with her demanding father arriving from China, her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) trying to get her to accept her girlfriend, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) trying to give her divorce papers and her struggling laundromat being audited by the IRS.
The film balances it's high concept ideas really well, gradually feeding you what you need to know without throwing down too much exposition in one go. It's exploration of the multiverse is superb, taking things much further than the <i>Doctor Strange</i> sequel with some absurd ideas from a universe two rocks communicate to one where humans have evolved to have hot dogs for fingers. There's also several references to well-known films that are both bizarre and brilliant at the same time. I loved that you never knew what the film would do next, being unsure about where the story was going as well as what utterly batshit insane idea would pop up next.
The thing is, this could have been totally stupid, and though it is pretty out-there and often very silly, somehow it manages to pull everything together to be rather sweet. Even the hot-dog-finger universe manages to generate some emotion as the film goes on. There's an element of nihilism to the film and much of the story is about Evelyn working out how to move past that feeling. There's also a plot point in the film which really feels like a representation of depression and my takeaway was that this is a film which uses the concept of the multiverse to explore the question "what is the point of being alive?".
The cast are all great here with Jamie Lee-Curtis, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu all wonderful at playing various versions of the same character. The film is all about Michelle Yeoh though who gives the best performance of a distinguished career. We know Yeoh can really sell the martial arts side of things, and she does it once again here, but she is heart-breaking and hilarious and just wonderful in this film. It's not very often when I feel like I would like to know a film character in real life but I'd love to be part of Evelyn's community and attend events at her laundromat.
It feels impossible to really sum up how clever this film is. It feels like the sort of film where you would certainly get new things out of it on each subsequent re-watch. I am struggling to think of another film which manages to be this funny, this silly and batshit crazy and yet still be beautiful and meaningful at the same time. It's incredible and I can't wait to see what the Daniels will do next.
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