OPINION: The film has notched a string of wins with the Producers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild, making it the front-runner for the Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” will win the Oscar for Best Picture on Sunday night. You heard it here first. This isn’t actually a bold prediction — we can see quite clearly where Oscar voters are leaning. The Academy, by which I mean Oscar voters, is comprised of people who work in the movies. One of the biggest groups of Academy voters is actors. At the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won for Outstanding Cast, Female Actor, Male Actor and Supporting Actor. So the actors loved this film.
Another large group of Oscar voters is the producers. At the Producers Guild Awards, “Everything Everywhere” got the top award. The Directors Guild and the Writers Guild also gave their top awards to “Everything Everywhere.” That’s four major groups of Oscar voters signaling that they’re in love with the same film. There have only been four other times when a film won all four of those Oscar precursors — “American Beauty,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Argo” — and all four of them went on to win Best Picture.
It feels like we’re ramping up to a night of dominance where “Everything Everywhere” wins a lot, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Michelle Yeoh, who would be the first Asian woman to win that honor. We’re in an age when breaking those sorts of barriers feels more like an embarrassment to the institution — like, you’ve never seen an Asian woman be great enough to win best actress ever? Then you’re not looking hard enough. But it will be exciting to watch this living legend breakthrough.
The widespread love for “Everything Everywhere” is great because finally, the Best Picture trophy will go to a film you can watch again and again. There are a lot of Best Picture winners that many people have seen and would rather not see again. But “Everything Everywhere” is immensely rewatchable. It’s a film about love, family and the meaning of life. It’s a film of great nuance and intelligence and wit.
“Everything Everywhere” integrates the concept of the multiverse into its story in a far more seamless and interesting way than Marvel did in “Doctor Strange” or “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumanium.” It’s a film about mothers and daughters. It’s a film about feeling lost in the world. It’s a film about a group of complex people who are Asian-American. It’s a film that would pass the Bechdel test. It’s a film about, well, the basic story is pretty simple: It’s just an immigrant couple from China who runs a laundromat, and they’re on the brink of divorce, and, potentially, financial ruin. But they have also, somehow, just made contact with doppelgangers from one of the millions of simultaneously existing universes because their incredibly powerful daughter is a leader in other universes … I think. I had to watch it twice to understand.
I just know that watching the mother-daughter relationship unfurl throughout the film almost moved me to tears. And the dad, who was struggling to be heard and seen (who was also powerful in another universe) was heart-wrenching. All that science-fiction stuff was wrapped around the story of a family. It’s a brilliant movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and uses sci-fi to create fun juxtapositions. It’s a joy that works your mind as you take in the infinite possibilities of their multiverse concept and your heart as you watch this family work through their ups and downs. It’s a film that’s unforgettable.
Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is also the author of seven books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter. Look out for his upcoming podcast Being Black In the 80s.
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