'Everything Everywhere...' sweeps Independent Spirit Awards: Decoding success of film
What's the story
The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All At Once is on a record-breaking awards spree, and there is no stopping it! At the 38th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, it took home a whopping seven awards out of eight nominations—the highest for a single film. With the Oscars just around the corner, let's look at all the factors that made this film so successful.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Touted as a crazy, kinetic multiverse of madness, Everything Everywhere... has certainly maintained its winning streak ahead of the Oscars. From Golden Globe Awards in January to Screen Actors Guild Awards, which took place in February, the film has collected numerous awards in almost every award ceremony. At the latest Independent Spirit Awards, it won Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Editing, among others.
Twitter Post
Check out this Twitter post
And the #BestFeature Award goes to 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' @allatoncemovie! 2023 #SpiritAwards. Congrats to #Producers: Daniel Kwan, Mike Larocca, AnthonRusso, Joe Russo, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang! pic.twitter.com/MfBPa3zAg9
— Film Independent (@filmindependent) March 5, 2023
Box office collections
'Everything Everywhere's box office collections surpassed last year's Oscar-nominated films
Let's start from the beginning! With a limited theatrical release in the US in March 2022, the film performed well, followed by a wider April release. It collected over $107M, which surpassed the earnings of all of 2022's Oscar-season releases, barring Dune. Film analysts gathered the movie blew past films directed by acclaimed filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, and Steven Spielberg.
Narrative
Simple narrative, bizarre ideas, thrillingly staged action-sequences
The sci-fi dramedy encircled the life of Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), whose life is crumbling down. She is stuck in a dead-end job, and her strained marriage is leading to divorce, while she is finding it difficult to acknowledge her daughter Joy's feelings for a girl. Soon, she taps into a parallel version of herself, and the family drama turns into a multiverse-spanning action film.
Relatability
Relatable layers of film contributed to unprecedented success
Apart from serving out-and-out action drama, the film worked on multiple layers and touched upon the sensitive relationship of a mother and daughter. It explored several themes like existential crises, pressures of not living up to parental expectations, good over evil, a reminder to be kind to others, and how life would have turned out to be if you had made different life choices.
History
Director duo took massive swing with 'Everything Everywhere...'
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's non-stop quirky humor in the film makes it impossible to set your mind on anything else. Previously, the director duo made the 2016 movie Swiss Army Man featuring Daniel Radcliffe and took a massive swing with Everything Everywhere... Not only did it become the highest-grossing film by A24, but it is likely going to bring home the prestigious Oscar.