Reflection. I first watched EEAAO on my 30th birthday last year. 16th May. 165. Also the number of awards EEAAO has picked up over this film season.
I’ve since watched EEAAO 5 times. The last time with my family back in Malaysia. My dad fell asleep and my mum looked confused for most of it. But my siblings somewhat enjoyed it.
I tear up every single time. There are obvious why’s… a coming out story, the mother-daughter relationship, a household banter most realistic to my own (finally), the immense pride to witness my childhood idol from home shine in the multitude of her talents. But mostly because of how oddly comfortable I felt amidst the chaos and absurdism of it all. The film felt like the grandest gesture of empathetic witnessing. I’ve never felt so understood as a queer person treading multicultural, multiethnic, multidisciplinary experiences.
This is the reality of my everyday.
I spent years so preoccupied on the where. Where I belong. Where I supposedly head towards. Where is the niche everyone is asking me to develop. And the film reminded me that everywhere is an option too, and that I don’t have to succumb to the pressure to be pigeonholed by my identity, including my talent and interests.
The awards were less a symbol of winning, but a recognition that in-betweenness and non-linearity can equally be seen as excellent. And that the standard need not necessarily default to looking to the west. Or the east. That both and between is valid too.
Thank you for one heck of a Googly eye in the form of this film. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Thank you for deeply seeing and representing those in between.