In Eisenstein’s essay, “A Dialectic Approach to Film Form,” he argues that cinema is “conflict,” as meaning comes through the “collision” of shots in the form of a montage. In “The Myth of Total Cinema” by Andre Bazin, he argues that cinema is myth, as humanity continuously tries to imitate life in a perfect form. In each of their theories, they strive to define what cinema is, in its true essence. In the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, both of these theories are utilized to create both a conflicting yet emotionally grounding experience.
Eisenstein and Bazin’s position come across as almost complete opposites. Eisenstein believed that when two shots collided, they produced a new idea for the viewer to generate. This is seen everywhere in Everything Everywhere All at Once, as the rapid multiverse jumping creates a montage where images smash together to create another meaning. Evelyn is shown as a laundromat worker, then an opera singer, then a hibachi chef, and these rapid succession of images creates new ideas in the viewer for Evelyn’s identity and possibility. The chaotic editing creates conflict in between each shot, and through these conflicting shots a meaning is constructed. Much of this movie is conveyed through overstimulating and even absurd montages, but this only enhances the experience for the viewer.
Meanwhile, Bazin believed that the shots are received by the viewer as a window to reality. Interestingly, the quiet, intimate scenes in between the chaos feels the most real. The scenes between Joy and Evelyn in their home universe as they fight and reconcile over real, human things hits the hardest to the viewer, as they are an almost perfect recreation of reality. Much of this movie’s praise comes from its relatability as the audience could see their own reality reflected clearly through the screen.
Additionally, Bazin’s ideas that cinema is driven by a myth– human’s desire to recreate reality in its entirety– also shines through in this movie. Everything Everywhere All at Once attempts to literally recreate all of reality, in its countless multiverses, lives, and emotions all in one film. This is done through the use of technology (in its sound, color, CGI), as with each tool cinema progresses towards the myth of realism. It embodies the myth that cinema can capture everything, even every possible version of it.
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