Historic win for multiculturalism on Oscars night with Everything Everywhere’s sweep

SINGAPORE – The oddball comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once made a sweep of the Oscars on Sunday night in Los Angeles (Monday morning, Singapore time), as expected.

With its seven Oscar wins, including for Best Picture and Best Director, the film has given the biggest boost to the profile of Asians and Asian-Americans in Hollywood to date.

Malaysian Michelle Yeoh, 60, is

the first Asian to win an Oscar in the Best Actress category.

Castmate Ke Huy Quan, 51, a Vietnamese-American of Chinese ancestry, is the second Asian to

win Best Supporting Actor award

.

The first was Cambodian-American Haing S. Ngor, who won in 1985 for his performance in war drama The Killing Fields.

Everything Everywhere, an idiosyncratic mash-up of riotous Stephen Chow-style comedy, the art-house drama of auteur Wong Kar-wai and the science-fiction concept of dimensional portals, entered the Oscar race with 11 nominations, the most of any film.

It is about a Chinese immigrant laundry owner, Evelyn (played by Yeoh), who speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

A factor said to be behind Everything Everywhere’s success is the feel-good element – a vote for the film, or for Quan, Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis, says something about the way the voters view themselves and their industry.

It was apparent to them that Yeoh and Curtis are veterans who have stayed in the game for more than 40 years, taking any role they could, while Quan is

a great comeback story.

It was a theme Yeoh emphasised in her acceptance speech.

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof... that dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up,” she said.

That desire to reward people not just for individual performances but also for their backgrounds is a factor behind

Brendan Fraser’s Best Actor win

for his role as Charlie, a teacher seeking reconciliation with his daughter in The Whale.

Fraser, like Quan, was an actor whose shine had faded, until a hero film-maker saved him from exile.

Helping to give the film an Oscars boost was the halo effect.

Everything Everywhere’s winning streak began immediately after its debut at the South By Southwest festival in March 2022.

By the time of the Golden Globes in January, it had become an awards juggernaut, with wins that include

two Golden Globes

(Yeoh’s Best Actress and Quan’s Best Supporting Actor) and a brace of critics’ prizes.

Voter diversity was also certainly a factor in helping this eccentric movie win big.

After the mid-2010s #OscarsSoWhite campaign slammed the event because its voters were mostly white men with an average age of 63, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began diversifying its base. Today, about a third of its 10,000 voters are women, and 19 per cent come from ethnic minorities.

Oscar voters are known to like outsider movies.

In 2017, for example, it gave the Best Picture award to Moonlight (2016), an independent drama about a gay black man, and in 2019, to the South Korean black comedy Parasite (2018). But

Everything Everywhere’s taking of the top awards,

including for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, marks a historic shift towards multiculturalism.

Yeoh seems to be aware of this, as her speech made sure to name-check her roots.

“I have to dedicate this to my mum. She’s watching right now in Malaysia, KL, with my family and friends. I love you guys, I’m bringing this home to you. And also to my extended family in Hong Kong, where I started my career. Thank you for letting me stand on your shoulders, giving me a leg up so that I can be here today.”

Selected list of winners

Best Picture

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Director

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Actor

Brendan Fraser – The Whale

Best Actress

Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actor

Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Supporting Actress

Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Animated Feature Film

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best Cinematography

All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Make-up And Hairstyling

The Whale

Best Costume Design

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best International Feature Film

All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Original Score

All Quiet On The Western Front

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: The Way Of Water

Best Original Screenplay

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Adapted Screenplay

Women Talking