Ryan Chen

Film and TV Editor

Ryan Chen is a Film and TV editor for Hyphen. His writing has appeared in the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and other outlets. He was born and raised in San Francisco and currently lives in New York. 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Rides a Space Horse and Tests the Limits of Imagination

Everything Everywhere All at Once has action, laughs and heart, but where's the balance between unfettered creativity and reckless abandon?

Front and center on the movie poster of director duo the Daniels’ (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) Everything Everywhere All at Once reads the idiom 天馬行空. This isn’t the Chinese version of the title — it’s a part of the film’s brand, its DNA. A literal translation of the idiom suggests something to the effect of a celestial steed, galloping across the skies, and most commonly, it’s used to describe something as beyond imagination, free and unbridled, (as space horses are, presumably).