All of Us Strangers (B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
Writer/director Andrew Haigh's moody, beautiful ghost story & gay romance, 'All of Us Strangers' (based on a Japanese novel), haunts in ways that I did not see coming. It casts a spell that put me in a sort of cinematic hypnosis, then shook me back to reality in the revelatory final scene. The story starts quietly as our protagonist Adam (a superb Andrew Scott), a gay, 40-something, British screenwriter mightily struggling to put together a script based on his immense feelings of loss over the death of his parents, who were killed in a car crash coming home from a Christmas party when Adam was 12 in 1987. A deep sense of loneliness has seeped into Adam ever since. You can see it in his longing gaze & feel it in his cold London high rise apartment.
Harry (newly minted Oscar nominee from 2022, Paul Mescal), a flirtatious new tenant who has a bizarre initial encounter with Adam, tries - with a degree of boozy desperation - to bring Adam out of his isolation. But the wrench of memory keeps Adam bound to his past. The situation escalates when Adam boards a train for the suburbs to visit his old home. To his astonishment, his parents - wonderfully played by Jamie Bell & Claire Foy - are there, looking as alive & youthful as they were in 1987. Are they ghosts? Is this a dream of Adam's? Is it a concoction in his head for the screenplay he's writing? What's going on, here?
Until his visit to his childhood home, Adam & his loving parents had avoided any discussion of his sexuality. His father is not surprised {"you never could throw a ball"}. That said, father & son share a lovely, if heart wrenching moment when the father - while choking back tears - apologizes to his equally tearful adult son about not coming into 12 yr. old Adam's bedroom when he had heard him crying after having been bullied at school {grab some Kleenex, folks - for I was choking back tears in this scene, as well}.
As for Adam's mom, well she is completely thrown for a loop by his confession. Initially disappointed, her feelings turn to worry {"they say it's a very lonely kind of life"}. Adam tells his loving, but conflicted mom that times have changed since the 80s {AIDS is no longer a death sentence, homosexuals can marry}. But it is clear how some misplaced guilt about Adam's sexuality still tortures him in 2023. The raw emotion exposed in these scenes btwn. Adam & his parents is just staggering. Later on in the story, and as Adam & Henry's relationship deepens, matters intensify further when Adam asks Henry to accompany him on his next visit home 'to see his parents', but conciliation btwn. the living & the dead is not assured, at all.
As Adam, Andrew Scott is magnificent. Scott is best known for his roles in Holmes, Fleabag and, he really gets to show his talent, here. I don't quite know how to explain my feelings of his performance other than that it is expertly rendered and made my heart ache as much as his. There is such tenderness underlying each moment of emotional pain; particularly with him finally getting a chance to come out to his parents to get the acceptance he never had as a child. Furthermore, his chemistry with Paul Mescal {both sexual, and more of a bonding nature} is incredible, as well.
Mescals' Harry is probably a good 15-20 yrs. younger than Adam and, they don't have much in common other than their shared loneliness, but they are both able to impart such deep reserves of feeling. Henry's devil-may-care charm masks an inner turmoil that little by little reveals itself. They're just so damned good. Also excellent is Jamie Bell & Claire Foy, who show us the kind of parents that we all wish we had when we were 12; but who also are flawed human beings {aren't we all?} who struggle to be the 'ideal'. All of these actors moved me greatly with the honesty of their portrayals.
There is discussion to be had about what exactly occurs in the film's final 5-10 minutes and what it all means after the screen goes to black. Something ... happens. And that 'something' affects one of our leads to such an extent that when the screen DOES go to black, a varied assortment of theories arise as to what just happened and what it could potentially mean for the future of the characters. I'll say this: it's an enormous downer if you take most of these theories at face value. 'All of Us Strangers' will be most relatable to those viewers who struggle with things that remained or still remain unsaid btwn. children & their parents. Andrew Haigh has given us a piercing, yet delicate supernatural romantic drama that will have you scratching your head while the credit are rolling, but will ALSO have you lovingly, longingly recalling the weighty moments of this beautiful, if challenging movie.
Harry (newly minted Oscar nominee from 2022, Paul Mescal), a flirtatious new tenant who has a bizarre initial encounter with Adam, tries - with a degree of boozy desperation - to bring Adam out of his isolation. But the wrench of memory keeps Adam bound to his past. The situation escalates when Adam boards a train for the suburbs to visit his old home. To his astonishment, his parents - wonderfully played by Jamie Bell & Claire Foy - are there, looking as alive & youthful as they were in 1987. Are they ghosts? Is this a dream of Adam's? Is it a concoction in his head for the screenplay he's writing? What's going on, here?
Until his visit to his childhood home, Adam & his loving parents had avoided any discussion of his sexuality. His father is not surprised {"you never could throw a ball"}. That said, father & son share a lovely, if heart wrenching moment when the father - while choking back tears - apologizes to his equally tearful adult son about not coming into 12 yr. old Adam's bedroom when he had heard him crying after having been bullied at school {grab some Kleenex, folks - for I was choking back tears in this scene, as well}.
As for Adam's mom, well she is completely thrown for a loop by his confession. Initially disappointed, her feelings turn to worry {"they say it's a very lonely kind of life"}. Adam tells his loving, but conflicted mom that times have changed since the 80s {AIDS is no longer a death sentence, homosexuals can marry}. But it is clear how some misplaced guilt about Adam's sexuality still tortures him in 2023. The raw emotion exposed in these scenes btwn. Adam & his parents is just staggering. Later on in the story, and as Adam & Henry's relationship deepens, matters intensify further when Adam asks Henry to accompany him on his next visit home 'to see his parents', but conciliation btwn. the living & the dead is not assured, at all.
As Adam, Andrew Scott is magnificent. Scott is best known for his roles in Holmes, Fleabag and, he really gets to show his talent, here. I don't quite know how to explain my feelings of his performance other than that it is expertly rendered and made my heart ache as much as his. There is such tenderness underlying each moment of emotional pain; particularly with him finally getting a chance to come out to his parents to get the acceptance he never had as a child. Furthermore, his chemistry with Paul Mescal {both sexual, and more of a bonding nature} is incredible, as well.
Mescals' Harry is probably a good 15-20 yrs. younger than Adam and, they don't have much in common other than their shared loneliness, but they are both able to impart such deep reserves of feeling. Henry's devil-may-care charm masks an inner turmoil that little by little reveals itself. They're just so damned good. Also excellent is Jamie Bell & Claire Foy, who show us the kind of parents that we all wish we had when we were 12; but who also are flawed human beings {aren't we all?} who struggle to be the 'ideal'. All of these actors moved me greatly with the honesty of their portrayals.
There is discussion to be had about what exactly occurs in the film's final 5-10 minutes and what it all means after the screen goes to black. Something ... happens. And that 'something' affects one of our leads to such an extent that when the screen DOES go to black, a varied assortment of theories arise as to what just happened and what it could potentially mean for the future of the characters. I'll say this: it's an enormous downer if you take most of these theories at face value. 'All of Us Strangers' will be most relatable to those viewers who struggle with things that remained or still remain unsaid btwn. children & their parents. Andrew Haigh has given us a piercing, yet delicate supernatural romantic drama that will have you scratching your head while the credit are rolling, but will ALSO have you lovingly, longingly recalling the weighty moments of this beautiful, if challenging movie.