All of Us Strangers (2023)

All-of-Us-Strangers-(2023)
All of Us Strangers (2023)

All of Us Strangers

The surreal, nearly otherworldly feeling of Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” starts with the first shots. The sunset light pouring through the windows of the new apartment building is a piercing gold, almost liquid. Something’s strange about this light it seems alive, like it reaches out to touch this specific building. Then there’s the building itself. It’s almost entirely empty. There are only two residents. This building feels as though it’s floating in space where time either collapses or stretches out like an accordion. Things become possible forming an unlikely and fragile romantic connection; even stranger, speaking and meeting with the dead and so “All of Us Strangers” does them, making us uncomfortable from the moment we see that golden light hit those windows, like it has traveled across the universe to be here.

That said, Haigh’s previous movies show his fascination with relationships and intimacy (though not in such a fantastical way). “Weekend” traced a one night stand as it morphed into something deeper over a compressed period (hence its title), while “45 Years” depicted the shattering break-up of decades long marriage. Both were testaments to Haigh’s sensitivity to human behavior, as well as how skillfully he tends his actors; Charlotte Rampling was nominated for an Oscar for “45 Years,” and no wonder. The man loves actors! In fact: “All of Us Strangers” is a quartet showcasing four memorable performances by Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, Paul Mescal and especially Andrew Scott.

Adam (Scott) is seen first basking in that weird molten glow, as if being drawn toward it. He’s also supposed to be working on his latest screenplay but instead just puttering around and avoiding work altogether. One night Harry (Mescal), drunk and flirtatious and lovely looking in that way people can be when they’re already a little bit in love with you, knocks on Adam’s door. He wants to know if they can hook up. Nothing happens that night, but a thread is established.

Adam occasionally busses out to the house where he grew up in (his parents’ old place). They (Foy and Bell) died together in a car accident when he was 12. They are exactly the age they were when they died and so Adam shows up at the door, and his parents would like very much to know what he’s been doing with himself all these years. It’s a reunion, but the feeling is too much. This sense of “too much” floods the movie: Each interaction spills over into the next one and then another, scene between Adam and Harry followed by Adam and mum followed by Adam and dad followed by dad and mum, etc. There isn’t any filler; there isn’t any downtime; this is one heavy catharsis after another heavy catharsis after another heavy catharsis.

The touch of Haigh is light, though. He’s stripped away the extraneous and distracting. “All of Us Strangers,” loosely based on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel “Strangers,” is about a man coming out of hiding, confronting his past and present at once. Losing both your parents in a car crash when you’re 12 years old is, obviously, life-altering. He has lived his whole life without witnesses. The reunion isn’t without its hiccups. When he tells his mother he’s gay, she’s shocked it’s like she’s never even heard of such a thing. She fears it’ll be sad for him; that he’ll be lonely. Her views are outdated but here’s the flip side: Adam is sad (Adam is lonely). When he breaks the news to his dad, things go a bit differently. (Jamie Bell, always an interesting actor, is just heartbreaking here.)

And all the actors elevate this potentially maudlin stuff. What matters here isn’t just what they’re saying, but what lies beneath so all four performers pour pure feeling into their performances; the emotions give the supernatural “All of Us Strangers” a sense of reality; this feels like how it would go if you met your dead parents again you’d want them to know you; you have so much you didn’t get to say; you’d try to say it; there’d be no pussyfooting around; no small talk you’d have the courage to cut to the chase.

In real time does Harry and Adam’s relationship unfold with tenderness and care? And Adam is nearly celibate and uncomfortable with sexual touch but also yearning for it? Yes and yes oh boy will that generation gap rear its ugly head because Harry has no concept of associating sex with a possible death sentence so they talk things out too. (And these scenes are amazing, but also it really makes you feel the lack of frank adult romances in cinema.) If there’s no small talk between Adam and his parents, there’s also no small talk between Adam and Harry.

Some of “All of Us Strangers” might not work especially the ending, which felt convoluted and pre-determined and the whole premise may strike some as hokey or like an artificially generated family therapy session for people who aren’t even alive anymore; I can see how that could be the reaction. But here’s what I’ll say: When I have a strong response to a film, as a critic I interrogate it positive or negative. I look for my blind spots; I question resistance; I ask myself what the film is trying to do and whether or not it does it successfully (rather than wishing a whole other film had been made). “All of Us Strangers” gave me such a strong personal response that it obliterated my ability to interrogate it I couldn’t get any distance from it. It just hit so close to home: My father died when I was 6 years old, but what wouldn’t I give to talk to him again let him know I’m doing OK, tell him he doesn’t have to worry see his face one more time, hear his laugh. Through “All of Us Strangers,” though vicariously? Man did that emotion overwhelm me.

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