ALL OF US STRANGERS – Review

Though January is notorious as a movie “dumping ground” with several forgettable big studio releases (often a mediocre horror flick), it’s also when many of the “indie” studios give a wide release to some of their “award hopefuls”, after getting a quickie end-of-the-year Oscar-qualifying “run’ on both of the coasts. And that’s surely the case with this thought-provoking and conversation-starting motion picture. ALL OF US STRANGERS (the title is appropriately vague) takes us into a dreamy “netherworld’ for 105 minutes, before sending us back into the jolting harsh reality. The focus of the film is an aspiring writer named Adam (Andrew Scott) who is nearly numb from the routine of “cocooning” in his comfy condo (or it may be an apartment) in a brand-new high-rise on the outskirts of London. Ah, but he’s been noticed by a neighbor, a friendly fellow named Harry (Paul Mescal) who knocks on Adam’s door, wondering if he’d like to share a cocktail. Adam realizes that Harry wants more than just a “drinking buddy” and rebuffs him. The next day Adam boards a train and his gaze zeros in on a rugged man with a mustache around his age. The men hop off the train, and Adam follows him to a familiar house. “Mr. ‘Stashe” invites him inside and then we learn that the place belongs to Adam’s Dad (Jamie Bell) and Mum (Claire Foy). Again, they’re all the same age. We learn later, when Adam finally gets together with Harry, that his folks were killed in a car crash over thirty years ago. Soon Adams makes a near-daily pilgrimage to visit the “ghosts”. Just how will this affect the budding intimacy between him and the charismatic Harry? Perhaps he can rescue Adam from the comfortable though unhealthy fantasy. Or will he join in?

After several high-profile supporting film roles (“C” in SPECTRE) and acclaimed TV work in “Fleabag” and “Sherlock”, Scott is given the chance to command the screen as the troubled Adam. The lonely (probably “self-imposed”) screenwriter has a real dual persona in the first act of the story. In meeting Harry, he is reticent, shy, and a bit aloof as it becomes clear that the tipsy guy at the door is trying to “chat him up”. And then there’s the inner child inside Adam when we realize that he’s been given a “second chance” with his “folks”. Scott shows us that conflict in his pleading eyes and hesitant delivery, barely able to contain his joy at this “reunion” while his intellect tells him that this isn’t right, that he may be drifting and perhaps drowning in “wish fulfillment”. Somehow this unlocks his inhibitions and leaves him open for a new relationship. As the man trying to get into Adam’s home and heart, Mescal adds another solid characterization to his growing recent resume. Sure, he’s fronting a hunky, smoldering bravado, but that evolves into a deep concern for his budding romantic partner, with Mescal trying to be Scott’s steady “tether” to reality. Bell is quite commanding as Adam’s gruff, but surprisingly understanding father, proud but not unyielding, and even regretting that he didn’t stand up for his boy when the bullies pounced on him. The true “scene-stealer” might be Foy as the loving, nurturing matriarch whose endearing ignorance of her son’s life is tempered by her deep devotion to him, with Foy perfectly capturing the confusion of this still-learning woman of the 1990s.

This modern-day mix of love and regret is deftly spun by director Andrew Haigh, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s novel “Strangers”. Even before Adam returns to his childhood home, Haigh puts us into a kind of “dreamscape” with his images of the desolate tower (almost a fairy tale castle) where Adam lives above the teaming urban populace. Is it an afterlife, or a “waiting room” limbo, since the building seems nearly vacant? But then Adam ventures outside to drop into a “time vortex” by crossing the doorway of his old shuttered house, with his folks alive and still exiting in that era, down to the hairstyles, fashions, and furniture (a nifty record player). Later in the film, we see them attending to their holiday rituals (like the Dickens yuletime tale, the ghosts aid the living), which sends Adam to his last day with them. But then Haigh propels us back to the present with Adam and Harry “letting loose” in a club full of flashing lights, throbbing beats, and ample flesh. It all culminates with Adam being pushed by the past parents and new love to forge ahead instead of being sucked into the pit of “what ifs”. By the final moments, we are left to ponder what is real and what is coming out of Adam’s bruised battered psyche. But what is certain is the excellent performances led by Scott and the superb storytelling that Haigh displays in the wistful and passionate fable, ALL OF US STRANGERS.

3 Out of 4

ALL OF US STRANGERS is now playing in select theatres