Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in ALL OF US STRANGERS. Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
HOLLYWOOD, CA (LA ELEMENTS) 11/7/2023 – Longing is the force that powers All of Us Strangers, the new film by Andrew Haigh. The longing for connection and the longing for the healing that only second chances can bring.
Loosely based on the book “Strangers,” by Taichi Yamada, All of Us Strangers opens with Adam (Andrew Scott) gazing out the window of his apartment with an expression of emptiness. Adam is a screenwriter, and the chaos of his home with half-eaten food scattered about, is a window into the chaos of his mind. Caught in the vise of writer’s block, we see him struggle with a script that is based on his childhood.
Inspiration comes in the form of Harry, (Paul Mescal). Eerily enough, the two are the sole tenants in the London high-rise. Adam has made peace with his solitude. Harry has not. He is not close to his family and doesn’t seem to have any close friends either. It’s no wonder that when he introduces himself to Adam, it is with the nervous enthusiasm of someone who has put everything on the line for just that moment. Fortunately, Mescal brings a touching vulnerability to his role, illuminating Harry’s desperate desire to connect and be loved by Adam. And we feel it.
Adam initially rebuffs Harry’s offer of a drink, but now, Harry has made his presence known. The next time they meet, the physical attraction is obvious. But just as obvious is the desire to discover each other on a deeper level. So when Adam invites Harry into his home, Harry is drawn to the photos of Adam’s mother and father who died when he was only 12. It’s so revealing of Harry’s personal conflict that his immediate response is to note how lonely Adam must have felt. Not how sad or devastated but how lonely.
Harry has stirred up something deep in Adam that inspires him to go back to the house in Croydon where he used to live with his parents. It’s during this journey that Adam encounters a young man (Jaimie Bell) standing in a field who beckons for him to follow. And this is where the ghost story element of All of Us Strangers really kicks into high gear. The young man turns out to be Adam’s father and waiting for them at the home they shared so many years ago, is his mother (Claire Foy). Both are still the same age that they were shortly before their deaths. At this point in time, Adam is about the same age as his parents. While he is mystified as to how all of this could possibly be, at the same time he deeply loves his parents and is more than willing to accept this new reality.
However, to lose parents at such a young age means that some discussions that needed to happen never happened and some hurts were never healed. Because his parents died when he was so young, Adam never had the chance to come out to them. Although he is loved by his mother and father, their attitudes toward gay people come from the 80’s. A time when so many gay people were terrified of being outed as gay. And this makes for some painful conversations. Once occurs when Adam’s father reveals that he had suspected that his son was being bullied at school and yet chose not to comfort him when he heard him crying in his room.
“So why didn’t you come into my room if you heard me crying?”
“Why didn’t you tell me what was happening at school?”
“You know. You answer me first. Be honest.”
“I just didn’t want to think of you as the kind of boy that the other boys would pick on and I knew that if I was at your school, I’d probably pick on you too.”
“Yeah, I think I always probably thought that anyway. Probably why I didn’t tell you what was happening to me at school.”
This exchange is just one of several that Adam has with his parents that reveal the divide that existed between them. Yet as uncomfortable as the revelations are, there is in this mystical new world the chance to make things right for each other. Scott beautifully conveys Adam’s deep love for his father amidst the pain that he still carries over this incident. When his father expresses how he wished he had done things differently, Adam reassures his father again and again that it’s alright, everything is alright, while the heartbreak on his face says something quite different.
All of Us Strangers skillfully weaves elements of the real and the surreal without sacrificing credibility in the process. Yes, there will be debate over the ending and even which parts actually happened and which parts didn’t. Either way, this film leaves the audience with the hopeful message that reality can be what you want it to be.
All of Us Strangers screened at the 2023 AFI Film Festival.
All of Us Strangers (Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins.)
Director Andrew Haigh
Writer Andrew Haigh Taichi Yamada
Executive Producer Daniel Battsek, Farhana Bhula,
Cast
Andrew Scott Adam
Paul Mescal Harry
Dad Jamie Bell
Mum Claire Foy
Cinematography Jamie Ramsay
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