Really glad to have experienced emotion today in the hands of Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, delivering gut wrenching performances in a reality ripping drama set in a basically abandoned apartment block in London’s East side. Andrew Haigh has made a micro micro film with only six actors actually listed in the credits, and two of those sharing about four lines in total.
All of our story is told through Adam, a screenwriter living alone in a high rise building, sharing the space with the only other occupant of another flat, Harry.
One night, an alarm sounds, forcing Adam to evacuate, looking up at the building to see a silhouette of Harry, in a room illuminated by pure blue light. Once the alarm calms down, Adam heads back up to his flat, only to be interrupted by Harry, who is looking for some company. Adam is hesitant to let him in so turns him away.
Later on in the week, they connect and spark up a relationship, initially just physical, until they get to know more about each other, slowly falling for each other.
Meanwhile, Adam attempts to connect to his childhood while writing a script about his upbringing. He physically visits his childhood home, interacting with his parents who died in a car accident. He has some mature conversations with them, about who he is now and how he misses them. These conversations go on while his connection with Harry grows, becoming a closer and closer pairing.
Sticking with the parents for a moment, the inclusion of this plot device was genius, exploring loneliness, sexuality and trauma so elegantly through a parental relationship that I haven’t seen before on screen. The way that Adam can navigate these tough conversations has a different perspective, one of great distance and a little bit of a lack of stakes to them. There is a silent understanding at the beginning that the parents are apparitions of their former selves, reconnecting with their son who they basically don’t know anymore. They learn about him and he comforts them through it.
Alternatively, Harry provides this comfort to Adam, being there in his moments of pain to be the shoulder to cry on. Harry also shares his life with Adam, they are on a level playing field in this regard, leaning on each other through an obviously difficult time for them both.
The performances in this film are astounding, Andrew Scott blew me away with his naturalistic reactions and raw emotions that he displayed. His honesty and genuine intentions are felt through the screen as he seamlessly connects to every single character in the story.
Paul Mescal can do no wrong, he shows an incredible amount of empathy and brings some lightness to this dark film with his charm and ease of chemistry with Andrew Scott.
Jamie Bell plays Adam’s dad, who balances a long to mend a bond and repair a relationship that he clearly neglected out a level of toxic masculinity to show vulnerability with his young son. He openly discusses this with current day Adam in a scene that already feels tattooed in my memory.
Claire Foy is another who I feel can do no wrong, bringing a an easy love to the role, as if obvious from the get go. She falters when Adam comes out to her, with her beliefs stemming from a different ideal, frozen in time. She plays this complex emotion so well as you see the battle she has inside her.
The camera work in this film follows the same theme as the story, with an authentic grain and a soft warmth to the look, opting to use quite a bit of orange light, especially in Adam’s parents house or times when Adam and Harry are together. The camera is intimate and a part of the conversation, forcing its way in so we have full access to all aspects of the story. They use fade transitions from scene to scene for the most part, giving the story a sense of slow paced flow, gliding through.
They use these transitions in sound to, bringing sound into a shot before the transition begins, with train sounds coming up quite a lot as Adam travels from his parents house to his flat. With such a small story, this film doesn’t have a lot of flashy sound effects, most of the creativity comes in when we look at the music. The music bends to the moments it’s in, where Adam is feeling overwhelmed, it may distort or slow as the camera pushes in on his face. In other moments its soft, plinking and plonking to elicit a smile and a feeling of safety.
All of us Strangers is such an unfortunate film, in an oversaturated market it will most assuredly get lost in the shuffle, as people move on to the flashier and more in your face film. Those who have seen it though, will know it’s emotional maturity and breathtaking relationships to look back on.
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