• Director: Andrew Haigh
• With: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, Cater John Grout, Ami Tredrea
• Music by: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
• Duration: 1h45
• Platform: Disney+
• Studio: Fox Searchlight
• Based upon the book ‘Strangers’ by Taichi Yamada
• Rating: 7/10

Review:

All of us Strangers was a movie that was recommended by everyone online and by that my interest was peaked to have a go at it, even though I’ve seen people on TikTok crying over it. So I knew this was going to be a sad movie. But I didn’t expect it to be like this, not at all.

The movie starts out with screenwriter Adam (Andrew Scott) living alone in an apartment somewhere in London, when his neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal) comes knocking at his door, drunk, wanting company. But Adam is not in the mood for company so he dismisses Harry.

Later we see Adam visit the house and neighbourhood he grew up in and meeting his (dead!) parents in the house. They look just like they did the day they died, thirty years ago. Somehow Adam found a way to cope with his loss all these years ago by confronting himself with the two people he loved the most! He uses the talks and the connection to tell them about his life now. About his love for men, about his life as a screenwriter, about his loneliness.

At the same time he starts a relationship with his downstairs neighbour Harry, with whom he has a deep sexual and loving connection. But something is off, Adam feels it. Sometimes, when they go out, he loses Harry and he hallucinates (helped by the drugs he takes) but every time he finds his way back to Harry. And then he decides to have Harry meet his parents, the parents Harry knows are dead.

The thing about this movie is, when I went in I thought it was all about the relationship between the two men. So when the focus was mostly on the death of Adam’s parents and his coping with the loss, even after all these years, I was a bit flabbergasted and confused. And I felt (I kind of knew) this was going to be a way to show his relationship with Harry was not what it looked like… (I don’t want to spoil anything here so I’ll shut up now! Find out for yourself, please!)

I know a lot of people loved this movie and I’m not saying I don’t like it. I just don’t connect easily with the magic realistic part of the story, something I have trouble with in literature as well… not that I don’t read it (or watch it) but I’m always a bit confused in these stories, same with this movie. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. Maybe I should have been warned beforehand and I could have wrapped my head a little better around the story.

But okay, one thing was perfect and that’s the acting! The four main characters in this movie are brilliant and for that alone this movie deserves the necessary prizes and awards! I love Jamie Bell and Claire Foy! I’m a huge fan of Scott’s work (as a writer, director and actor!) and now I met Paul Mescal as well (haven’t seen much of him in any other series or movies yet) but I’m already a big fan of him now, just by his acting in this movie! And the relationship between these two men is heartfelt, heartwarming and well… heartbreaking as well!

So All of us Strangers, good movie but maybe I need to rewatch it in time with the knowledge I have now… I also bought the book recently but I was told the story in the book is not a queer story… shame… still, I will read it maybe it will give me a little more insight in the background of the story!