All of Us Strangers is a strange movie.
The premise was strange. It doesn’t attempt to answer questions the audience would have. It just moves on…and that’s why it will still have an impact on you long after you finished it. The feeling of needing for answers will linger on, and the empathy that was developed along with the 1 hour 45 minutes screen time seems to be carrying on inside long afterwards.
Adam is a lone script writer for TV and films and there is only one other resident living in his new building – Harry. A chance encounter led the two to meet and developed a relationship. Meanwhile, Adam was also visiting his parents in his childhood house who seemed to be ageless. However, as much as this sounds simple, it is nothing like that. As the story unfolds the audience realised that there are more that met the eyes.
I don’t want to talk too much about the story as there will be huge spoilers, but All of Us Stranger is the kind of slow boil movie that actually boiled the water at the most perfect pace. Additional information was given to the audience at the right time when the audience needed it. This is how powerful the script was. The movie doesn’t have a lot of melodramatic moments, but then it still managed to take control of your emotions, and at times you would find yourself welled up without even you are noticing it.
The cohesion of power of All of Us Stranger by no small feat generated by the four actors who played the four only roles compellingly. Andrew Scott as Adam was the major thread of the story that brought everyone together. I first noticed him in the BBC reboot of Sherlock playing the crazy Moriarty. His delivery in All of Us Stranger was the complete opposite. The subtleness of the character and the layered emotion in many of the scenes were what really glued your eyes on him. And it was because of this layered performance that you could move along with his emotion in the movie, losing yourself in Adam’s world. Harry, played by Paul Mescal is the rising star in the British acting scene and had already earned accolades around. And in All of Us Stranger, it showed you why. He’s natural and fluid in his portrayal of Harry, and the twists and turns of his character were put on display in an effortless manner. His determination to make the relationship works while dealing with his own trauma in the past was brilliantly done.
The other two main players in the story were Claire Foy and Jamie Bell’s parents. Their presence ‘as-is’ was the main mystery that glued the audience to all the questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’. Claire, famous for her turn as the Queen in Netflix’s The Crown, had a 180 degree turn as a suburban mother who fantasised about the life his son would have when he grew up. Her journey to acceptance of fantasy versus reality was a great story component acted beautifully and cohesively with the rest of the movie. Jamie Bell, who was known for his performance in Billy Elliot played Adam’s father who regretted about certain actions, in fact inactions, during Adam’s childhood and had to come to terms with the consequences.
Despite having the title All of Us Strangers, the movie is about relationships with your closest ones, and the retrospection of these relationships and related actions. As the audience navigates the movie with the characters on screen, there will be moments that would trigger thoughts of ‘what-if’. It also drew a blunt line between fantasy and reality. When reality hits, you just need to deal with the reality as is. It was this raw emotional journey that drew me deep into the experience of Adam and the three people around him.
All of Us Strangers is by no means and easy watch. I personally do not think it is a chill out feel-good movie for a bag of chips on a Saturday night. But I would totally watch it on a cold night with a cup of hot lemon tea under a fleece blanket on my couch. It requires undivided attention and it deserves it.
All of Us Strangers is now streaming on Disney+
