Warning All of Us Strangers Spoilers. Proceed With Caution.
All of Us Strangers blew me away when I first saw it at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival. Because it is so hauntingly beautiful and poetic, it needs many viewings. Therefore, I wanted to have a chance to view it at least twice before giving a review.
The movie deserves processing and pondering.
With it now available to stream on Hulu, I had the chance to explore and appreciate the delicate ways the film engages with the idea of the resilient heart.
All of Us Strangers tells a hauntingly poetic story about love, grief, and loss. It mesmerizes and easily transports you into Adam’s world. Therefore, it makes sure that you don’t waste time wondering if it’s really happening or only happening in his mind.
It all feels real. And that’s what matters.
The film creates a sense of unity. Adam’s problems are your problems as long as the film continues. All of Of Us Strangers engulfs you. That’s its magic.
It succeeds because every aspect works together to communicate universal emotions and experiences. Everyone experiences some form of love, loss, loneliness, mental breakdowns, and fear.
Yet the movie has a very distinct personal story.
That’s what makes the title so brilliant. We exist together but believe our experiences only happen to us. We are all strangers, but not really.
The act of existing unites us.
Andrew Scott brilliantly takes us on Adam’s journey. We start with him as he’s lonely and isolated. Then we also experience love and live through his grief. We follow him and it connects us to our own experiences of similar situations and emotions.
We become Adam as he moves through life’s grandest moments and most heartbreaking.
All of Us Strangers director Andrew Haigh creates a sense of intimacy between the viewers and the characters. The limiting of the film to four characters probably helps achieve this level of togetherness, but it’s the layout of the script, the directing, acting, music choices, and cinematography that drive this feeling of closeness to the events and characters.
The script ensures that the film works so well, but it’s the acting that transforms it from a good film to an extraordinary one. Scott is an actor who is unbelievably talented but criminally underrated.
He should have an Oscar nomination for All of Us Strangers and an Emmy win for Fleabag. Why he doesn’t have either should be under investigation. These are crimes.
In so many scenes, Scott genuinely crushes your heart. You feel what he feels.
Award-deserving acting should make you feel something and he makes you feel so much. Paul Mescal has become synonymous with roles that break your heart by the end.
He once again lives up to that reputation. After Aftersun, this is his best work.
As good as Mescal and Scott are, somehow Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are even better. Bell is another criminally underrated actor. He has also been insanely snubbed a few times during award season.
Foy and Bell are younger than Scott but they feel so much like his parents. You never think any of their behavior is odd, even when Adam goes back into a childlike state. It’s all believable because of the commitment and chemistry of all these actors.
Films serve many purposes but the ones that make you tap into your own emotions or stories and completely transport you into their worlds are the best movies. All of Us Strangers is that type of movie.
All of Us Strangers is available to stream on Hulu.
