All of Us Strangers

By: Gladys Luna

All of Us Strangers is a romantic fiction film written and directed by Andrew Haigh based on the 1987 novel Strangers by Tachi Yamada. The movie follows the daily routine of Adam (Andrew Scott), a television screenwriter that has condemned his life to a solitude existence in an isolated apartment of a London neighborhood where his days are limited to survival and writing. Soon his repetitive days are put to test when his drunk neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal) shows up at his door asking for nothing more than just a bit of company. Even though the first attempt doesn’t go as planned, Harry is not one to give up that easily. However, this is not the only out of the ordinary event that Adam experiences as when he appears to be suffering typical writers’ block, he decides to take a trip to his childhood home. Making use of his vivid imagination, he begins to undergo small fragments of time with his long-deceased parents. Little does he know that from this moment on, his life won’t be the same forever.

Director Haigh brings us this heart-wrenching film that will definitely have you in tears, steal your heart away and certainly won’t give it back. The photography serves as a beautiful mirror of the emotional sea that the protagonist is experiencing, turning it into a marvelous immersive ride. Every scenario reflects accurately the aspect of the life Adam is intending to show us in a way that sometimes feels as though you are actually looking into his bare soul.

In the movie there is not one performance wasted. Scott’s raw interpretation is one that will take your breath away, allowing you to be a front row spectator of his emotional journey having no hesitation in making you part of it and granting us permission to see his behavior and attitude shift according to the period of the life he is in and the burdens he has released. And, to make this even better, he is exquisitely supported and accompanied by Claire Foy (Adam’s mother), Jamie Bell (Adam’s father) and Paul Mescal who make this film such a pleasure to watch. The chemistry between all of them enhances every interaction, making the movie delightful and memorable.

All of Us Strangers is a melancholic and emotional story about loss, solitude, love and healing that could also be used as a reminder that sometimes all we truly need is for someone to tell us that everything is going to be alright. This is definitely a must watch movie but be warned it might leave you emotionally moved. Plus, there is a plot twist that I’m confident that if you are paying enough attention, you’ll see it coming.