Edited by Isobel Knight; written by Elliot Carpenter
Andrew Haigh’s emotionally complex adaptation of Yamada Taichi’s novel Strangers offers an amalgamation of feelings: love, grief, and loneliness, to name but a few.
Haigh described his transformation of the book as ‘finding something more psychological, almost metaphysical’, referencing his inversion of the protagonists' sexualities – a choice made to evoke particular reactions from the film’s intended audience.
Adam (Andrew Scott) battles, in one instance, the disappointed and reluctant reaction his parents offer towards him coming out as gay – or ‘queer’, as his companion Harry (Paul Mescal) would prefer. While some topics of grief may seem unrelatable to a wider audience, Adam’s internal struggle with his identity, spurred by growing up in 1980s Britain, seems to be a uniting theme among viewers.
A soundtrack sprinkled with the Pet Shop Boys is certainly the key to pulling heartstrings, especially for those in Andrew Scott’s Gen X age demographic, and the film’s use of the duo’s hit Always on my Mind is particularly evocative. It is an incredibly well-selected soundtrack, curated to appeal to the (somewhat niche) intended audience.
The casting of Andrew Scott, as Adam, perfectly encapsulated this relatability. One of Scott’s more noticeable attributes as a performer is his ability to make many of his characters seem like an extension, or alternate version, of himself, and, being a gay man himself, the Fleabag star perfectly understood the experiences of Adam’s character. This personal actor-character connection encouraged such a strong performance from Scott; his facial expressions in particular exacerbated the emotion felt by Adam, and many LGBT people in the audience, as his mother (Claire Foy) expressed her disappointment at his sexuality. Scott’s level of fame elevates that connection between the audience and Adam’s character - we recognise Scott as a gay man, and we understand that he’s portraying his own potential struggle as well as a completely fictional one.
It is entirely possible that Scott’s outstanding performance established an unrealistic expectation for Paul Mescal, who on occasion pales in comparison. Yet, each review on TikTok or Letterboxd seems to adore Mescal’s performance. Perhaps, as a West Yorkshireman myself, I found his faux Leeds accent inauthentic and off-putting, while such a detail would most likely be unnoticeable to most viewers. I did wonder why he was burdened with this task. Would his native Irish accent have been so bad, given the number of Irish people living in England now?
Mescal was a questionable casting choice. I don’t believe that he ‘got it’ like Scott , but, at 27, and with an entirely different fan group to appeal to, this is understandable. Though I don’t blame Mescal for that, he seems to stick out as a strange casting choice, through no fault of his own. I did observe, however, as Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power of Love played, and the lights slowly uncovered my fellow viewers, that I appeared to be one of the only men in my screening. The TikTok Paul Mescal craze may have swayed social media’s opinion of his performance before even viewing it.
I appreciate the film is intentionally ambiguous to uphold a dream-like state throughout, but the omission of Harry’s backstory does leave a minor gap of potential audience-character connection. The overall runtime is only 1 hour and 45 minutes, and a ten minute section referencing a little of Harry’s backstory, even if it were only through dialogue, could’ve added a deeper psychological layer to the film and strengthened viewers’ relationship with his character.
All of Us Strangers overall aesthetic is admirable. Almost every shot looks plucked out of a Pinterest board. The lighting is consistently perfect, the colour grading creates a nostalgic, hazy feeling, and the editing is impressively smooth. Andrew Haigh is brilliant. He showcases his genre flexibility: tones of drama, horror, romance, and thriller are interwoven beautifully. This, in combination with his psychological creativity throughout, puts him in a fading category of directors who succeed at both aspects.
I blame the lack of US publicity for his snub at the Oscar nominations as Best Director, for this film is a real demonstration of directorial talent. Andrew Scott, too, should have been considered for Best Actor. The pair of them are what make All of Us Strangers a stand-out, touching piece of cinema.
All of Us Strangers is available to watch in cinemas across the UK, and is set to be released throughout February across Europe
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