Besides Star Wars, Marvel, and other franchises, Disney+ also has some gems that are greatly beloved by critics. One particular movie deals with the emotional past of the protagonist without clumsily tugging at the heartstrings. MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes can highly recommend All of Us Strangers.
What is All of Us Strangers? In All of Us Strangers, Adam is at a difficult point in his life. He is unhappy, unable to connect with others, and lives in an apartment in a seemingly abandoned house.
Suddenly, he meets Harry and then he goes to his childhood home. In the house, he finds his parents, but they are suddenly young, visibly younger than himself. Adam now seizes the opportunity to finally talk to his parents about his emotions and the past, which allows him to open up to Harry.
You can find the English trailer for the film here:
The script is exactly on point
The story of All of Us Strangers is simple, but incredibly effective. Essentially, we follow Adam, played by Andrew Scott, as he wants to tell his parents everything about himself. The focus is mainly on his homosexuality. As a teenager, he had no chance to come out to his parents.
When he tells his mother, she initially reacts very awkwardly. But later, when he talks to his father about it, really emotional yet surprisingly positive scenes unfold. I was surprised by how elegantly the film approaches the topic. Nothing is pushed into the emotional realm just with music. The focus is on the dialogues and the characters.
This is also one reason why the film moved me so much, even though I have not experienced such things myself. All of Us Strangers is always nuanced and to the point. The film never exaggerates anything or forcefully shoves the characters’ feelings in our faces. You empathize because you see how the characters feel, not because you’re told how you should feel.
The parents are also not just a single note; they show multiple facets. They try to understand something that is foreign to them from their time and environment. The love for their child is, however, always presented and made understandable.
You can find another family-focused movie here: The most beautiful film of the year is a father-son story in a world full of animal people
Scott and Mescal are fantastic
The performers are also a highlight. Harry, played by Paul Mescal, is the other part of the story in All of Us Strangers. He symbolizes how Adam can gradually open up after talking to his parents. The chemistry between the two is always palpable.
The great thing about both performances is that you can always sense a certain wistfulness, a sadness, that is only conveyed through their expressions, through their eyes. They might joke around, but you can still tell that both are not necessarily doing well. This is a truly remarkable achievement, as they communicate less through dialogue and more through body language with the audience.
This never evokes pity, but rather empathy. When the two look wistfully into the camera and share their emotional backgrounds, it simply touched me. But also Adam’s parents, played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, embody the fundamental theme of love
outwardly.
All the performers in All of Us Strangers show that love has not only positive effects but consists of several complex facets that cannot always be named.
How is the film technically? The camera and sound provide the perfect setting for the film. Music is never used as manipulation but only as the ambiance of the scene. The cinematography regularly impressed me, as despite the few sets, the film manages to create truly beautiful images through lighting and perspectives that I will not forget anytime soon.
All of Us Strangers is a film I can recommend to everyone, even if they have nothing to do with the topic of coming out. It’s not just about that. It’s about suppressed emotions and loneliness and how love, in all its facets, influences us, even when we don’t want to acknowledge it sometimes. For those who can bear even more emotions afterward, they might want to check out this film: A new Oscar contender moved me to tears while also making me laugh out loud
