All of us Strangers

couldnt see a thread on this

probably the most heartbreaking film I’ve ever seen and have been thinking about it for days after. A crime Andrew Scott wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for this

Irish Aris

Saw it today. I went in knowing very little about it and having avoided spoilers - but with high expectations as I'm a fan of Andrew Haigh's previous films, especially Weekend.

I agree with the OP, a really sad film, but another great character study - Haigh really likes them and he is very good at building them. Scott is superb in the central role - casting in general I thought is very good, though Mescal may start running the risk of typecasting. And a bonus for me the 80s soundtrack!!

Brilliant stuff. A lot better than I expected

johnny_ultimate

I was somewhat surprised how cold this left me. I’ve liked Haigh’s previous work, and this is a very well made film, lovingly composed and expertly performed by everyone involved (it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a short cast list in the end credits). I think Haigh did an excellent job weaving in queer themes throughout in ways both overt and more subtle, and the ‘coming out’ scene is one of the most effectively staged in the film.

And yet despite admiring much of the artistry on display it still kept me at a remove. It was perhaps restrained and pared back to a fault, though some of the big emotional moments (including the ending, which played rather maudlin IMO) went a bit too heavy on obvious, on-the-nose music cues. And I have no problem with restraint - Aftersun floored me, and that’s a beautifully restrained piece - but this one just didn’t land for me, despite appreciating several of the key pieces.

One caveat is that I watched the original Japanese adaptation The Discarnates shortly before watching this. So I was familiar with many of the beats in advance - while that’s a purely heterosexual story, a lot of pivotal sequences are very similar overall. That’s a much more melodramatic piece, but also much more overtly embraces the horror and supernatural elements. They’re very different takes on the material, and The Discarnates is hardly a masterpiece either. But it did have a more unpredictable and uncanny edge to it that I perhaps missed in Haigh’s more elegant yet curiously unstirring (IMO) take.

flasher0030

Wow. That was a really good movie. I expected it to be drawn out, and slow moving. But that wasn't the case. It is really interesting to see where the movie is actually going (I had no idea what the storyline was when I watched it).

Good storyline, great acting, and good emotional tale without getting too soppy. I would highly recommend it.

Northernsoul

It was incredible, one of the best films I’ve seen in years. Definitely 5 Stars. The two of them as a couple was completely believable, and so beautifully done, really moving. Issues really sensitively handled, so emotional and heartbreaking. Claire Foy is also superb! Film of the year so far for me, and i’ve watched about 30 since NYE ( yes, thats more than 1 a day! 😂 #singlelife

dubstepper

I enjoyed it but I don't think it was amazing. I felt it somewhat started to fall apart near the end. The central conceit was stretched a little too thin. There are some very good performances in it. The scenes with his parents are really touching but I felt the ending didn't land.

Man Vs ManUre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121737937#Comment_121737937

I liked the ending and thought it was good film overall but not great as not much happened, but the ending probably brought it up to a very good film. The acting was really good, I thought Mescal stole the show in any scenes he was in.

nervous_twitch

It's interesting that Aftersun has been mentioned because this film reminded me a lot of it, even down to the viewing experience. I enjoyed it and found it very moving while watching but it affected me even more than I realized, as I found my mind constantly drifiting back to it in the days that followed.

I think there's naturally a huge amount of pathos for anyone who has lived a similar 'queer' narrative in terms of that whole coming out process but, like Aftersun, I think there's a much broader comment on how we understand our parents, what we criticize them for and how we can hold them to such high standards when they too are just people trying to do their best. I saw an interview with Andrew Scott recently where he said we should be more forgiving of our parents because they're living life for the first time too and I think that whole idea is what stuck with me most from this film. The scene where Claire Foy tries to offer some kind of subtle amends by singing 'You Were Always On My Mind' to Adam was just perfect and heartbreaking.

I'll be going back for a rewatch because again like Aftersun I think it's a film that benefits from a second viewing once you've gotten all the pieces together the first time around.

That all said, I still think Weekend is Haigh's best.

PTH2009

It was ok and one of those films you get when it ends

Spoiler Warning

So was Adam riding Harry or was it all in Adams head and the only time they interacted was at the start in the lift ?

I get Harry died after that meeting and that's how the parents saw him ?

Conall Cernach

I don't think any of it was in Adam's head, it was a real experience for him.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121769265#Comment_121769265

Spoiler Warning

So all the Adult Adam stuff with his parents actually happened to him as a kid?

Conall Cernach

No, I think he genuinely had a paranormal experience as an adult.

johnny_ultimate

Not to give a cop out answer, but I don’t think it’s a film particularly concerned with the logistics of whether it’s real or not. I took it more as a fable - a fantastical story, but the emotional truth of it is very real. It’s not meant to be read super literally or realistically, but as suggested above the experience for the protagonist is entirely genuine.

Thelonious Monk

Saw it yesterday, thought it was good, great acting from Scott. I must be too thick to understand what it was meant to be though, like the whole Paul Mescal thing was imagined? I liked the scenes with his parents, they seemed really genuine with the 3 of them seeking some kind of redemption.

Terrier2023

Mescal needs an action movie soon this depressive roles are becoming to frequent.

Northernsoul

POSSIBLE SPOILER : I read this review which said both the lads were dead, and the big apartment block was purgatory. Think there is something to that..

“Adam lives in a seemingly empty London block of flats (which is very odd for London), which could be another suggestion not everything is as it seems. 

Speaking of the building, at the beginning of the movie a fire alarm goes off and the suggestion could be that the fire actually killed Adam and he's been in purgatory ever since, going over the story of his life. Which kinda explains why the building has that eerie feeling to it and why no one else is there.”

JP Liz V1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121788285#Comment_121788285

He has Gladiator 2

johnny_ultimate

For those interested, the Japanese adaptation of the novel is more explicit with some of the narrative details.

Spoiler Warning

There, the main character’s interactions with the ‘ghosts’ drain him of life, and he even starts ‘zombifying’. There are other living characters who all comment on his worsening condition, and several sequences show his slow physical transformation. There’s subtle hints of this in All of us Strangers - in the Tube sequence, for example - but it’s much more overt in The Discarnates.

In that film, the man’s relationship with the parents is broadly similar to what we have here, but his lover is a woman who is indeed said to have died. A very bloody climax in the film revolves around an exorcism of sorts, where the main character has to finally rid himself of his ghostly lover. Lots of blood splatter follows - the tone is very different altogether - and a much more traditional happy ending follows.

Haigh’s film is a different beast, and more ambiguous with the details on purpose. But the Japanese film has more clear cut answers around some things, just for context.

sporina

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121749304#Comment_121749304

yes it reminded me of aftersun too - thats not a surprise really.. though I preferred this to aftersun..

geee Mescal is good but wow Scott has me in flooods of tears,.. thought I would have to leave the cinema - now thats ART when it can move you like that,..

he is a formidable actor... just incredible...

loved the writing, acting, direction and score.. fantastic piece of work

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121806482#Comment_121806482

yes i've been thinking about it a lot since i saw it last sunday. the scene with his mother singing the lyrics from the pet shop boys scene to him, ugh, heartbreaking.

iffandonlyif

I finally got around to seeing this. Great film. Scott is brilliant. So ‘naturalistic’ without being contrived (which is a charge that I would level against Aftersun). I’ve been a bit of a Mescal sceptic but he was very good too. It’s just a shame that the lesser performance was recognised by BAFTA and not the main one. Not quite sure how Keoghan for one - but also Giamatti - was nominated ahead of Scott.

The stuff at the end lost me a bit. It comes close to the dreaded cliche of, ‘And then he woke up. The end.’ I was left questioning what if anything was real. Does Scott’s character actually walk into the apartment - wouldn’t it have been locked? And can we even be sure he has any interaction with Mescal’s character? Without any foundation of reality, I’m less invested in the fantasy. Someone else here described the plot of the Japanese original - thanks for that! Possibly by stripping down the original plot, it loses some of its internal logic. But, anyway, in a world of blockbusters, it’s just such a pleasure to feel those emotions.

I found the question ‘are you queer?’ very jarring. Is that what people say these days? I’m gay, and while I might be happy to be grouped as LGBT+ for political or social reasons, my sexuality is individual to men. I don’t want it to be subsumed into a wider category of anything but cis-hetero. It doesn’t even seem to answer the question. Maybe Scott’s character is non-binary with an attraction to women. He’d be ‘queer’ but not interested.

On a final note, I liked seeing an Irish character, and two Irish actors, appearing inconspicuously in an English film. I’m proud to be Irish but I would like us to be able to celebrate more our connections with and contributions to English culture.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820579#Comment_121820579

What’s the reaction as a gay man to Paul Mescal being apparently lonely and unwanted on the gay scene?

iffandonlyif

Maybe the alcohol abuse doesn’t help.

pureza

I watched it last night on Disney+ Canada

Would agree with many of the points made,it's very thought provoking with an extremely sad ending

You could take many things from it,not least the power of loss

The acting is 10 out of 10

Oh and really,there should an Oscar category for the intimacy coach or else there's something Mescal isn't telling us

Electric Nitwit

Finally got around to watching this tonight and it is just sublime. Absolutely heartbreaking, from the first scene with the parents I found almost every scene emotionally moving. The acting from the four leads is brilliant. Andrew Scott and Claire Foy I expected to be great, but Paul Mescal and Jamie Bell both surprised me, both wonderful. The cinematography is so good too, the atmosphere throughout was very ethereal. Best film I've seen for a long while

The caveat may be that I don't really understand it. I don't care, I'm happy not to, but possibly some people may not like the overall vagueness