All of Us Strangers is one of the many movies that has had fans talking at the BFI London Film Festival 2023 - and for good reason. The story follows a screenwriter named Adam (Andrew Scott) who falls in love with the other resident in his building (Paul Mescal) - while also visiting his parents who are back from their dead and living their lives in his childhood home.
Cinema-goers who didn't manage to see it at the festival will, unfortunately, have a while to wait until it's back on the big screen, as its release date is 26 January 2024 in the UK - so - without spoiling anything - what are people saying about it following the early screening?
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one person wrote: "Such a breathtaking experience. Haigh's new film is a complex and melancholic meditation on memory, grief, and love. It literally blew me away! Can't wait to watch it a second time." Another person added: "Andrew Scott outperforms himself in every single scene. Devastating to the core. But I also think Andrew Haigh has done something very special in the way he directed this. That score alone will break your heart into pieces."
© Parisa TaghizadehA third person added: "Quite possibly my favourite film I’ve ever seen at #LFF. I still don’t quite know how to put it into words, but Andrew Scott is phenomenal - along with the rest of the cast. In some ways a healing experience, whilst also truly devastating."
It seems like many people were in tears during the movie, with one person writing: "#AllOfUsStrangers is a 'Try Not To Cry Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)' cause I cried like five times during it. So sincere & emotionally devastating. Andrew Scott is brilliant & can convey so much with just his eyes. Gonna need a while to fully analyze the film & its ending tbh."
© Chris HarrisWhat is All of Us Strangers about?
The new Andrew Haigh film follows a lonely screenwriter, Adam, who discovers that his parents (who died in a car crash when he was a child) are living their lives at his childhood home as if nothing had ever happened. He also meets and falls in love with the only other resident in his newly built apartment, Harry (Paul Mescal). The story is loosely based on the 1987 Japanese novel Strangers by Yamada Taichi.
What did we think? Review
Seeing movies at the London Film Festival is a unique experience, as you're surrounded by huge movie fans who have (in the case of All of Us Strangers) gotten up at the crack of dawn to pack out a cinema to watch what is a beautiful, moving tale. In this case, it might have been far too early to be hit with the themes of the raw grief of losing one's parents, childhood trauma, sexuality, loneliness and the search for acceptance - as the symphony of heartbroken sniffs throughout the cinema can attest.
The movie - and Andrew Scott's performance in particular - hasn't been far from my mind since I watched it - and I think it is going to be a huge hit on the awards circuit for 2024 - and very rightly so. It is funny, it teems with chemistry from the two leads, but it has the most heart-aching pathos that is, at times, almost unbearable.
