150 Word Review: 'All Of Us Strangers' (2023)
Always on my mind
All Of Us Strangers is best described as a romantic Twilight Zone episode, and the less said, the better. I'll do my best.
The movie is slow, but so many beautiful things in life are enjoyed slowly: walks on the beach, hot baths, dances. Not everything good in life moves fast or forward. The pacing pays off. The acting glows like neon. Andrew Scott is remarkable as a lonely writer who rejects the advances of a handsome, troubled neighbor undone by his own isolation and trauma, played by Paul Mescal, a human thunderstorm. Scott's character is an orphan haunted by the death of his parents as a boy. Claire Foy and Jamie Bell play his mom and dad, living memories. I think.
This is a movie about letting go and letting love in, written and directed by Andrew Haigh, who, along with Scott, is intent on gently breaking your heart.
I saw a preview screening of this that had a post-film talk with Haigh, Scott, and Bell. (They may be the three most charming men on earth.) The film wrecked me in a good way, and I had to restrain myself from straight-up asking Haigh for the musical adaptation rights then and there. (I KNOW THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT GAY ENGLISHMEN AND I'M A STRAIGHT NEW YORKER BUT PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE)
That was friggin’ SAD!!