It’s rare that remembering a moment from a film a few days after having seen it can bring you to tears. Such is the power of memory, of emotions strongly felt, and such is the power and emotion of the extraordinary All of Us Strangers.
What if you had the chance to revisit lost loved ones years later and forge a new relationship with them as the authentic you, not the child they left behind? What if this started to unlock your ability to truly, genuinely, love?
Lonely Adam is a writer, trying to evoke memories of his childhood for a script, so he spends his days emerging himself in old Top of the Pops re-runs and photographs of his family. He has only one neighbour, Harry, in a tower block where they’re the first residents. Later, Adam decides to visit his childhood home where, with no sense whatsoever of the fantastical, he is welcomed by the parents he lost to an accident 30 years ago. As Adam’s several visits to them progress, so does his relationship with Harry.
This film is remarkable on every level, as a (gay) love story, a possible ghost story, and a meditation on loss, grief, and memory. Andrew Haigh has crafted something special, brought achingly to life via four brilliant performances. Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are tremendous, but Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott give us the two best performances of the year.
In the controversy over award-nomination snubs, the biggest mystery of all is that Scott won’t be walking away with all of them. There are heartbreaking moments here that will live in your memory, perhaps forever.
ALL OF US STRANGERS is in cinemas now.
