All of Us Strangers
Director: Andrew Haigh
Writer: Andrew Haigh
Based on: Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers
Cast: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, Carter John Grout
Seen on: 11./12./14.2.2026

Plot:
Adam (Andrew Scott) lives in a new apartment building that is waiting for most of its tennants. He is supposed to write, but he also finds himself thinking a lot about his parents who died in an accident when he was a child. After returning to his home town for a visit, he actually finds his parents in their home town, unchanged. At the same time, his only other neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal) invites himself into Adam’s life and they start a tentative romance.

All of Us Strangers was among the movies I very much regretted not catching at the cinema and it then took me a little to see it at home. Now that I have, I have to admit that it didn’t quite fulfill my expectations, even though there are many beautiful things about it.

I knew very little about the film going into it. I knew the cast, that it was queer and that it had good reviews. I did not know that it was a ghost story, and first I thought that it was a really interesting and fantastic casting idea to have Adam’s parents played by young people, as if time had stopped when they grew estranged. It was almost a disappointment when I caught on to the fact that this was a very literal casting, actually. Still, one I quite liked.

I have to say that generally, Adam’s belated grieving and his relationship with his parents spoke much more to me than the entire plot surrounding Harry, and I thought that was a pity. But down to the rather uninspired (but visually wonderful) ending, I felt that their relationship lacked depth and maturity, a stark contrast to the often complicated feelings we get regarding Adam’s parents.

I also didn’t know that this was based on a (Japanese) novel, though one – judging from the wikipedia summary of it – that seems pretty different from this film. But there was a certain feeling of explanation when I learned about the Japanese source material at the end of the film. The film somehow doesn’t feel all that British to me, starting with the almost empty apartment building.

Where the film doesn’t disappoint is in the cast, especially Andrew Scott. It is beautifully acted. I also liked the cinematography. But overall, I really expected to love the film much more than I did. I am sad it didn’t work out that way for me.

Summarizing: not bad but I had hoped for more.