All of Us Strangers at Luna

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 14 January 2024

All-of-us-Strangers-Luna

Andrew Scott (as Adam) and Paul Mescal (as Harry), All of us Strangers
Photo Credit: Searchlight Pictures

What is real ? What is imagined?

What do we do about the demons that possess us? Can we ever get rid of them?

I was lucky enough to snare one of the last remaining tickets to the preview of the movie “All of Us Strangers”, at Luna Leederville.

Part romance, part supernatural – boy meets boy in a dark, quiet apartment complex in contemporary London.

Each bringing a little bit of their own baggage to the relationship, Andrew Scott (as Adam) is reluctant to begin anything (having been single for so long and somewhat used to his lonely existence) – but their paths continue to collide with Paul Mescal (as Harry) nudging gently (and sometimes not so gently) and so begins an intense romance between the two.

Adam is a screenwriter with a lot on his mind, and a relationship is not something he was looking for. He is pre-occupied with getting some words on the page as a screenwriter, and with memories of his childhood when his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) were killed in a car accident which left him an orphan at a tender young age.

Transported back in time to his childhood home he encounters his parents repeatedly as an adult man.

Or does he? Is it only in his recurring thoughts and just a figment of his imagination?

Director and Writer Andrew Haigh’s much awaited movie has been cleverly adapted from Japanese author Taichi Yamada's award-winning novel Strangers.

His deft touch allows the movie to move seamlessly between current day happenings and Adam being transported back to the past to reunite with his parents.

Along with a very catchy soundtrack throughout the movie (think popular bands from the 80’s - Pet Shop Boys, Bronski Beat, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood – many of them my favourite sound tracks!), the movie is hauntingly beautiful and melancholic in the telling of its story about love and loss.

It is a unique masterpiece that is more than just your common day ghost story – it is intricate in its complexity in the way that it weaves many issues pertinent to all of us across many levels – it strikes to the core of what matters in a heartfelt way – that of family, sexuality, and relationships.

Resolving the unresolved. Coming to terms with what has ensued.

All of us Strangers opens at Luna Leederville and Luna on SX on Thursday 18 January.

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