Greetings again from the darkness. So many people allow unresolved issues from their past to weigh down or complicate their efforts to live for today. Writer-director Andrew Haigh has loosely adapted the 1987 novel "Strangers" by Taichi Yamada most notably by a shifting of locale and gender. It features the powerful literary trio of loss, loneliness, and love, none of which come easy for Adam, played beautifully here by Andrew Scott.
Adam is a reserved London-based writer in his 40's who recognizes that he has failed to fully repress one particular fact of his childhood. Since his parents died in a car crash thirty years ago when he was twelve, he never had the opportunity to come out to them as gay. Now, he is often burdened by being the kid/grown-up whose parents never go to know the real Adam.
An unusual meet-cute in the mostly vacant apartment tower they both reside in, has neighbor Harry (a terrific Paul Mescal) knocking on Adam's door carrying a bottle of spirits. Adam turns him away, but there's clearly an attraction. The progression after this night leads Adam down a tricky road. His writing forces him to face the lingering complexity with his parents, and this occurs in a few excellent sequences with Adam re-visiting his childhood home (actually director Haigh's childhood home) and finding his parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) living there, unaged since he last saw them. Adam comes out separately to each, resulting in quite different reactions. Mom's words, "It's a sad life, isn't it?" cut like a knife while also emphasizing the social changes over the past 30 years. After claiming he would have been one of those schoolyard bullies, dad confesses he's sorry for not coming to Adam's room when he was crying.
These interactions with the past allow Adam to begin to move forward, and that includes Harry, who has his own issues with the past. Together, the two are natural, and their debate of queer versus gay is beautifully executed. We understand how Adam dealing with his grief and guilt opens him up to a hopeful future of love, as leaving the past behind delivers the courage necessary to open up. Taichi Yamada recently passed away (November 2023), and it's likely he would have approved of Haigh's film. Andrew Haigh is proving to be quite an artist with this latest on the heels of his LEAN ON PETE (2017), 45 YEARS (2015), and a couple episodes of "The OA". This film is somber and slow moving, but the direction is excellent and the two leads Scott and Mescal (rumored to be the next James Bond) make this work.
Opening in theaters on December 22, 2023
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