All of Us Strangers

There's a real danger in historical pieces that the revisionism that erases homophobia and racism (or squarely assigns any such attitudes to obvious villains) will completely distort future understanding of how life was.

Playing old movies from uncensored sources, it can be a revelation and fascinating as to the attitudes that existed (and that presumably were even then seen through a modern prism contemporary to the time of production).

Interestingly, some older attitudes are not quite as shocking as critics would have you believe.  I revisited Disney's "Song of the South" a few years ago, and I think I could make an argument that it was actually quite progressive and likely to help rather than hinder social cohesion.  I enjoyed it regardless, just as much as I did as a child.

Last month, I rewatched the first of the three On the Buses movie spin-offs.  I was surprised at how there's a strong feminist strand throughout.  All the misogynistic male characters are roundly shown to be fools, and only Stan, who tries -- sometimes awkwardly failing -- to be inclusive and respectful of the female characters is written to be a likeable antihero.  There's some fascinating cultural history on show, and it's well worth a watch if you want a glimpse of how Brits were thinking, at least publicly, in the 1970s.

Watched the fiilm on a quiet afternoon last week and still can’t get it out of my head (as much as the ever haunting Always On My Mind). I found it unique in a way.
The film itself is so eerie, I can’t pin down the genre even. It’s nothing I’ve seen and being slow and meditative it lures you in, crawls under your skin to stay. I cried buckets and thought that every single performance is so intuitive, so sincere. All of them ring true, sometimes too true, especially Foy’s. Gosh this woman gets me every time.. just sublime.
It’s hard to express the experience of watching the film and describing how it makes you feel vocally cause it’s so much about what you perceive on subconscious level, it by-passes your brain and stings right into your very soul.
I don’t think it’s an Oscar material, it doesn’t fit the mould.
But not every film deserving an award really needs one.

I second that thought about making it into a play. Yes please! No need to re-cast it, too

www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/05/what-does-all-of-us-strangers-say-about-being-gay

Really interesting piece. I'm afraid I agree mostly with the negative comments but still worth reading what other people think.

Finally saw it earlier this week. Really liked it, but wasn’t particularly moved. Beautiful ending though, have had The Power of Love stuck in my head ever since.

Interesting to read some of that criticism. When Looking was on it was criticised for not being all things to all people. Feels like more of the same.

Wow, I am surprised some people were left unmoved. I only saw this recently but was completely captivated. As someone who's lost a parent, the idea of reconstructing them to play out healing fantasies was very real. I do agree with some of the criticisms about Paul Mescal's character, though - some of those choices didn't feel necessary. Andrew Scott incredible as per

Completely agree. You don’t need to have experienced a scenario to feel empathy/emotion with it.

Also out to own digitally now.

I thought this was brilliant. Broke me emotionally a few times. The scenes with his parents are so perfectly written and acted. I think the marketing of it as a gay love story has done it a slight disservice, its so much more than that. If anything the 'love story' is secondary.

Hmmm the poster and tv ads put a lot of focus on the couple

I watched this a few days ago and add me to the many fans. Andrew Scott was brilliant as usual, as were Claire Foy and Jamie Bell. Paul Mescal was ok but for me, didn't give as strong a performance as the other three. I also found it difficult to understand some of his lines and felt it was noticeable he wasn't using his natural accent. 

A really moving, well made film so there's probably things I will spot on a second viewing. Quite a few tears shed. A strong four stars from me.

You never know with these things, but it’s been released here on DVD and Blu-ray today, so that would point to them not bringing it over here. Which is disappointing as it’s a 4k set with extras.