“All of Us Strangers” (Guest Reviewer Bruce Pierini)

It’s very difficult to write about this very engrossing, imaginative film without divulging spoilers. But I’ll do my best.
The setting is contemporary London. A not-too-successful writer, who is gay, is living in an isolated apartment in a high-rise apartment and it seems only he and another gay man, live there on the outskirts of the city.
The movie’s very creative storyline involves the writer going back, as the adult he is, to pay a series of visits to his parents, who died 30 years earlier. They are the age they were when he was 12.
The conversations are so interesting in this ghost story because primarily of his need to tell them that he’s OK, not suffering socially, in fact is proud to be gay. The parents are conservative but not hateful and listen to him, trying to understand what’s become of him in the following 30 years after they’ve died in a car accident. The writer and we find a deep and moving satisfaction permeating these intimate conversations between the concerned parents and their adult son.
At the same time, he develops an intimate relationship with the other gay man in the building. The dynamic between them and the episodes with the parents form the core of the film.
That’s all I’ll say, otherwise I’d spoil the movie for you. I will say that there are multiple interpretations of the narrative sequence and personhoods in the film.
Wayne and I enjoyed this gothic gay tale but of course, you needn’t be gay or queer to find this a deeply engaging movie. – Bruce Pierini