NOW PLAYING
All of Us Strangers
MARCH 15-20
Adam (Andrew Scott) is a screenwriter living in a London high-rise, lonely and depressed. His neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal) is lonely, too, but alcohol makes him slightly bolder than Adam, more willing to openly seek romance. What’s really eating away at Adam is his unresolved relationship with his parents, who died in a car crash when Adam was 12. He’s attempting to exorcise his grief through a new screenplay, but the pain is overwhelming. When Adam returns to the suburban neighborhood where he grew up, he gets an opportunity to open up to his parents at last—about his homosexuality, his dreams, his anxiety toward middle age. In a phantasmagorical twist that director Andrew Haigh makes completely natural, Adam’s mum (Claire Foy) and dad (Jamie Bell) welcome him back to his childhood home. Not only does the house look exactly like it did in Adam’s mid-‘80s adolescence, but his parents are the age they were just before they died. Neither of them seem surprised by Adam’s appearance, and now Adam has the chance to say everything he wasn’t able to before. Based on a Japanese novel called Strangers by Taichi Yamada, Haigh’s latest film is achingly sweet and gentle without ever tipping into sentimentality. There is warm humor, a poetic and haunting ambiance, and overall a generosity of spirit unique to Haigh. In films such as Weekend and 45 Years, Haigh explored relationships among (and between) different generations. Age, mortality, and loss have always been part of his artistic palette—not as a cause for despair, but simply acknowledged as central to life itself. A story about an adult son encountering the ghosts of his parents may seem morbid, but All of Us Strangers is too life-affirming to descend into melancholia. Through this incredible opportunity to reconnect with his parents, Adam learns more about himself—and becomes more open to accepting happiness wherever he finds it. Wonderfully acted by the whole cast, this is a dream-like yet very accessible film that celebrates life and reminds us to cherish the important relationships we have, while we can.
(Rated R for sexual content, profanity, and some drug use.)
The Salina Art Center Cinema is an independent art house cinema in the cultural heart of downtown Salina. The cinema offers a wide variety of programming, including independent films, documentaries, foreign language films, special screening events, Oscar shorts, film discussions, and Q&A events with filmmakers. The cinema is open Friday through Wednesday, showing at 6 PM each evening. You can catch a film on Saturdays & Sundays at either 2 PM or 6 PM. Tickets at the box office are $8 for SAC Members, $10 for Students & Seniors, and General Admission is $12. Tickets available online or at the box office.