Andrew Scott And Paul Mescal Find Love (And Maybe Ghosts) In The All Of Us Strangers Trailer

A movie about Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal falling in love pretty much sells itself. Throw in writer/director Andrew Haigh ("Weekend," "Looking") and a magical realist story about Scott reuniting with the ghosts (?) of his dead parents, and I can already feel my heart swelling with emotion after watching the "All of Us Strangers" trailer. It's Thursday morning, dammit, I'm not ready for actual feelings at this time of day!

Loosely based on Taichi Yamada's 1987 novel "Strangers," the film centers on Adam (Scott), a middle-aged man who's trying to write about his late parents when he suddenly finds himself falling in love with his enigmatic younger neighbor Harry (Mescal). But as unexpected as their romance is, it's got nothing on what happens to Adam when he journeys back to his hometown, only to find his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) living there, just the way he remembers them when they died shortly before his 12th birthday.

I've always been a sucker for stories about sad middle-aged people falling in love and finding closure with their pasts (and I mean always; what can I say, I was a strange kid), so you'd best believe "All of Us Strangers" is absolutely my jam. It certainly helps that I'm already familiar with and have loved Haigh's previous work as a filmmaker, so I can feel confident the vibes of this lovely, poignant trailer will extend to the actual film.

Here's the official synopsis:

One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.

Obviously, for those who are unfamiliar with Haigh's oeuvre, it's Scott and Mescal's involvement that's the biggest selling point here. The pair have done tremendous work over the past several years alone, with Mescal having only just picked up his first Oscar nod for his turn in Charlotte Wells' incredibly moving "Aftersun" (another drama about gaining a newfound understanding of your late parents from the vantage of adulthood). My only hope is that both of these gents get their due recognition now that "All of Us Strangers" has formally entered this year's awards race on the heels of its enthusiastic reception on the festival circuit.

"All of Us Strangers" opens in theaters on December 22, 2023.