The Stranger in Us

I am a HUGE movie fan and am watching new movies all the time. I like all kinds of movies. But I cannot remember a movie in recent years that left a bigger impact on me than "The Stranger in Us." I had the privilege of seeing it at a film festival in Colorado and was blown away. There is just something so real and gritty about it that I could not get it out of my head. I believe that no matter who you are, where you are from, or what your background is, everybody will find something about this movie that they can relate to. I feel like every single person out there can identify in some way with some aspect of this movie. The performances touched my heart, both from the movie's heroes and villains. The director seems to have a really fresh eye. I am truly hoping to see much more from this director and these actors in the future. Whether you seek out film festivals or search for it on DVD if/when it gets released, find a way to see this movie.

"The Stranger in Us"

Intriguing and Beautiful

Amos Lassen

"The Stranger in Us" is the story of a young aspiring poet named Anthony who follows Stephen. His lover and a successful therapist–across the country to San Francisco and they begin to build a life together. Everything fine until Stephen becomes very angry. From here to say anything else about the plot would give just too much away but Anthony has a hard time handling Stephen's anger and seeks an escape and finds himself in a very strange place. The story is not told chronologically—it is presented to us out of sequence and the movie moves back and forth as Anthony thinks about the past and what has led him to this point. At the start of the film, things seem totally confusing and in fact there is even repetition of certain scenes as we enter the Anthony's mind. I would have to classify this as a psychological drama and as we begin to understand what is happening, it is akin to being emotionally slapped across the face. The film is a raw look at urban life and we often feel like voyeurs, spying on the actors as they deliver incredibly realistic performances. It is a film that you will not soon forget. It will grab you and hold you and you will find that it is very difficult to let go. We come face to face with the beauty and the horror of the city at night as San Francisco, the setting for the film also becomes a character in it. Anthony is a small-town boy from Virginia who came to the city to be with his lover, Stephen (Scott Cox) who suddenly becomes abusive. Anthony out of desperation for companionship becomes friendly with Gavin (Adam Perez) a barely legal runaway and homeless street hustler, who has his own rough past. Anthony is a poet and he uses his poetry to try to understand where his life has taken him and to make some sense of it. He looks to the street for compassion and understanding. Anthony arrived in San Francisco wide-eyed and eager to build a life there but everything fell apart when Stephen began his angry outbursts. He had not known Stephen well yet he was dazzled enough by him to leave home and follow him. Anthony spends his days working in the concession area of a local movie theater and at night he wanders the city's streets, finding momentary solace in the beds of strangers listening to the love and torch songs and of a chanteuse (singer Veronica Klaus, in a lovely cameo). Gavin, a young runaway and hustler and Anthony become "friends" and Gavin becomes Anthony's guide, helper and watchman. However Gavin enjoys con games and scams too much and the novelty wears off for him. They both long for some kind of stability and they are devoted to each other which seems a contradiction to the previous sentence. Scott Boswell directed this gem of a film and he gives us the theme of the pleasure and the pain of losing oneself in the city and then regaining oneself nevertheless. This is a difficult film for those who have had similar experiences and Boswell has captured reality in all of its forms.Each of the characters face a tough time and for two of them it just seems to keep getting tougher until they find each other. The screenplay is amazing and allows the actors to give their all which they beautifully do—there is not a weak performance here. Raphael Barker's "Anthony" is perfection; he is the epitome of the boy/hustler/poet type. He is a complex character who thinks a lot—he is both sympathetic and reproachful, and he is tender and filled with passion (like a true poet).Adam Perez's "Gavin" is strong and physically beautiful. He is Anthony's fallen angel and when the two are together, it is electric. Scott Cox gives "Stephen" is interesting. He is the older man who has the resources to keep the good looking young poet and he is a manipulator. The film is a work of art. It challenges and it is hard and raw but it is about life and that is exactly what life is. It is one of the best so far this year and for a directorial debut, Scott Boswell has every reason to be very proud.

"Anthony" (Raphael Barker) has one of those slightly irritating on/off relationships with his rather selfish and thoughtless boyfriend "Stephen" (Scott Cox) that leads the former to find himself walking the streets one night and meeting the young "Gavin" (Adam Perez). This latter young man oozes a streetwise confidence that "Anthony" finds compelling after a while and the two start to bond a little. It's not a romance as such, it's a rather peculiar form of inter-dependency and for a while director Scott Boswell manages to keep the personalities interesting enough. Unfortunately, though, we quickly find ourself in a rather well trammelled gay story that plays a bit to a San Francisco's rather poisonous stereotype that couldn't make a decision if the city was, once again, on fire! Perez adds a bit of charm to his character, and is easy enough on the eye - but that gloss peters out as we discover that - well you'd have to watch and see, before a rather disappointingly flat conclusion to an over long 1¾ hours of melodrama filmed in a fashion that I found initially quite creative, but ultimately pointless. I suppose it's asking us to try and take stock of just how well we actually know ourselves, but with too much verbiage. Sorry, one to avoid I'm afraid.

After I watched this, I immediately wanted to watch it all over again. It's not something that happens every time I watch a movie of course...just the ones that I really enjoyed or spoke to me in some way. The Stranger in Us, was obviously, one of those films. It's a slightly dark film all around and definitely shows the harder side of being in a relationship (Anthony) and finding freedom and the chance to be yourself (Gavin).

One of the things that I kept thinking about The Stranger in Us is that Adam Perez, who played Gavin, is an amazing actor. I really enjoyed the character of Gavin...and he's definitely the "young adult" point of view as he's 17 through most of it. I just think Perez did an amazing job showing viewers the type of person that Gavin is and who he wishes he could be. He deals with a lot but he also has a very optimistic look on life. He does things that he shouldn't, but he also helps Anthony stay on the right side of life in other ways by not doing drugs, and not going back to Stephen. You look at the type of things Gavin does to survive on his own and you might think he has no respect for himself, but it's not as simple as that. You really get to see the various sides of his life.

The Stranger in Us is set up, editing wise, in an interesting fashion. It took me awhile to follow actually as it has three different times being mixed together. I suppose it's hard to explain, but it gets easier as the film goes on. You just have to keep watching, figure out what is happening and when, and you're good.

I'm not sure The Stranger in Us has a rating, but I suppose with everything included...I would say it's rated R as it can be a bit graphic in parts. You definitely should have a more mature audience viewing this.

I was sad when the ending came, but I also found it to be realistic. Not everything is the way you might wish it to be, and it's definitely not a "happily ever after" end, but again, it seems more real because of this. You can still see the silver lining so to speak. It definitely left me curious about the characters' futures though and I think that's a sign of a pretty good film.

...seem to be giving this garbage a 10...which can only mean they were part of the cast themselves, because no one in their right mind would give this more than a 3 max. San Francisco is a really toxic and inhospitable place, but it is ANYTHING but gay-unfriendly, which made a lot of these scenes completely unbelievable. And every gay man who has ever lived in San Francisco has a story...and 9 out of 10 will be FAR more entertaining than this one. Yes, bad relationships happen...nothing particularly new being said here at all. Just a very sloppily edited, scripted, filmed and acted piece of amateur video. The whole date titles were unoriginal and confusing as well. Nothing good or entertaining here to recommend.