(Written by Allison Brown)
Writer/director Anu Valia has a definitive filmmaking style, that’s for sure, if debut solo feature We Strangers is indicative of anything. A richly vivid color palette paired with repetition, solid flashing screens, and ripe symbolism make for layered imagery. The irony of turning gel cleaner swirling down the toilet into stunning cinematography is not lost on this journalist. Repetition of macro drain shots, a framed caricature family picture, and an evolving volcano are also striking. The volcano violently erupts when a smoke alarm goes off from burnt food, but also seeps lava when life seems to be finally comfortable. Perhaps this is demonstrating a juxtaposition of meaning in terms of destruction and chaos versus rebirth. The film’s metaphorical meanings may be too difficult to grasp for many viewers.
Frivolity and gullibility are the name of the game in this shallow world where Ray Martin (Kirby) works cleaning offices and private homes. Unlike other similar class analysis films that position very rich folks next to extremely poor ones, Valia presents a more realistic comparison. Martin seems to be of the lower middle class, while her clients are only upper middle echelon. These people are disconnected from reality, but still observant of the world around them. A prisoner’s problem is presented twice, once by an employer and another by an equal class friend; the perspective of reception fully changes with disgust from one point of view to lament and pity in the other. The endless struggle of hustle culture takes precedence over much of the messaging. As Ray becomes more involved with the two wealthier families and her psychic scam, each of her responsibilities blend into another, and it becomes difficult to delineate where one begins and another ends.
The Karen archetype, as well as Republican Americana, integrates effectively. One of the strongest shots is a wall of framed American flag photography that a character brags he has taken himself in 26 different states; naturally, he plans to eventually hit all 50. The fact that the Laich family has devoted such a large amount of wall space to this phenomenon, including a well-placed banner of stars and stripes at the entry to their home, shows their hyperbolic devotion to the country.
Perhaps the biggest fault here is the lack of a true boiling point or climax after substantial buildup. I kept waiting for conflict to escalate, yet it remains tame throughout. A directorial Q&A could surely benefit viewers in elaborating intention behind included confusing symbolic images. Nevertheless, We Strangers still entertains with its deeply expanded commentary on class disparity and the gig economy.
We Strangers detects your aura when it premieres at the 2024 South by Southwest Film Festival on Saturday, March 9th.
