“The film is the thing,” writer-director Anu Valia told the audience before screening her debut feature, quoting surrealist auteur David Lynch. Just like Lynch, Valia refused to divulge her dreamy movie’s meaning. We Strangers is a specter to float above viewers’ minds long after the credits.
Ostensibly set in Gary, Indiana, We Strangers follows Ray Martin (Kirby), a commercial cleaner. She’s working for Dr. Patel (Hari Dhillon), a therapist of sorts who’s moving out of his office, when he offers to pay her for personal maid services. Ray, a savvy hustler, accepts the gig. “Free Your Mind,” reads Patel’s billboard, and that she does, sensing something brooding in this nowhere-and-everywhere town.
The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest, a strong contender in the narrative feature competition. From the first sequence, audiences are clued in that what they’re watching is a hypnotic mind-bender. Whirring sound design gives way to an opening shot of a cloudy mountaintop, a recurring motif. Cut to Ray in the middle of cleaning out the doctor’s office when she’s approached by a stranger, Jean Laich (Maria Dizzia). It’s clear Laich has some ambiguous relationship to Dr. Patel. That connection becomes even blurrier when Dr. Patel pays Ray to clean Laich’s home, too.
Forced into an awkward arrangement, Ray finds herself vulnerable in this three-way power dynamic. It’s not long before she gains the upper hand. ”I can do that,” Ray says to Laich as she’s watching a reality show about a ghost whisperer. Pretending to have psychic medium powers, Ray convinces Laich she can contact the dead – and charges her for her services.
The story, fascinating on its own, pales in comparison to the technical and visual elements of the film. The film utilizes everything in the toolshed: superimposed images, split screens, slideshow animations, the works. The result, like an impressionistic painting, is ethereal and mesmerizing, with editor James Codoyannis’ (Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts) skilled cutting creating a kind of magical unrealism. For a directorial debut, Valia impressively achieves qualities of the masters: the illusory dream-state of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the cunning storytelling and social satire of Bong Joon Ho. Even if at times certain conceits need refinement, the bold choices and ideas presented strike such a singular tone that it’s hard not to look forward to more from this filmmaker.
We Strangers
Narrative Feature Competition, World Premiere
Monday, March 11, 3:45pm, Alamo South LamarFriday, March 15, 9:15pm, Alamo South Lamar
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This article appears in March 8 • 2024.