VOD film review: The Humans
Review Overview
Terrific performances
9.5Karam's direction
9Existential terror
8.5Matthew Turner | On 24, Dec 2021
Director: Stephen Karam
Cast: Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, June Squibb
Certificate: 15
Playwright Stephen Karam makes his directorial debut with The Humans, a self-scripted adaptation of his own Tony award-winning play. Ostensibly, it’s an emotionally engaging family-gathering-for-the-holidays drama, complete with the traditional secrets and lies, but the script, setting and sound design make it more chilling than any recent horror movie.
The entirety of the film takes place in a dilapidated Chinatown apartment, the new home of Brigid (Beanie Feldstein) and boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun). With most of the furniture still undelivered, Brigid hosts Thanksgiving dinner for her family, which includes parents Erik and Deirdre (Richard Jenkins and Jayne Houdyshell), lesbian sister Aimee (Amy Schumer) and Erik’s wheelchair-bound, Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother, Momo (June Squibb), who have all made the trip from Scranton, Pennysylvania.
Throughout the course of the day, family tensions and individual preoccupations rear their heads, such as the fact that Aimee has recently separated from her girlfriend and is worried she’ll lose her job. At the same time, the apartment itself is beset with problems, from lightbulbs blowing on a regular basis and damp-stained walls to oppressively loud, jump-scare-worthy noises from the flat above.
There’s nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the secrets and lies that come to light – if anything, by the standards of the family-gathering genre, they’re rather tame. It would be unfair to describe the family as dysfunctional or estranged, because they all clearly love each other.
However, there’s a distinct atmosphere of fatalistic gloom that accompanies each revelation, the idea that nothing works out the way you want, despite your best intentions. That’s heightened considerably by the everything-falling-apart nature of the apartment as well as its location – only a few blocks from Ground Zero, which triggers fears and memories of 9/11 for Erik.
The production design is extremely impressive. There’s a lot of space in the apartment, but it’s mostly empty without furniture and the walls, already covered in peeling paint, are filled with darkness that seems to move, whether because of growing damp patches or the lack of natural light in the apartment. It’s something of a cliché to say that the apartment itself becomes a character, but that’s definitely true here. Indeed, at times, the whole film is like a haunted house movie, the home making its presence powerfully felt throughout.
The performances are superb, particularly Jayne Houdyshell, the only member of the cast who also played the same role on stage. She’s simply incredible as Deirdre, her face registering every slight and insult, and you feel for her deeply, not least in a seemingly tiny, but no less heartbreaking, moment where she denies herself the dessert she wants because of what’s been said about her weight.
Jenkins is on familiar ground as Erik and he’s predictably great, but there’s also superb work from Amy Schumer, taking on her first straight dramatic role and knocking it out of the park. The scene where she calls her ex-girlfriend and the reality of her situation becomes clear is quietly devastating to watch.
Similarly, Feldstein and Yeun both create believable, heartfelt characters, while Squibb expertly portrays the horror, the heartbreak and the occasional absurdity of Alzheimer’s, adding another level of existential terror to the darkness.
By turns uncomfortable, oppressive, touching and terrifying, this is a superbly acted, profoundly moving picture that expertly blends family drama and horror into a haunting experience. It’s also the perfect film for Christmas 2021. Happy holidays!