The architectural quirks and flaws of a given space are harnessed to explore the tensions within the family inhabiting it: Stephen Karam’s The Humans is the latest in a long line of films to employ a device that was most recently used to impressive effect in Sean Durkin’s The Nest. But while Durkin’s picture was strikingly cinematic in its approach, The Humans struggles to escape its theatrical origins – the film is adapted from Karam’s own Tony award-winning stage play.
It’s not the most visually arresting work, but the sound design team excel – the prewar apartment in lower Manhattan creaks and groans its displeasure during a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving. The casting is also first-rate, with Richard Jenkins and a wounded, garrulous Jayne Houdyshell the standouts. They play the father and mother of Beanie Feldstein’s Brigid, whose grimly daylight-free new home is the location chosen for dinner, and a dessert course serving of family scandal.
In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema
