THE HUMANS
★★★★
OUT 31 DECEMBER / CERT TBC / 108 MINS
DIRECTOR Stephen Karam
CAST Richard Jenkins, Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer, Steven Yeun
It’s snowing, one character observes in The Humans, gazing through a murky window. No, says another — an upstairs neighbour just emptied their ashtray. Bleak reality shoots through Stephen Karam’s film, adapted from his acclaimed play. As young couple Brigid (Beanie Feldstein) and Richard (Steven Yeun) host a Thanksgiving dinner in their run-down apartment, generational divides exacerbate tense circumstances — the place is rotting, and maybe this family is, too. The film’s theatrical roots are never quite extinguished, but Karam and cinematographer Lol Crawley make ingenious use of space and light, the creeping camera observing the family like a killer. We’re stuck right in there with them, boxed inside their personal hell. An inventive take on the human condition.