A Thanksgiving Dinner with More Than Food Involved

From left: June Squibb, Beanie Feldstein,
Steven Yeun, Richard Jenkins, 
Jayne Houdyshell, and Amy Schumer in
"The Humans"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

There isn’t a better to time than Thanksgiving for movie studio A24 to release its latest drama, “The Humans,” which is based on Stephen Karam’s 2016 Tony Award-winning one-act play of the same name. Taking place on the aforementioned holiday, it reflects the experiences of many families, in that each family has its own story, and within that are the individual stories of each member.  Any viewer can watch this story unfold and see themselves in at least one of the characters.

In his feature-directorial debut, Karam delivers an adaptation that captures the tense, sometimes haunting tone of his play to perfection, all in a story that will elicit laughs, tension, and tears.

On Thanksgiving, a young couple, Richard (Steven Yeun) and Brigid (Beanie Feldstein), host dinner at their Manhattan apartment in Chinatown for the latter’s family, which includes her father (Richard Jenkins), mother (Jayne Houdyshell, who won a Tony Award for originating the role), sister (Amy Schumer), and grandmother (June Squibb).  As the six of them spend the day together, they will face familial issues that begin to surface.

The whole cast provides terrific performances that play off of each other so, so well.  The way in which they interact paints them as a real family for whom you feel the love and thorns between them.  There’s a strong genuineness to how they act within the situation that the family is facing, making sure that there isn’t a false note in any of the performances.

Jenkins delivers the standout performance of the ensemble, portraying a father who tries to steer his daughters in the best direction that he sees, despite not doing so in the most tactful way.  He’s a father figure to whom we can relate in one way or another, and even if he might say or do the wrong thing, we know it all comes out of his love for his daughters.  There are small details as to why he’s like this, and they’re revealed sparingly throughout the duration of the movie.  It’s an emotional performance as you see Jenkins’ character trying to connect with his loved ones, but something always seems to be holding him back from doing the best that he can, making him look devastatingly alone in certain scenes.

Karam’s screenplay is able to cover everything that happens in the play, but even if you’ve read it, it all feels fresh because of how well you see it unfold as a movie.  Just like the source material, the screenplay takes a simple scenario like a family dinner and allows it to build upon little moments that soon lead into something bigger as everyone becomes more and more strained from being together.  We’re able to learn about each character and the different challenges that they face, which constructs a deep view into their lives that covers so much in a narrative timeframe that just lasts a day.

The title itself carries the connotation of something akin to a horror story.  With it just being called “The Humans,” it’s as if this is a narrative about beings that are meant to be feared and seen from a distance.  There’s a scene in the film where Yeun’s character mentions a comic book that he would read when he was younger about an alien species that told horror stories about humans, and what we have here is a movie that comes very close to that.  This is horror on an emotional level, the kind of emotions that people might sometimes experience during family gatherings. 

The cinematography by Lol Crawley frames the family in several different ways, whether it be watching them from another room; being in the same room as them, but from a distance; or having long takes that slowly zoom in on the characters.  This provides the movie with an observational view as we’re given the opportunity to examine these characters within the confines of the apartment.  Sometimes, the way in which the camera gradually zooms in is slow enough to the point where you won’t even notice that it’s been zooming in until you happen to look over at the edge of the screen and see things going out of the frame.

Given the way Karam and his cinematographer frame the apartment, we feel the textures and ambiance of the setting.  This duo refrains from making the movie feel stagy, providing this movie with a cinematic feel that shows Karam’s ability to transition from stage to screen.  Although the last shot of the movie is the only one that looks stagy, that’s not at all a bad thing.  The way in which it’s framed makes it one of the most impactful of the movie and highlights the notion of us being observers to the habitat of the humans at the center of the story.

Karam’s use of sound realizes the lifestyle of living in an apartment.  With noises such as footsteps of other tenants, water running, and lightbulbs going out, we’re given a firm sense of place as we travel around this apartment and become acquainted with every room.  Between the sound design, David Gropman’s claustrophobic production design, and the apprehensive discussions amongst the characters, Karam captures the anxiety-inducing feeling of being trapped with this group for the duration of the story (the whole play and movie take place in the apartment). 

A lot of us will be sitting down to holiday meals with family this season, but in between, take some time to join "The Humans" for a special cinematic dinner.

Grade: A