The Humans reviews

[Okri]

It really is helped by the big screen, in my mind. Two things the camera work did very well to me: emphasize the feeling of claustrophobia and dislocation all these characters felt and constantly positioned their engagements with each other relative to the other characters. The conversations might be a room away, but we're near another character who might or might not be listening. It might be half framed, but Karam is consistently emphasizing geography and location. It was a little over the top (the camera circles a lot) and close to cheap horror to be 100% effective, but it works more often than it doesn't. At the very least, I think that was Karam's guiding scheme when filming it.

[Mister Tee]

Since I've always argued the difference between watching a film at home and in a theatre, I'm willing to accept this movie might have played better for an audience on a decent-sized screen. But, watched at home on Showtime, this is close to a complete bust. As I noted below, I never found the play to be very much -- where Karam's earlier Sons of the Prophet had been overstuffed with plot elements, this one feels pretty woefully thin (and, unless I'm misremembering, in this version, they've reduced one key development to the point it barely registers). It wasn't bad, but kind of mediocre.

But that's not my biggest problem with the film. My issue is the thing all those reviews below raved about: the weird way the film is shot. I've never see a movie that seemed so intent on coming up with pointlessly oddball camera angles -- shooting conversations from two rooms away, or seen through a half-open door -- or in essentially complete darkness. It feels like Karam was determined this not come off as just a filmed play -- but, without any real reasons (at least, reasons discernible to me) for where he places his camera, it just feels like he's shooting it strangely for the sake of novelty. It makes it feel like he doesn't trust his material to play on its own. Worse, the technique kept alienating me from the material -- whatever value the play has rests on the audience being in close with the characters, hearing their words and grasping their feelings. How can you do that when you can barely see the actors -- and, too frequently, can't really make out what they're saying? There are occasional moments where the actors -- mostly Jenkins or Houdyshell -- get to take center-screen, as it were, and you can get some connection to the characters and their plights. But those are very few and far between. For the most part, I felt like the movie was taking place too far away for me to care.

As I say, maybe there's some miraculous difference between how this looks on a big screen and how it plays at home. But I read those enthusiastic reviews and I wonder what the hell those critics were smoking.

[Big Magilla]

And another one.

https://www.thewrap.com/the-humans-film ... y-schumer/

[Mister Tee]

Some other reviews, backing up the initial take.

At minimum, Jenkins and Houdyshell would be strong contenders for on-stage Tony-winning roles (including Houdyshell herself).

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/s ... gdnculture

https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/t ... 235062195/

ADDED ON EDIT:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235010730/

[Mister Tee]

We'll need more reviews to confirm, but this is a promising start for one of the few notable Toronto premieres.

Full disclosure: I can't say I was crazy about the play; the ultimate revelations rang as fairly minor, to me.

https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the ... 89.article