In Anu Valia’s quietly observant indie drama We Strangers, Kirby Howell-Baptiste steps into a job outlined by subtlety, a girl who works for a business cleansing firm in Northwest Indiana and whose life unfolds within the margins of different individuals’s tales. However inside that quiet, the movie uncovers one thing profound: a portrait of labor, id, and belonging, advised with endurance and empathy.
However beneath that exterior, the movie uncovers a wealthy internal world full of resilience, dignity, and longing. It’s a narrative about class, id, and what it means to really see and be seen in a world that usually appears to be like previous you.
For each Howell-Baptiste and Valia, We Strangers turned an act of empathy and transformation. Collectively, they constructed a narrative that honors the emotional lives of working-class ladies, whereas exploring how our environments form who we change into.
For Kirby, bringing her character to life meant greater than memorizing strains, it meant embodying her humanity. In an interview with Black Lady Nerds, she expresses candidly what that meant to her throughout filming:
“I feel the factor I needed so as to add to her that wasn’t on the web page was simply a component of… it’s virtually like, whenever you create one thing like this, it’s such as you draw the mannequin,” she explains. “That’s what Anu had carried out. After which somebody is available in like a magician and brings it to life. I needed to be that particular person, the one who brings it from 2D to 3D.”
Kirby’s artistry has at all times been rooted in authenticity, as followers of her work as Dying in Netflix’s Sandman we all know she likes to push boundaries and her method right here was no totally different. On this case, she didn’t depend on formulation or appearing methods. As a substitute, she drew from her personal lived experiences, immersing herself on this planet of her character.
“I don’t know that I may say I did X, Y, Z,” she displays. “A whole lot of it got here from the experiences I’ve had. I labored with a girl named Roberta who owned a business cleansing firm. I spent a very long time in Gary, Indiana. I steeped myself in that world.”
For writer-director Anu Valia, We Strangers is greater than a movie, it’s a mirrored image of her personal journey. Rising up as an Indian American in Northwest Indiana, she realized to maneuver between areas, adapting to the shifting expectations round her.
“Rising up as an Indian American child in Northwest Indiana, that’s the place the movie takes place, simply exterior Chicago. I really feel like I turned superb at being a chameleon, at altering who I used to be in several conditions,” she shares. “And I wasn’t even conscious of it. I wasn’t sensible sufficient to suppose I used to be doing that.”
Collectively, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Anu Valia rework We Strangers right into a meditation on id, labor, and belonging. Their collaboration reminds us that there’s energy within the tales of people that work arduous, dream quietly, and transfer by the world unseen. For audiences who crave depth, nuance, and illustration, We Strangers is a reminder that each life holds that means and each story deserves to be advised.
We Strangers is at present accessible on video on demand.
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