● Film
Ensembles
“The Humans” MAIN CAST: Beanie
Feldstein, Jayne Houdyshell, Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, June Squibb, Steven Yeun Karam DISTRIBUTED BY: A24
CASTING BY: Ellen
Chenoweth
DIRECTED BY: Stephen
Karam
WRITTEN BY: Stephen
ANYONE WITH A WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF New York theater is familiar with the impact “The Humans” had when it hit Broadway in 2016. It was only a matter of time before the disquieting family drama—which won the Tony for best play and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—got the prestige film treatment. We’re in good hands with playwright Stephen Karam at the helm as writer and director; he gives his material an impressively cinematic spin. The movie feels right at home among distributor A24’s growing roster of much-loved indie features. Beanie Feldstein stars as Brigid Blake, an artist on the cusp of adulthood who’s settling into New York’s Chinatown neighborhood with her boyfriend Richard, played by Oscar nominee Steven Yeun. As a housewarming for their rundown pre-war duplex apartment, they host the rest of the Blake family for Thanksgiving, who come in from Pennsylvania. Richard Jenkins is patriarch Erik; Jayne Houdyshell, the only holdover from the original Broadway cast, is matriarch Deirdre; Amy Schumer is Brigid’s sister Aimee; and Academy Award
nominee June Squibb is their dementia-addled grandmother Momo. The entire film takes place in the confines of the apartment to both intimate and, as the evening goes on, horrifically claustrophobic effect. Is there anything Feldstein can’t do? It’s easy to imagine Brigid as an older version of her “Lady Bird” breakout Julie. Warm and bubbly with dashes of neuroticism and self-loathing, she’s the relatable but not altogether reliable heart of the film, frenetically doing her best to not disappoint those around her. Richard, meanwhile, is her calm other half who seems unfit to weather the building emotional storm, which Yeun conveys with riveting nuance. It’s later revealed that Richard is on the other side of a depressive episode, which Erik shrugs off as a problem that doesn’t affect his family. (It clearly does, but the issue goes undiagnosed.) As Erik, two-time Oscar nominee Jenkins thrives where other actors might falter. Hiding a secret that slowly slips out after one too many beers, he holds our attention through the film’s creeping close-ups and elongated silences. He memorably embodies Erik’s habit
of staring blankly out of the apartment’s dust-clouded windows. His interior life is so engaging and his contradictory starkness and complexity is so heartbreaking that you begin to feel as trapped within his mind as the Blakes do in their single setting. His counterpart is Houdyshell, who finally gets the moment to shine that fans of her stage work have been waiting for, reprising her Tony-winning Deirdre. Her expressive face captures the bubbling existential crisis of “The Humans” with unforgettable precision. She’s matched by Schumer, whose dramatic turn as Aimee is stirringly somber—and surprising, given her bare-it-all comedic stylings. As the most direct product of Erik and Deirdre’s emotional stuntedness, she spends the evening grappling with insecurity, loneliness, and discomfort in her own skin in the wake of a tumultuous breakup. It feels like Aimee carries more sadness than she knows what to do with. Witnessing Schumer authentically tap into those parts of herself will have you wishing she’d sign up for more of A24’s family outings gone wrong. —BENJAMIN LINDSAY
WILSON WEBB
BACKSTAGE 12.20.21
28
backstage.com
FIRSTNAME/LASTNAME
RICHARD JENKINS
