The Humans

Based on writer-director Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning Broadway play, The Humans sees a family gather for Thanksgiving in a pricey but rundown New York apartment. As day passes into night and alcohol flows, simmering tensions and tragic histories are revealed. The knock-out ensemble (including June Squibb, Beanie Feldstein and Jayne Houdyshell) brilliantly navigate unspoken tension. The framing of characters in the gloomy background and eerie talk of bad dreams, give their personal crises a sense of profound existential dread. Brilliant cinematography, editing and sound design create a mood of expressionist horror; the shadows, textures and noises in the old building are almost characters in themselves.