Written and directed by Oliver Warren, co-directed by leading actor AJ Vaage, In the near future, 28-year-old coder Giles, returns to his family home with stunning news, guaranteed to shock his parents. Through his work at visionary tech firm MindCorp, he has been invited to partake in a revolutionary procedure: the seamless networking of four human brains, known as a Cognitive Quad. Also starring: Bernadette Moran, Hugo Salter and Che Walker.
One of the high quality elements of We/Us that’s immediately apparent is the aesthetic because the direction and cinematography are excellent. The richness and depth of the colour palette are exceptional, the use of shadows stands out in particular to accent the charged atmosphere. The editing is also strong work, feeding into the intensity with the way it cuts together different angles. It’s visually all working together in a very satisfyingly cohesive and succinct way.
Those choices work particularly well at matching the tone of the writing, everything is slightly on edge, filled with a lot of pent up feelings. The strained relationship between the family versus the warmth between the brothers all ticks the right boxes, however trying to bring through the futuristic elements can be a struggle. The concept itself works perfectly well, as well as the effects, but trying to create that parallel with the coming out experience feels hit and miss. The experiences certainly relate to one another, but using the idea of the Cognitive Quad can take away from the connection and sympathy, in being something so unfamiliar.
There’s also a certain coldness to it, the way that AJ Vaage’s character focuses on emotional neutrality, while interesting, isn’t entirely sympathetic. Especially when the physicality of the role veers into sexualised territory, it’s a strange almost hedonistic touch to something that is otherwise made out to be quite pure and wholesome. It’s perhaps there to communicate a type of euphoria found in the support of others but the line is blurry.
With that choice aside, the performance from Vaage is strong, it’s a difficult thing to balance that neutrality with the history of emotion. It’s impressive how well he can show Giles’ continuous struggle alongside his evolution as Quentin. He has a great chemistry with Hugo Salter as his brother Sammy, the two share a lot of warmth and genuine connection, which is where We/Us is at its most relatable. Bernadette Moran gives us a very familiar character in Giles’ mother, the immediate refusal to accept change, along with a self-involved layer to her perception. Bringing highly defensive and somewhat broken qualities to the table.
We/Us had an interesting concept to take a familiar story and tell it from a new perspective and while it is mostly successful, it can hinder itself emotionally. Aside from that, it’s shot extremely well with a fantastic eye for matching the tone of the visual perfectly to the story. The performances are all strong, bringing the right level of intensity. It plays enough with the sci-fi angle to establish itself but not too much to disconnect it from our reality. The story may not click as strongly as hoped but there’s a lot of impressive elements.
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