‘The Strays’ Review: Sometimes Leaving Is the Best Possible Choice

Netflix comes around once again with one of its original films. This is the time we are here to talk about The Strays, a new movie that deals with all sorts of topics: identity politics here and class struggles over there. It also tackles things like racism, mental health, child abuse, etc. By that list, you would think that The Strays is on fire when it comes to delivering a potent message. It doesn’t, because sadly, it fails to make any characters likable enough to ground the morals at any level.

The Strays is written and directed by Nathaniel Martello-White, making this his jump into the world of features after having directed some shorts. Nathaniel fills his movie with a great cast of actors: Ashley Madekwe, Justine Salinger, Maria Almeida, Bukky Bakray, Samuel Paul Small, and Jorden Myrie. The film tells the story of Eve, a perfect mother and professional who sees her life dismantled when two strangers and the people she loves appear near her.

The Strays adopt a chapter structure that feels more like a gimmick than something that the story actually needs. Those who saw Barbarian last year will find something similar in this movie. It feels like the work of someone trying to say something but not knowing how. It is funny that this feeling is also translated into the characters, who want to say something but end up not doing it or doing something else entirely. The result is a movie that feels like an idea worth following but not enough actually to make a movie around it.

The main issue with the movie is that it never really fully stops exploring any of the many topics it throws at the wall. There is a clear commentary here on how black people perceive themselves and how that affects their interaction with other black people and also people from other ethnicities. The topic is brought up, and that is it. We never see how the characters really feel about it or how they try to deal with the problem if they can. The same happens with all other topics. It feels like the movie needs something to make it relevant, and those topics certainly are nowadays.

Does the story need those topics? Not really. A woman of any race could have played the premise, and as such, it feels like something that was just added to the story in the post and not something that was part of it from the beginning. The movie also makes choices with some characters that feel quite strange. The characters that ignite the story’s conflict are black, bringing many of the topics that touch superficial. However, as the movie progresses, the director’s portrayal of the characters feels very weird. As if in approval or simply certifying what many people out there say.

Thankfully, the performances are the strongest element in the movie. Madekwe serves the main character role perfectly. She goes through an entire spectrum of emotions in this movie, and this could really be a calling card for her in the future. The other actors do their best, but the material also lets them down, especially when it comes to Bakray and Myrie. Both performers are clearly talented, but their characters in this movie are completely unsympathetic.

Characters don’t have to be likable to be well-written. They also don’t have to be likable to be on the right side of an issue. The problem is that these characters are not only unlikable but also wrong on their side of the argument. From this point of view, the movie tries to justify many things, or so it seems, but very little work is done. When the last decision of the main character appears, you can only rest easy because someone finally did the right thing.

The structure also seems to be part of the problem, as the first and second acts overlap a bit by showing some events from different points of view when it was clearly unnecessary. The chapter structure might give the story more prestige inside someone’s head, but it doesn’t really offer any sort of depth when it comes to the execution of the narrative. The last act also feels incredibly overlong and obnoxious. Maybe that was the creator’s intent, but if so, then congratulations on making me not care about what happened to any of the characters on screen.

The Strays seems to have a very interesting idea in mind. It tries to use horror tropes and use them in what is a more psychological type of horror. However, these horror conventions only serve to detract from the story and make some of the characters feel like complete cartoons. The movie is shot in a very competent way, but nothing here in terms of visuals will make you exclaim in awe at what you are watching. A movie like “His House” do a better job of exploring characters and the consequences of their actions in a more believable way.

SCORE: 5/10