For as much as writer/director Anthony Chen tries to instill a sense of epicness - a large city setting, several interconnected stories, and a years-long timeline - throughout his newest feature, We Are All Strangers, what’s most pertinent about it is how painfully familiar it all feels. This is the third and final chapter in the Singaporean filmmaker’s Growing Up trilogy after 2013’s Ilo Ilo and 2019’s Wet Season. Despite bringing back Yann Yann Yeo and Jia Ler Koh, the stars of those previous features, the nuance has been lost in the shuffle, replaced with a tone and story beats more in line with a prestige soap opera.

Things do begin serenely well as we watch Boon Kiat (Andi Lim) prepare fried noodles in his street-level shop within the hustle and bustle of the city. The immense sense of hunger I got from those images was not nourished by the food for the soul that Chen hoped to serve over the next 150 minutes. Boon’s young son Junyang (Jia Ler Koh) is aimless, desiring to carve out an existence more than the meager one his father has. Yet, for all his whining, he is without an ounce of his father’s dedication, relying on his mandatory military service to prop himself up for success.

That mix of entitlement and laziness is why he’s looked down upon by the mother of his straight-A student girlfriend, Lydia (Regene Lim). The pair are secretly in love, yet are clearly on different paths of success in life. They quickly meet in the middle after an unexpected pregnancy, which prompts a hasty marriage and moving in together. At the same time, the widowed Boon is courting Bee Hwa, a hostess at his shop. Mismatched as their personalities might be, there’s a mutual understanding of where each of them is at this point in their lives.

All of this unfolds exactly as expected, each new development completely predictable at least twenty minutes before it rears its head around the corner. And with those 150 total minutes, that’s a lot of time dedicated to a story that either needs to be turned into a miniseries or severely cut down. In this awkward middle-child form, the youthful energy of the new parents clashes with the laid-back romance of the older ones. Pick just one of these storylines (my vote is strongly for the latter), and there’s potential for a much more insightful film.

Chen is obviously still a gifted filmmaker, never making this a total bore or eyesore. The neon lights of the city illuminate each night, and the pair of Kin Leonn and Thomas Foguenne provide a gentle score. Still, I felt like a stranger to all these characters at the end of their journeys. That might be a cheeky way to tie back to the title, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Chen had in mind.

We Are All Strangers had its North American premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Film Movement will release the film at a later date.