‘We Strangers’ Review: A Wry, Socially Conscious Study of a Cleaning Lady Who Pretends to Be Clairvoyant

variety.com:

Stephen Saito In “We Strangers,” Rayelle (Kirby) confesses to her mother (Tina Lifford) that she doesn’t have dreams. Perhaps she doesn’t have time for them, or else she’s simply too exhausted to hang onto anything else in her head after spending her days as a cleaning lady, monitoring her every move so as not to become any part of the mess she picks up for other people.

Still, this isn’t to say she can’t have fantasies in Anu Valia’s absorbing character study, except like everything else her life, they’re not for herself when her observational skills lead some to think she’s psychic.

After honing her craft directing prestige TV shows such as “The Afterparty” and “Shrill,” Valia makes an aesthetically striking feature debut that may impress even more with the clear eyes she brings to the trickle effect of privilege, envisioning the ability to say no as a luxury that those toiling away in the lowest rungs of society simply can’t afford.

The word doesn’t even seem to be in Rayelle’s vocabulary after cleaning out the offices of Dr. Patel (Hari Dhillon), a local dentist who invites her back to tidy up his house despite the fact she doesn’t do domestic work and the prospect of setting her own rate is stress-inducing.