This very confident directing debut from writer Stephen Karam has star power that will pull many an unsuspecting viewer into an inexorably bleak story.

You can tell a bit that this is based on a play (Karam’s). It is all set within a dilapidated and echoing Manhattan apartment where the camera weaves between members of a family as they come together for Thanksgiving. It’s all dialogue and familial secrets and squabbles as father Erik (Richard Jenkins), mother Deidre (Jayne Houdyshell), grandmother Momo (June Squibb) and daughter Aimee (Amy Schumer) join other daughter Brigid (Beanie Feldstein) and her partner Richard (Steven Yeun) in their ‘new’ home.

There isn’t really a plot, we are claustrophobically compelled to watch a family’s dysfunction. We see them go through all the motions of togetherness – shared traditions, concern for each other, offers of help – and slip into well-worn grooves of disappointment and resentment. The apartment is very inconveniently split over two levels and individuals keep drifting apart, becoming lost in a labyrinthine nightmare of narrow hallways and hidden doors. The camera similarly drifts, often moving away from the dialogue so that we can hear what is said but focus on a room or a person and their isolation.

There are some obvious metaphors – the crumbling and stained rooms, lights that keep going out, disconnected pathways, opaque windows – all building a picture of people who are falling apart and unable to connect with each other. The camera sometimes roves over the rotting features of the apartment with a soundscape that mimics the scraping, groaning noises of horror. It builds a tension and discomfort that is never released, although there are some hints at the end that we might be seeing an individual’s mental breakdown.

The acting is all really good and it feels like an even-handed ensemble where each flawed character contributes their own nugget of tragedy. There’s no getting away from how depressingly sad it is, though, and it felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel (or long, dimly lit hallway).

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