Wright crafts a hyper-elaborate set-up and delicate drip-feed of information which make spoilers an equal crime, but The Stranger is more of a felt experience than a traditional policier.

| Dec 14, 2022

Taut and effective.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 25, 2022

The Stranger is spare, disciplined storytelling with stark visuals and a strained tone.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 22, 2022

In tone, the film is brilliantly hidden. It takes a long while to work out what’s happening. The atmosphere is gloomy, distrustful, brutal in language, with a jangly soundscape and music.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 6, 2022

To call it an unconventionally impressive crime drama is to put it very lightly.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 5, 2022

The Stranger definitely feels like an elevated genre exercise -- more challenging than the average crime drama but also more interesting.

| May 23, 2022

The convoluted plot is withholding in a way that makes it difficult to truly connect with the story, as worthy a subject it might be.

| May 21, 2022

You’re left with an admiration for the extraordinary police work that usually remains secret by its very nature -- and this quietly compelling insight will stay with you for a while.

| May 20, 2022

This is a curious, slightly underwhelming offering. Even so, falling flat as a result of being understated to a fault is a promising event in a genre dominated by obvious signposting, and Wright is certainly one to watch for the future.

| Original Score: B- | May 20, 2022

“The Stranger” confirms that Wright has arrived, even if his treatment sometimes feels more oblique and self-consciously arty than the material demands.

| May 20, 2022