The Kindness of Strangers 2019

Clara Scott, Zoe Kazan, escapes an abusive marriage to her husband Richard David Dencik, a police officer, and flees to New York City with her two sons, Anthony Jack Fulton and Jude Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, under the pretense of a vacation.

In New York, the family struggles with homelessness, often driving around in their car and relying on shoplifting to survive. They are eventually taken in by a nurse, Alice Andrea Riseborough, who runs a local church and support group.

Alice is a vocal advocate for the homeless and has befriended a young man named Jeff Caleb Landry Jones, whose own struggles with work and housing reflect the broader challenges faced by those she helps.

During a winter night, a disoriented Jude collapses in a snowstorm and is hospitalized, while Clara is taken in by ex-convict Marc Tahar Rahim, a man who becomes a steady presence in their lives. Anthony is initially hostile toward Marc, but he gradually warms to him as the group navigates their precarious situation.

Anthony uncovers a troubling file on Richard’s computer—explicit crimes against women—which shifts the family’s path toward justice. With Marc’s support, Clara hires a lawyer and enlists Marc’s friend John Peter Jay Baruchel to help build a case against Richard. In a parallel moment, Richard beats his father with a phone when he refuses to help him, a detail that underscores the volatility beneath the family’s fragile stability. Richard is later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, marking a pivotal turn in their fight for safety and accountability.

Back home, Jude’s relationship with his mother remains strained due to their time on the streets, yet there is healing as they rebuild trust and begin to move forward together. In the final chapters, Jeff finds steadier footing too, securing a job at a restaurant run by Timofey Bill Nighy, bringing a sense of earned hope to the small circle of people who supported Clara and her family.

The film blends intimate family drama with social realism, portraying resilience in the face of hardship, the bonds that form in crisis, and the slow but real progress that comes from confronting painful truths.