STRANGERS A late-night contract murder, carried out with methodical ferocity, is followed by a kidnapping, and these violent but silently accomplished acts set the tone for an atmospheric L.A. noir. Director Aki’s vision of the city is one of constricted spaces and eerily under-populated streets, where his taciturn killer plies his trade as a solitary loner. The dead man’s girlfriend turns out to be the hitman’s next assignment, but an unfamiliar longing for connection stays his hand, and the two embark on an odd-couple odyssey that by necessity evolves into a getaway.