LOVE IS STRANGE
DIRECTOR: Ira Sachs
CAST: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren E Burrows, Charlie Tahan
CLASSIFICATION: 7-9 PG
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Ann Hornaday
A COMMON adage about great screen acting is that it’s less about doing than being. Alfred Molina and John Lithgow provide a master class in that subtle, sublime endeavour in Love Is Strange, a superbly crafted and moving portrait of family in its many forms and emotional permutations.
Ben (Lithgow) and George (Molina) have been together for almost 40 years when they are finally able to get married. Love Is Strange opens on their wedding day, during which they’re toasted by, among others, Ben’s nephew’s wife, Kate (Tomei), who raises a glass to the inspiration of their commitment to each other and to how much they’ve taught her and her husband, Elliot (Burrows), about staying together.
It’s a moving encomium, but it will be put to the test once Love Is Strange gets under way. Through-out this drama, Ben and George will not only find their union challenged, but will confront the limits of their loving extended clan, genetic and chosen.
The plot deals with many of the same themes and problems as Please Give, Nicole Holofcener’s wise and funny comedy of manners set against the backdrop of Manhattan real estate. (One of the funniest running gags in Love Is Strange is the way Ben and George’s Manhattan friends disdainfully say the word “Poughkeepsie” when someone brings it up as a living option, as if it’s simply too outré to contemplate.)
Much as his characters do, director Ira Sachs makes New York something of its own character, filming affectionate shots of the city’s skyline with the same subdued tones that Ben uses in the painting he’s working on from Kate and Elliot’s rooftop.
Sachs manages to capture life at its most quotidian, irritating and endearing, while injecting the film with a subtle sense of outrage and impending unease. Although Ben and George seem rock-solid, viewers might well wonder where this small but pivotal chapter in their lives will lead them. The same questions surround Kate and Elliot’s son, Joey (Tahan), whose adolescent preoccupations don’t always jibe with having Uncle Ben in such close proximity.
Filmed in a series of beautifully arranged vignettes, set to a gorgeous classic soundtrack of mostly Chopin piano pieces, Love Is Strange wends its way to a shattering final moment, all the more stunning for the film’s most important events having happened off screen.
Love Is Strange turns out to be a subtle, sidelong coming-of-age and letting-go-of-age story, a lyrical ode to longing and passion that were there all along, had we only noticed. Attention is duly paid in this touching film; the strangest thing about Love Is Strange is how completely un-strange it is, from its familiar family dynamics to its exquisite honesty and compassion. – Washington Post
If you liked Keep the Lights On or Forty Shades of Blue, you will like this.