Love is Strange (15.)
Directed by Ira Sachs.
Starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren E. Burrows and Charlie Tahan. 93 mins
Love is strange, but Love Is Strange is anything but. Rather this tale of what happens when two male New Yorkers, Lithgow and Molina, get hitched after 39 years together is stubbornly, defiantly, pointedly ordinary. Even so, giving it a title that drab and forgettable is surely pushing the point a bit far. It may be an amazingly dull title but the film is impressively understated and quietly moving. It's the kind of film that could give “classy and sensitive drama” a good name.
What happens is that after the big day, the younger of the couple Alfred Molina, loses his job teaching music at a Catholic school. Suddenly strapped for cash they have to sell their apartment in New York and, just a few weeks into married life, find themselves having to live apart: Lithgow with his son and Molina with a couple of party loving policemen who live downstairs. This despite being offered more comfortable living space an hour out of town in Poughkeepsie.
The best thing about the film is its casual, easy going approach. No one is making a big effort or making a big deal. For example gay New York Alfred Molina doesn't appear to be in any way different from straight, British Alfred Molina in any other films. The film throws up little sub plots around Lithgow's family and then doesn't bother to resolve them. This will either annoy you greatly (why mention the French books stolen by his grandson if you are not going to explain why?) or will make you appreciate the casual reality of it all.
Love is Strange (15.)
Directed by Ira Sachs.
Starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren E. Burrows and Charlie Tahan. 93 mins
Love is strange, but Love Is Strange is anything but. Rather this tale of what happens when two male New Yorkers, Lithgow and Molina, get hitched after 39 years together is stubbornly, defiantly, pointedly ordinary. Even so, giving it a title that drab and forgettable is surely pushing the point a bit far. It may be an amazingly dull title but the film is impressively understated and quietly moving. It's the kind of film that could give “classy and sensitive drama” a good name.
What happens is that after the big day, the younger of the couple Alfred Molina, loses his job teaching music at a Catholic school. Suddenly strapped for cash they have to sell their apartment in New York and, just a few weeks into married life, find themselves having to live apart: Lithgow with his son and Molina with a couple of party loving policemen who live downstairs. This despite being offered more comfortable living space an hour out of town in Poughkeepsie.
The best thing about the film is its casual, easy going approach. No one is making a big effort or making a big deal. For example gay New York Alfred Molina doesn't appear to be in any way different from straight, British Alfred Molina in any other films. The film throws up little sub plots around Lithgow's family and then doesn't bother to resolve them. This will either annoy you greatly (why mention the French books stolen by his grandson if you are not going to explain why?) or will make you appreciate the casual reality of it all.
