Plot
After Ben and George get married, George is fired from his teaching post, forcing them to stay with friends separately while they sell their place and look for cheaper housing -- a situation that weighs heavily on all involved.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 6.5/10 (251 voted)
Critic's Score: 83/100
Director: Ira Sachs
Stars: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Tatyana Zbirovskaya
Storyline
After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally tie the knot in an idyllic wedding ceremony in lower Manhattan. But when George loses his job soon after, the couple must sell their apartment and - victims of the relentless New York City real estate market - temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home. While George moves in with two cops (Cheyenne Jackson and Manny Perez) who live down stairs, Ben lands in Brooklyn with his nephew (Darren Burrows), his wife (Marisa Tomei), and their temperamental teenage son (Charlie Tahan), with whom Ben shares a bunk bed. While struggling with the pain of separation, Ben and George are further challenged by the intergenerational tensions and capricious family dynamics of their new living arrangements.
Writers: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias
Cast: John Lithgow -
Ben
Alfred Molina -
George
Tatyana Zbirovskaya -
Zlata
Olya Zueva -
Eugenia
Jason Stuart -
Officiant
Darren E. Burrows -
Elliot
Marisa Tomei -
Kate
Charlie Tahan -
Joey
Harriet Sansom Harris -
Honey
(as Harriet Harris)
Cheyenne Jackson -
Ted
Manny Perez -
Roberto
Christina Kirk -
Mindy
John Cullum -
Father Raymond
Eric Tabach -
Vlad
Tank Burt -
Doreen
LOVE IS STRANGE, a film, unaffectedly directed by Ira Sachs, is so
natural and unassuming in its portrayal of relationships that the
divide between audience and the characters on the screen disappears; we
are directly slipping into their lives with the ease of familiarity.
There is a formal beauty to the movie, thanks to the cinematography of
Christos Voudouris - the way he captures each space - delineated not
only through décor, but through the light which mutates with the
atmosphere, very much like a Chardin still-life painting, classic in
its grandeur and silence.
The plot revolves around two gay men who have lived together for 39
years and finally get married, a decision that will alter their lives
in ways that are unexpected and transforming. We first meet Ben, a
seventy-one year old artist, (John Lithgow in a breathtaking
performance) and his partner George (Alfred Molina in an equally fine
portrayal,) a music teacher in a Catholic school - both excitedly, and
nervously preparing for the ceremony and the post- wedding party. From
the moment we first view Lithgow and Molina singing a duet together -
their voices and theatrics in synch and at odds - tender intimacy is
apparent. Ira Sachs and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias have created two
remarkably gentle and loving individuals, their intimacy and enduring
connection, is both understated and powerfully passionate.
The consequences of ultimately legitimizing their union bear witness to
the harsh realities that accompany that choice. Soon after the
nuptials, George gets fired from his job, and the economic demands of
existing in NYC, forced to sell the apartment in order to find more
affordable housing, interrupts their former cadence of living. Having
no alternative, George and Ben, temporarily separate to move in with
friends and relatives till they can find a home of their own. Molina
and Lithgow stunningly convey the anguish of living apart and the
intense longing of being united again. It is as if one person is sliced
in half – going through the motions, but not fully functioning without
the other.
LOVE IS STRANGE also references the mysterious corridor of generational
diversity - both fractious and enriching. The anxious, rebellious
teenager slowly embracing life's uncertainties embodied by Joey, Ben's
great-nephew in an excellent performance by Charlie Tahan who is
likable, secretive and obnoxious – an eternal artifact of an
adolescent's growing awareness of life's promises and aching
discomforts. And approaching mid-life, are his parents - Kate (Marisa
Tomei - a natural wonder) - a writer trying to meet the demands of
motherhood and still do her own work and Elliot (Darren E. Burrows) a
father too wrapped up in doing business (supporting the family?) to
notice the splintering family dynamic. Tomei's facial expressions
convey a woman's inner tug-of-war between being a caregiver and
accomplishing her own ambitions, shifting from haggardly frustrated to
a luminous empathy, particularly for the growing pains of her son on
the cusp of adulthood.
Director Ira Sachs has given us a tone poem to the beauty, delight and
fragility of living in a city - New York - dynamic, diverse and
constantly changing, echoing the vicissitudes of life as we stumble
through our own personal unfolding. A love story that has depth and
endurance - delicate and supple, both romantic and mundane, LOVE IS
STRANGE is wrenchingly lovely and generous, but also a reminder that
nothing is permanent.
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