Mainstream entertainment gatekeepers allow two gay storylines -- coming out or dying (Beginners combined the two plots and the Academy rewarded Christopher Plummer with an Oscar nom) -- so it's rare to see deep and nuanced portrayals of longterm queer relationships. It's infinitely rarer to get the same gay relationship re-examined by both partners, both of whom are wonderful writers in different media. In 2010, literary agent Bill Clegg published his elegant memoir of self-destruction Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man [Kindle]. His true love is the rush he gets from crack, but on every other page is his steadfast, long-suffering boyfriend, filmmaker "Noah," whom he abandons at Sundance. This week at Sundance, Ira Sachs screened his new feature, Keep the Lights On, about a filmmaker's ten-year relationship with a literary lawyer addicted to crack. Their names aren't Ira and Bill but Erik and Paul. As you'd expect from a writer as complex and subtle as Ira, Erik is no simple saint (he's a sexual compulsive) and critics have complained about his "painful, protracted indecision." Some reviewers faulted the lead acting but praised the characters' genuine love and the film's use of music by Arthur Russell who died of aids in 1992. Salon's Andrew O'Hehir flat-out loved it, calling the movie "an instant landmark in gay cinema, and easily the finest dramatic film I saw at Sundance this year." The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote:
"An additional pleasure of Sachs’ film is its immersive portrait of contemporary New York life, thanks in large part to the gorgeous work of Greek cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis. Without over-aestheticizing the city and turning this into a swoony hipster postcard, the film captures its bars, restaurants, streets, apartment buildings and nightspots with a painterly eye and a seductive tonal range that relies extensively on natural light. And the unfettered ease of the filmmakers in capturing male bodies and physical intimacy shows a freedom that is still rare in American movies."
Bill Clegg continues his story with a new book due April 12, Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery
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