Two years after his highly praised autobiographical Keep the Lights On, Ira Sachs is back at Sundance for the fifth time, last night premiering Love Is Strange about the forty-year union between characters played by John Lithgow and Alfred Molina. Also starring Marisa Tomei and Cheyenne Jackson, the movie got a rave from Variety:
"Truth springs from the title and trickles down into every pore of Love Is Strange, an uncompromising yet accessible slice-of-life expression from Ira Sachs, one of the most perceptive and personal directors working in American cinema. Here, the helmer branches out beyond his own lived experience to imagine a same-sex relationship 39 years strong as it is tested immediately following the couple’s long-overdue marriage. This beautifully observed ensembler shines on the strength of its two leads, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, who conjure four decades together as they enter the 'for better, for worse' phase of their union."
The Hollywood Reporter says, "A beautifully portrayed, loving relationship can overcome even an artificial-feeling physical separation."
Nine years ago Ira won Sundance's Grand Prize for Forty Shades of Blue.
Filmmaker Jenni Olson compiled this roundup of the "hefty slate" of queer movies chosen for the festival, including the lesbian prostitute buddy comedy The Foxy Merkins, the Brooklyn bi Persian drama Appropriate Behavior, features with gay turns from Bill Hader (as Kristen Wiig's brother in The Skeleton Twins), Ben Whishaw (Lilting) and Noah Silver (Jamie Marks Is Dead), as well as documentaries about George Takei, singer Rae Spoon, bisexual internet crusader/suicide Aaron Swartz, the duo Lambert & Stamp, and Olson & Boies fighting Prop 8.
(uncredited photo via)
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