Director: Ira Sachs
Cast: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Charlie Tahan & Darren E. Burrows
Every now and then I watch a film that makes me marvel at the creative genius of some people and also makes me a little jealous that I am not a creative genius. LOVE IS STRANGE is one of those films. It is also one of those films that makes you a little bit uncomfortable because it is so real that it makes you feel like you're intruding on something very personal, like that weird guy on the train who just stares at you for the whole journey.
Ira Sachs has made something wonderful and I'm glad I stayed up past my bedtime on Sunday night so that I could make it to this preview screening.
The love that emanates from this couple during their ceremony and reception makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside and has me desperately wishing and hoping that love like that can exist outside of the fictional film world because I want it. They are so freakin' adorable it hurts.
In the space of about 15 minutes I'm in love with this couple (well done Sachs) and I feel quite unsettled and strangely overprotective when I realise that something is about to go horribly wrong for them. The Catholic school have been turning a blind eye for years to the fact that George is gay and that he lives with a man, but now that they're married it can't be ignored. They let George go effective immediately and I get angry. Not just angry at the characters, but real life angry because this is not just a fictional story line, it's a reality and that really gets me in the feels.
seriously, look at how adorable they are!
Ben and George have to sell the apartment they've been living in for about 20 years because now that George doesn't have a job they can't afford to live there anymore. They plan on ways to afford a new place, but in the mean time they call upon their family and friends to help house them. Oh the injustice of it all, I ache for George when he hears them all bickering over who will take them in and the inconvenience of it all. I also appreciate the very real-ness of that reality because that's truly what most families would do and that's the true beauty of this film.
George moves in with Roberto and Ted - the young, hip gay couple from downstairs who love a good party, and Ben moves in with his nephew Elliot and his family. They talk on the phone to each other and it is heartbreaking how much the miss each other.
Living with people is hard, living with people who don't really want you there is harder. That is Ben's situation - his nephew's wife Kate works from home and finds Ben to be an unwelcome distraction, and the son Joey is a moody teenager who could think of nothing worse than sharing his room with his great uncle. I get it, old people can be annoying, they like to chat and they get in the way and having someone always underfoot can suck, but the utter disdain coming from this family is mortifying. I'm not saying I would be much better if I was in the same situation, who knows maybe I wouldn't, but still it's mortifying.
George is stuck in a house of party animals and never seems to get any sleep because his bed is the couch and it's hard to sleep while a part is going on and random strangers are sleeping on your bed.
In what is easily the most moving scene of the film George flees the party house in the pouring rain and rushes to Ben, collapses in his arms and sobs from the injustice of it all and the complete loss of dignity for both of them. I too shed a tear in this moment for this pair of loveable gents. They spend the night together, wrapped in each others arms in a tiny single bed and resign themselves to their shitty situation, but that moment of togetherness gives them hope that somehow it will all be alright in the end, and somehow it was even after an unexpected twist.
This film is real, naked, open and full of emotions and I spent a lot of it noting how much it was getting me in the feels. It is also political, and shows that whilst society has come a long way, we still have much further to go in accepting homosexuality. More than both of those things, it is a simple love story, told so elegantly that as I said earlier, I felt like I was intruding on something very special.
I preface this statement by saying that I love John Lithgow and would probably say that he was a genius in this film even if he wasn't, but truly he was flawless, as was Alfred Molina. Their depiction of a couple who have been together and in love for nearly 40 years was the most realistic relationship I have seen in a film for some time. The rest of the cast was not completely overshadowed by these two incredible actors, in fact they were all exceptional (well done Avy Kaufman). Marisa Tomei played an extremely believable harassed housewife, struggling to deal with life without the support of her often absent husband. Charlie Tahan played a vile and moody teenager extremely well, and I really wanted to slap him at times, but he redeemed himself in his final scene with George and I wanted to hug him rather than slap him.
I don't think I can rave enough about this film, it was bloody brilliant and I hope that you can go and see it sometime, I really do. It's worth paying 20-something dollars for at the cinema. Don't just take my word for it, it's been nominated for a while bunch of awards. LOVE IS STRANGE opens in cinemas around Australia on the 19th of March.
Check out the trailer and get more information on where you can see LOVE IS STRANGE here on the Rialto Distribution page.
4.5 out of 5 - go pay the 20-something dollars!
xoxo
The Blonde Bombshell
Ok. Now i HAVE to see this movie. Great review!
ReplyDeleteDo it!! It's brilliant I tell you!
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