Review: Ira Sachs' 'Love is Strange' Starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow

A couple of years ago Blue is the Warmest Color was touted as one of the year's best films and perhaps the best portrayal of a homosexual relationship ever captured on screen. And it was indeed very good, but Ira Sachs' moving drama Keep the Lights On reached emotional depths 'Blue' couldn't touch, and fortunately the film was met with great acclaim on the international and art house circuit. Sachs is at it again with a more overtly topical film in Love is Strange, a heartbreaking and tender look at a gay couple whose lives are torn apart by a simple act of love.

Alfred Molina and John Lithgow are better than they've ever been as George and Ben, who have been together nearly forty years living a simple and comfortable New York existence. When a law passes and they can finally get married they jump at the chance. The film begins on the day they tie the knot and quickly establishes who these two are, and immediately we feel comfortable with them. George prefers to deal with things head on, while Ben is older and thus reserved in his thinking. The ceremony goes off without a hitch, but when George returns to his job as a Catholic school music teacher, the archdiocese fires him because gay marriage conflicts with their beliefs. The "morality clause" he signed apparently doesn't apply to his employers, but that's the honest reality for anyone of the LGBT community working nowadays when one can be fired over sexual preference.

To Sachs' and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias' credit they don't turn Love is Strange into a heavy activist drama full of obvious messages about inequality. Their approach is understated and subtle, a beautiful and tragic look at lovers whose twilight of happiness was ripped away from them. In rapid succession they are forced to sell their cozy little home, pleading with friends and family for a place to stay. George goes to live with young-ish cop friends a floor below, while retiree Ben shacks up with a nephew (Darren Burrows), his wife Kate (Marisa Tomei), and their son Joey (Charlie Tahan) who isn't fond of the arrangement at all.

Tragic though their current predicament may be, what is truly upsetting is watching these two men, who probably never saw a future where they'd be allowed to marry, suddenly forced to be apart. They've been together so long, more than half their lives, that being without the other is devastating. George and Ben are so used to being comfortable in their own little world that being with others can only lead to conflict. George can't connect with his new, partying roommates; while Ben's chattiness and constant presence upsets Kate to no end. There are no big fireworks or shouting matches, Sachs has always preferred a minimum of melodrama and it works to the strength of his cast. Molina and Lithgow give wonderfully lived-in performances, adding unexpected layers that keep unfolding as the story grows more complicated. That
Sachs is able to put so much into a 94 minute film is extraordinary, although he rushes through some of the most touching moments to get there. We never experience much of George and Ben's downward slide after the firing, and a subplot involving Joey's mysterious anger towards the latter doesn't get nearly enough time for the emotional payoff Sachs was hoping for.

Sachs doesn't turn Love is Strange into a raging commentary but he doesn't really have to. By focusing on one deeply intimate story of a marriage tarnished by pain and prejudice Sachs has made the clearest case that all love should be equal.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Trailer for Ira Sachs' 'Love is Strange' Starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow

Ira Sachs has built his career exploring complicated relationships in films such as Forty Shades of Blue, the Sirk-ian dramedy Married Life, and the heartwrenching gay drama, Keep the Lights On. It was that last film that really caught my attention, and was as good if not better than Blue is the Warmest Color. Sachs' latest, Love is Strange, debuted at Sundance and is already being hailed as one of the year's best, largely due to the performances by screen vets Alfred Molina and John Lithgow.

The story follows Ben and George, a gay couple who have been together for ages and jump at the opportunity to get married when it finally arrives. But their happiness is short-lived when the church George works with learns of their union and fires him. With no means of support, they are forced to separate and move to temporary housing. Ben decides to stay with a nephew in Brooklyn, while George moves in with neighbors. Neither situation is ideal and puts a strain on an already complicated situation.

Also starring Maris Tomei and Charlie Tahan, Love is Strange opens August 22nd.


LOVE IS STRANGE (2014) Official HD Trailer Premiere by NewTrailers BOS

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice

You don't even need to be told when you'r watching a Jerry Bruckheimer film anymore, do you? They all look, sound, feel the same. Huge, splashy action that never seems to settle long enough for you to take stock of how incoherent the whole thing is. That can be a real problem when the pacing and action aren't up to par enough to keep us distracted, like in his last film The Prince of Persia. Throw in director Jon Turtletaub, add Nicolas Cage, and what you've got is National Treasure with lightning bolts and dancing broomsticks. It's often fun, sometimes hilarious, high energy flick that you'll enjoy then won't think about again until the sequel rolls around.

I'll be the first to admit that the only thing I remember about Fantasia is Mickey Mouse with a pointy hat. In some small, inconceivable way The Sorcerer's Apprentice is based on that film. Other than one scene featuring out of control cleaning utensils this movie has about as much to do with Fantasia as I do with the Queen of England. As with all Bruckheimer films, a metric ton of exposition kicks things off, detailing the story of famed wizard Merlin's three disciples: Balthazar(Cage), Veronica(Monica Bellucci), and Maxim Horvath(Alfred Molina) who's name alone should tell you that he's up to no good.  Jealous over the love between Veronica and Balthazar, Maxim betrays them all to Morgana(the Borg queen, I mean Alice Krige) who has plans to rule the world. In the midst of their battle, Merlin is killed, and Veronica becomes trapped in a prison with Morgana.

Enter the year 2000, and Balthazar's mission is to find the next descendent of Merlin, for he is the only one who can stop Maxim's plot to free Morgana. He finds this unlikely savior in the form of Dave Stutler(Jay Baruchel), playing essentially the same guy he played in She's Out of My League. He's dorky, pretty average, and severely awkward around women. The only things he wants are to spend time with his beloved Tesla coils, and to win the heart of Becky(Teresa Palmer), the girl he's been in love with since childhood. Becoming apprentice to a mercurial wizard and saving the world doesn't exactly fit into his plans. 

That might be the biggest problem I had, in that Dave doesn't really seem all that concerned about the impending end of the world, and so it's pretty hard for anyone else to get invested in it either. The script, written by a cast of thousands, can't seem to find the right balance. It leans heavily on establishing the relationship between Dave and Becky, and those scenes are genuinely good. Baruchel does quirky charm better than almost anybody, and watching him court yet another girl way too hot for him is a lot of fun, even it gets a little sappy with his musical Tesla coil routine. It's no Say Anything moment, believe me. The side effect is that there's practically no time given to Dave's training. I can't believe I'm going to write this but darnit I wanted a montage! I need a montage!

It's actually a shame because the biggest thrills come from the creative use of magic being employed. Not necessarily in combat, where all they really do is throw orbs of mysterious energy at eachother, but during the high octane action sequences where they use their powers to literally transform the world around them. Those scenes really pop, in particualar a blazing car chase in a world that runs in reverse. I don't consider Bruckheimer films to be great special effects extravaganzas, but they really fly off the screen here.

Maybe it's because this entire production was basically his idea, but Nicolas Cage really seems to be having a good time. This is the good, sorta crazy and off-center Cage. The best kind. The only problem is that he's not given nearly enough to do. This is completely a Jay Baruchel show. The same can be said for Alfred Molina, so brilliant at playing really bad guys. I have a feeling a lot of his role was left on the cutting room floor alongside a number of other characters who show up for brief glimpses then suddenly disappear. The choppy script is mostly a mess, leaving it up the actors to salvage it.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice turned out to be exactly what I expected. It's one big overproduced diversion, and you'll probably walk away entertained. You might wonder if some wizard hit you with an amnesia spell trying to remember what it was about in a few months.

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Review: An Education

Writer Nick Hornby is generally known as a novelist who writes books about men. His three most famous books have all been turned into amazing movies: High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch. All of them deal with our many obsessions and infatuations especially with ex-lovers. An Education deals with a young girl in 1961 Britain, just on the cusp of becoming a woman but not yet wisened to the ways of the world. Not exactly what one would expect to be Hornby's strong suit.

The girl in question is Jenny, played with infinite grace by newcomer Carey Mulligan. Jenny is a smart, attractive girl with a bright future ahead of her. She's slavishly studying and working to get into Oxford. Her life is basically mapped out for her. That is until she meets David(Peter Saarsgard), a 35 year old man with a slick tongue suave air of confidence about him. He's been places Jenny has only heard about. He listens to the same music as her, watches the finest films, and dines at the finest restaurants. She is at first cautious, but soon finds herself taken with the first interesting person she's ever met.
This being 1961, women didn't have nearly the options they would have now. Jenny's parents, played by Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour, are caring but naive. Her father is strict when it comes to her studies, but little else. Her mother plays the background but clearly knows more than she's perhaps been allowed to let on. When David first introduces the idea to them of taking their daughter out on a date, they are taken by his charm and maturity. Her parents are smart people, but that didn't get them anywhere in particular. They want their daughter's life to be simpler, like any parent would. To them, David presents an opportunity for that to happen.

David, of course, isn't all that he seems. He's into some shady dealings along with his best friend Danny(Dominic Cooper). Danny's girlfriend, Helen(Rosamund Pike), is a sophisticated airhead who doesn't quite understand the far more cerebral Jenny. David is the key to another world for Jenny. A world she has only had the opportunity to read about. She enters it willingly, risking everything she's worked her entire life for.

It's a story we've seen in movies time and again, but rarely carried out with such precision by all involved. Hornby's script, based on a memoir by journalist Lynn Barber, is tight and shows flashes of his earlier works. Jenny, much like Hornby's other protagonists, is addicted to pop culture and high society. Not obsessively so, but in the way of someone who's only been allowed to study them from afar, or has been deprived of them completely. Carey Mulligan's performance is stunning, and the transformation that takes place in Jenny is jaw dropping as she goes from naive child to world weary woman in the span of 90 minutes. That's a product of the script, but also in Mulligan's portrayal. It is one for the ages, and if she's not nominated come Oscar season it'll be a travesty.

It must say something that I wanted desperately to snatch up Jenny and get her away from that slimy David character. To make sure she followed through on her goals. Hey, I'm a dude. I knew what kinda guy he was the instant he pulled up in his fancy car and picked her up. "You're too good for him!", I wanted to scream at the screen. But it was a lesson she had to learn on her own, and while I won't spoil the outcomes of this wonderful film, I will say that I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Fortunately, everything else is spot on perfect.

There's a lesson here to be learned. An education, I guess you could say, about discovering what truly matters to each of us and whether it's worth giving out life to. It's about finding one's own place, carving out out own little corner of the world. No matter what the goal, it's always going to take hard work to do it. There are no short cuts. No easy ways out, even if they come in the form of a handsome stranger.

8.5/10

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