Keep the Lights On
2/4
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson
Not Rated (Contains Strong Graphic Sexuality and Nudity, Explicit Sexual Dialogue and Drug Use)
"Keep the Lights On" is one of those movies that has solid material, but it feels like you're only getting half of the story. There are lots of holes that should be plugged, and the characters' relationship feels half-baked. I bought everything I saw except the final act, but I felt like I was missing a lot of what went on behind the scenes.
Erik (Lindhardt) is a filmmaker living in New York City. He's single, but craves love. He fills the void with anonymous sex, which is how he meets Paul (Booth), a closeted publisher. But like Erik, Paul has his own demons, specifically an addiction to crack cocaine.
The first problem is that the beginning of the romance between Erik and Paul is rushed through to the point of being non-existent. In order to have an investment in their fates, we have to see them more as people on screen. We have to grow to love them as characters and love them even more together. The performances help some, but we still watch from a detached eye. I felt for them mentally, but not emotionally.
The acting is solid. Thure Lindhardt is good. We can feel his anguish at the complexities of his relationship with Paul. It borders on being self-destructive and obsessive, but Lindhardt is good enough that we sympathize with him, even if we sometimes don't approve of or understand (a flaw of the movie) what he does. Less impressive is Zachary Booth. He doesn't have Lindhardt's presence, which causes him to fade out into the background. Additionally, he's a little too low-key, especially in the scenes where he is high. When you're high on crack, you don't just become a little more energetic and flaky. Julianne Nicholson is good, but she has far too few scenes.
Ira Sachs approach to the film is clinical. Visually, this is a stale looking film, like one of those movies in those quirky indie theaters. It encourages distance from the characters, which is another knock against it. I don't get why "hip" filmmakers do this. When I watch a movie, I want to be involved (for better or worse). I don't want to watch from a distance because that gets real boring real fast.
The film is both too long and too short. There are many ideas that Sachs wants to address in the film, but he never gives any of them their due. He presents them, but that's it. There's no follow through. There are many interesting directions he could have taken the story and the characters, but merely presenting them while going the "safe" route is a cheat. On the other hand, the film moves so slowly. My interest in the characters lessened as the film went on, and by the time the movie ended, I thought I had watched "Gone with the Wind." And this movie is only 100 minutes long.
Finally, the ending is weak. I understand what Sachs was going for and it sort of makes sense, but it's so poorly motivated that it's not really believable.
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson
Not Rated (Contains Strong Graphic Sexuality and Nudity, Explicit Sexual Dialogue and Drug Use)
"Keep the Lights On" is one of those movies that has solid material, but it feels like you're only getting half of the story. There are lots of holes that should be plugged, and the characters' relationship feels half-baked. I bought everything I saw except the final act, but I felt like I was missing a lot of what went on behind the scenes.
Erik (Lindhardt) is a filmmaker living in New York City. He's single, but craves love. He fills the void with anonymous sex, which is how he meets Paul (Booth), a closeted publisher. But like Erik, Paul has his own demons, specifically an addiction to crack cocaine.
The first problem is that the beginning of the romance between Erik and Paul is rushed through to the point of being non-existent. In order to have an investment in their fates, we have to see them more as people on screen. We have to grow to love them as characters and love them even more together. The performances help some, but we still watch from a detached eye. I felt for them mentally, but not emotionally.
The acting is solid. Thure Lindhardt is good. We can feel his anguish at the complexities of his relationship with Paul. It borders on being self-destructive and obsessive, but Lindhardt is good enough that we sympathize with him, even if we sometimes don't approve of or understand (a flaw of the movie) what he does. Less impressive is Zachary Booth. He doesn't have Lindhardt's presence, which causes him to fade out into the background. Additionally, he's a little too low-key, especially in the scenes where he is high. When you're high on crack, you don't just become a little more energetic and flaky. Julianne Nicholson is good, but she has far too few scenes.
Ira Sachs approach to the film is clinical. Visually, this is a stale looking film, like one of those movies in those quirky indie theaters. It encourages distance from the characters, which is another knock against it. I don't get why "hip" filmmakers do this. When I watch a movie, I want to be involved (for better or worse). I don't want to watch from a distance because that gets real boring real fast.
The film is both too long and too short. There are many ideas that Sachs wants to address in the film, but he never gives any of them their due. He presents them, but that's it. There's no follow through. There are many interesting directions he could have taken the story and the characters, but merely presenting them while going the "safe" route is a cheat. On the other hand, the film moves so slowly. My interest in the characters lessened as the film went on, and by the time the movie ended, I thought I had watched "Gone with the Wind." And this movie is only 100 minutes long.
Finally, the ending is weak. I understand what Sachs was going for and it sort of makes sense, but it's so poorly motivated that it's not really believable.
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