Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

richwgriffin-227-176635 Puzzled by the strange reviews of this movie: I have to wonder if they somehow saw a different film than I did! (: This movie gripped me from the very first moment to the last; the acting is beyond superb, and not only Thure Lindhardt, but also Zachary Booth. I understood both of these characters, while admittedly am more like Eric than Paul (albeit I've never done any drugs at all). My only discomfort with this movie was the drug use; I need gay-themed movies than don't have drug use in them, but this particular movie is about a relationship with someone who is addicted to drugs, so it was necessary in that sense (but I wish Eric hadn't done drugs). I could relate to scene after scene - telling someone you like what they are doing when you don't. Staying in a dysfunctional relationship because you love them and learning that it's best to say goodbye; and the mistake of putting too much importance on sex. I've been in a very similar situation than these two characters with a drug addict back in the 1990's and could completely relate to it. (This is why I find it odd that some of the reviewers said this didn't reflect gay culture - perhaps not for them but certainly it rang true for me).Ira Sachs direction is superb - and artistic. So many gay-themed films are entertaining but not very artistically satisfying, which makes his achievement here all the more special. The script is spot on. All of the acting performances are wonderful (the bit with the guy being interviewed in the documentary Eric is making was particularly great). The chemistry between the two leads is astonishing. The sex scenes are vivid and real (and hot too). I'm surprised this film is so low-rated - it was #7 on my top ten films list of 2012! (:

Turfseer While attending a recent screening of 'Keep the Lights On', director Ira Sachs indicated that the title of his new film about a gay romance spanning approximately ten years, refers to transparency, or lack thereof. An additional theme he revealed is that the characters are trapped in a masochistic relationship.The film begins as we're introduced to Erik, a documentary filmmaker from Denmark. He's basically supported by his father (much to the chagrin of his sister) who criticizes him for not having a regular job. Erik has just broken up with his lover and compulsively seeks out physical encounters with other gay men, using phone hot-lines (the film begins in 1998, at the time when phone hot-lines were beginning to be phased out, due to the rising popularity of the internet).Mr. Sachs holds little back in depicting the sexual encounters Erik has with strangers as well as his new found lover, Paul, a literary agent. They're not completely explicit but there's a raw immediacy, which gives the film an authentic verisimilitude--a peek at gay life that outsiders rarely are privy to.Sachs wisely chronicles the dichotomy of Erik's personality. On one hand, he's almost irrational in his obsession with Paul, ignoring the obvious reality that Paul is a drug addict and is rapidly going downhill. Erik also keeps a lot of things to himself and there is a lack of communication between the two lovers (that lack of transparency that Sachs alluded to during the recent screening I attended). On the plus side, Erik is deeply concerned about Paul's welfare and is instrumental in getting him into an inpatient program.While Paul has to struggle with his demons, Erik gradually makes good on his promise to become a successful documentary filmmaker. He wins a 'Teddy' Award in Berlin, after garnering acclaim for his documentary about a gay artist from the 40s and 50s, who Erik in effect, rescues from obscurity.The tension in the plot is bound up in guessing whether Paul is going to make it or not. After Paul returns from rehab, there's a great scene where he disappears for a number of days, and Erik and his friends have no idea where he is. When Erik finally finds him at a hotel, it's obvious that he's had a bad relapse. Erik hardly seems surprised when a young man comes over to have sex with Paul. Instead of getting angry and feeling betrayed, he accepts the fact that Paul has relapsed and holds his hand while Paul has casual sex with the stranger.'Keep the Lights On' slows down considerably in the third act, as Paul seemingly is much better after a few years and is now able to work. Erik's attitude has changed toward Paul, who has kept away from him for about a year. When Paul gives him an ultimatum--either break up or find a new home and live together--Erik, perhaps now realizing that their relationship has run its course, chooses the option of dissolution.Erik's obsessive love for Paul does eventually become tiresome and of course the point is that Erik must go through a process of self-actualization before he realizes he's been in a masochistic relationship. Nonetheless, Paul's breakdown and Erik's efforts to help him, is the best part of the picture. And yes we also want to know what the ultimate disposition is of their relationship.Director Sachs' portrait of Erik is of a gay man who is not isolated from the rest of society. He has female friends and well as straight male friends, and despite flights of sexual compulsivity, Erik comes off as someone who is pretty much part of the mainstream. In that respect, Mr. Sachs ably argues that gay people should not be considered 'outsiders', but ordinary people, who are no different than the average middle class straight person.A good part of 'Keep the Lights On' is strangely compelling. Will Paul overcome his addiction? Can Erik remain in the relationship, despite Paul's chequered history? Erik's 'love at any cost' obsession with Paul is necessary to show his self-destructiveness but by the same token, remains unexplained and goes on for a little too long. Some judicious editing, to make the film slightly shorter, would have helped. Nonetheless, this is a film that is definitely worth a look, not only for a few nice twists and turns in the plot, but the particularly strong performances from Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth, as the gay lovers, whose relationship reaches its nadir and then unceremoniously, fizzles out!

jm10701 You know what? I'm not interested in people who destroy their lives with drugs. And I'm not interested in people who destroy their lives by attaching themselves like leeches to people who are destroying their lives with drugs. That's not tragic; that's not romantic; that's stupid.In every case - the enabler-leeches just as much as the addicts - that kind of behavior is self-indulgent, narcissistic, and completely avoidable. I don't feel sorry for them any more than I feel sorry for billionaires who whine about having to pay taxes or for 21st-century hunter-gatherers who whine if we try take away their constitutionally-mandated 1000-round-per-second assault rifles.That's what this profoundly disappointing movie is about: whining idiots whose lives are totally devoted to stupid, avoidable, totally unnecessary, self-indulgent, destructive behavior. This movie is not about love. It's not about what it means to be a gay man. It's about stupidity.The problem is that it proclaims to the world that we gay men are self-centered, self-indulgent, drug-crazed idiots and the self-centered, self-indulgent idiot men who "love" them. Bullsh!t. There is no love ANYWHERE in this lying, infuriating movie. The gay men who gush about how REAL this movie is must be like the ones portrayed in it. Thank God I don't know any of them.For the information of straight readers: gay men like the ones in this movie are a tiny, TINY, insignificant, completely negligible minority who do not in any way represent the community as a whole. The percentage of gay crack addicts is no greater than the percentage of straight crack addicts, and ALL of them are just as boring as the two in this movie are. Most gay men are just like straight men, except a little smarter and with better taste in sex partners.The four stars are for Thure Lindhardt, a beautiful man in every way, who plays gay characters better than any gay actor I can think of. I first saw him in the Danish movie Broderskab (Brotherhood), in which his excellent, subtle performance was overshadowed by electrifying Swedish actor David Dencik in the most powerful portrayal of a gay man I've ever seen.Lindhardt doesn't have such intense acting competition in this movie, so he shines more brightly. Although his character is a boring, infuriating fool, his performance is fantastic. Lindhardt is always worth watching, and - for me - he's the only reason this movie is.

Sean Kurzweil As a gay man, I like to support films with gay characters and stories when I can. Oftentimes such films sacrifice writing and acting in order to titillate. This film avoided that pitfall and delivered a cohesive, relevant and tasteful product. The characters were gritty and weren't cardboard cut outs. Personally, I found it a lot more relevant than a recent art film I caught called THE MASTER. The central relationship in this film is between gay men but the film manages to touch on failing/toxic relationships in general and offers up some noteworthy and humorous ensemble performances. As difficult as it is to believe, these relationships exist in gay and straight life. It seems to me that the filmmaker decided it was important to hold up a mirror and show us reality and a real relationship gone awry instead of showing us that gays can have just as little sex and/or just as loving relationships as straight folk. We have enough sanitized and safe portrayals of gays on network TV. I found the performances to be interesting and the characters were dynamic. Each had a journey unlike the static characters in the aforementioned, lauded art film. Since this film was most certainly shot quickly and with a limited budget, I take my hat off to cast and crew. The selfishness, desperation, preoccupation, co-dependency and obsessive behavior depicted seemed right on point. I felt that the filmmakers unflinchingly and without apology depicted the good, the bad and the ugly of this relationship while tell a story about two individuals in love.