MOVIE MONDAYS: LOVE IS STRANGE
"What's love got to do, got do with iiiiit?" Oh come on! Am I the only one who had that awesome Tina Turner song stuck in their head when their eyes first laid themselves on the title? Okay, to be fair I will admit that it is not the most obvious song to be associated with this film's title (maybe this one?) but it's happened so I guess we will just have to deal with it - are you belting it out now though? Anyway, one lovely Saturday afternoon I made my merry way to the Cornerhouse to catch the last showing of Love Is Strange and I am very pleased I did.
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Source: Sony Pictures Classics
A word I would use to describe Love Is Strange is 'beautiful'. It was beautiful in every way from beginning to end. Although I felt it was over slightly too soon I loved how real the film came across. We dove straight into the middle of the lives of the characters and learnt as much as we were allowed about them based mostly on the string of current events happening before our eyes. Then very abruptly the tempo of the movie changed without any warning... just like fate acts in reality. You will come to find that art and music and the art of being present (in every sense of the word) are all prominent characters just like Ben and George.
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Source: Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Ira Sachs(Keep the Lights On; Married Life; Forty Shades of Blue), Love Is Strange is about many facets of love and the lack there of. The funny, emotional and drama-filled script was written by Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias (Keep the Lights On; Love For Sale; Madame Satã) who are no strangers to working collaboratively on scripts. You are thrown into the lives of a group of people who love each other and sometimes struggle on how best to show it. John Lithgow (Interstellar; Dexter; 3rd Rock from the Sun) and Alfred Molina (Matador; Spider-Man 2; Chocolat) gave such moving performances as Ben, a passionate painter, and George, a talented music teacher, who have no qualms with expressing how they feel. The lovely and talented Marisa Tomei (The Ides of March; Crazy, Stupid Love; Alfie) also appears in this film as a successful writer who tries to be there fore those whom she loves. And acting as her teenage son who is trying to manoeuvre his way through adolescence is Charlie Tahan (Blue Jasmine; The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud; I Am Legend). I couldn't quite believe it was him at first! They grow up so fast *sniff*. There are of course other noteworthy performances and characters to talk about but I will let you discover those on your own.
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Love Is Strange is a film that is sure to make you smile, chuckle and make a mental note to treat the ones you love a little better or at the very least be more patient with them. If this sounds like it is right up street then please give it a go. Heck, even if it doesn't sound like something you'd normally watch you mind yourself pleasantly surprised by it.
Mo x