If I was a movie director and I wanted to make a name for myself, I would never make a movie like Love Is Strange. That’s because Love Is Strange offers no opportunity for flashy camerawork or unique decisions or even poignant mise en scene. No, Love Is Strange is a quiet, gentle movie that works precisely because its director, Ira Sachs, steps aside and lets his actors breathe in the spaces he sets them in. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, in earth-shakingly quiet performances, star as longtime partners in New York who get married after nearly 40 years together. George (Molina) loses his job as a result, and they must separate and movie in with friends to keep from living on the streets. Living in the Bible Belt in Norman, OK, I can imagine that many of my friends will have no interest in seeing this; I can only say, as I often have on this blog regarding movies dealing directly with homosexuality, that the best reason to see Love Is Strange is that it engenders a deep empathy with those who are different from you. That empathy is necessary to show Jesus to the world.
Quicker take: Take a break from all these Oscar movies, and see a movie that deserves all the Oscars.
Coulda Been a Contender 