"With His Hand Down His Pants" } “ Keep The Light On"

September 06, 2012

"With His Hand Down His Pants" } “ Keep The Light On"

The wrenching gay relationship drama "Keep the Lights On" may also be the year's best American film BY ANDREW O'HEHIR

Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth in "Keep the Lights On"

When we first meet Erik (Danish actor Thure Lindhardt), the New York documentary filmmaker at the center of Ira Sachs’ gripping relationship drama “Keep the Lights On,” he’s got his hand down his pants and is describing himself to a stranger on a phone-sex line. (It’s 1998, so yes, such things still exist.) What he says is pretty accurate — 5-foot-11, blond and handsome, “masculine” — although we never get to confirm the “six-and-a-half inches, uncut” part. While “Keep the Lights On” is plenty explicit on the subject of gay sexuality, it’s not an NC-17 picture and has relatively little nudity.

That’s quite an introduction to a character, especially considering that Erik is evidently based on Sachs himself, an indie-film stalwart best known for the 2005 Sundance prizewinner “Forty Shades of Blue” — in which Rip Torn delivered a memorable performance as a Memphis music producer based on Sachs’ father. As the filmmaker discussed in a recent New York Times interview, while he has lived an openly gay adult life his films (including the 2008 “Married Life,” with Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper) have primarily concerned heterosexual relationships. There’s not necessarily any contradiction or hypocrisy to be found in that, but there’s also no doubt that “Keep the Lights On,” as its title suggests, is a work of self-revelation and even of nakedness.

Sachs has made no secret of the fact that “Keep the Lights On,” the story of a tormented, 10-year relationship between two men in millennial Manhattan, is drawn from his own life. (Sachs’ real-world ex-boyfriend is Bill Clegg, a New York literary agent and author of two drug memoirs, including the recent “Ninety Days,”which appear to confirm many of the personal excesses depicted in the movie.) But the film is not an excuse to issue apologias or vent personal grudges. Rather, it’s a loving but fearless portrait of gay urban life at the turn of the century, seen through the prism of one dysfunctional love affair.

This movie may serve as a marketplace test for gay-themed films in the wake of crossover hits like Lisa Cholodenko’s Oscar-nominated “The Kids Are All Right” and Andrew Haigh’s British indie smash “Weekend.” It also may measure how far the gay community has come on issues of self-representation. While it seems unlikely that bigots and homophobes would actively seek out “Keep the Lights On” (except, you know, on the sly), any who do see it could certainly cherry-pick details to support the thesis that Erik’s entire cadre of humanity are degenerates.

Gorgeously photographed in moody, grainy hues by cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis, “Keep the Lights On” also features songs by underground New York music legend Arthur Russell (who died of AIDS in 1992), and an internal tribute to photographer Avery Willard, who documented New York’s gay community in the mid-20th century. Tragic, challenging, uplifting and finally liberating, this is a film that will reward multiple viewings for many years to come. It fulfills the potential with which Ira Sachs has tantalized us for years – and also explains why it took him so long. Out of lost love comes a terrific work of art; it’s the oldest story in the world, but it always feels new when it’s done right.

“Keep the Lights On” opens this week in New York and Los Angeles. It opens Sept. 14 in San Francisco; Sept. 21 in Palm Springs, Calif., Philadelphia and Washington; Sept. 30 in Dayton, Ohio; Oct. 5 in Columbus, Ohio; Oct. 12 in Boston, San Diego and Toronto; and Oct. 26 in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Minneapolis, with more cities to follow.

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