This film is part of Rentals
Love Is Strange
Ira Sachs’s refined Manhattan-set drama sees Alfred Molina’s Ben and John Lithgow’s George in the latter days of a tender, loving 39-year relationship.
Drama 2014 95 mins
Director: Ira Sachs
Overview
Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On) delivers a tender, faultlessly observed drama about the latter days of a life-long love. The film opens with the joyous wedding of George and Ben (Alfred Molina and John Lithgow) who have been together for 39 years, but when Ben loses his job the couple are forced to leave their Manhattan abode and stay in different apartments while they hunt for a new place of their own.
Both leads give nuanced, award-deserving performances, as does Marisa Tomei as their niece. George and Ben may inhabit a familiar Manhattan of West Side shoebox apartments, galleries and classical concerts, but it’s refreshingly peopled with all walks of life. This is a love story for grown-ups and also Sachs’ ode to the beauty of NYC.
Contains strong languageRelated
Drama
Pain and Glory Pain and Glory
Drama 2019 113 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar
In one of his most personal works, Pedro Almodóvar presents a vivid portrait of a filmmaker confronting age-related anxieties.
Phoenix Phoenix
Drama 2018 86 mins Director: Camilla Strøm Henriksen
Camilla Strøm Henriksen’s astute and atmospheric adolescent drama follows a young girl having to grow up quickly in an intensely adult world.
120 BPM (Beats per Minute) 120 BPM (Beats per Minute)
Drama 2017 143 mins Director: Robin Campillo
Pulsating with life and pounding with urgency, Robin Campillo’s extraordinary account of 1990s AIDS activism is a rousing, sensual and heart-breaking celebration of personal and political resistance.
Premature Premature
Drama 2019 90 mins Director: Rashaad Ernesto Green
Budding writer Ayanna’s life is transformed over the course of one hot Harlem summer, when a handsome and mysterious stranger walks into her life.
Animals Animals
Comedy 2019 109 mins Director: Sophie Hyde
Sophie Hyde's joyous ode to female friendship stars Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat as two 30-something women navigating booze, boyfriends, wild nights and blurry mornings.
Dirty God Dirty God
Drama 2019 104 mins Director: Sacha Polak
A young mother (Vicky Knight) tries to recover from an acid attack in Sacha Polak's vivid and vital drama.
BFI Flare presents
Akron Akron
Romance 2015 88 mins Director: Brian O'Donnell
Two young men meet on the sports field and fall in love. But there’s a family secret which resurfaces and threatens to tear them apart.
G.B.F. G.B.F.
Comedy 2013 93 mins Director: Darren Stein
Three high-school girls wage war to win the latest must-have social accessory - a Gay Best Friend.
Test Test
Drama 2013 89 mins Director: Chris Mason Johnson
A wonderfully evocative period drama exploring the telling details of gay life in San Francisco in 1985 with a fantastically upbeat 80s soundtrack.
Blue is the Warmest Colour Blue is the Warmest Colour
Romance 2013 180 mins Director: Abdel Kechiche
The epic, passionate and strikingly naturalistic Palme d'Or-winning romance.
The New Girlfriend The New Girlfriend
Melodrama 2014 108 mins Director: François Ozon
Ruth Rendell provides the source novel for this delicious tale of deception and identity, from the master of mischievous melodrama, François Ozon.
Lilting Lilting
Drama 2013 86 mins Director: Hong Khaou
Ben Whishaw stars in an intimate portrait of two strangers brought together by the common language of grief.
Featuring Alfred Molina
Meantime Meantime
Drama 1983 107 mins Director: Mike Leigh
Tim Roth, Phil Daniels and Gary Oldman star in Mike Leigh’s TV film about an East End family try to stay afloat during a recession.
Letter to Brezhnev Letter to Brezhnev
Comedy 1985 94 mins Director: Chris Bernard
A defining Merseyside film, in which two Liverpool lasses hook up with a pair of Russian sailors only to wonder if they might be better off behind the Iron Curtain.
Prick Up Your Ears Prick Up Your Ears
Biopic 1987 110 mins Director: Stephen Frears
A celebration of outrageous British playwright Joe Orton’s irreverent and charismatic talent, starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina.
Directed by Ira Sachs
Little Men Little Men
Drama 2016 85 mins Director: Ira Sachs
Ira Sachs’ poignant drama about how money affects relationships follows an artistic family’s attempts to attune to a new Brooklyn neighbourhood.
Keep the Lights on Keep the Lights on
Drama 2012 102 mins Director: Ira Sachs
A filmmaker escapes the pain of a break-up through casual sex and meets a closeted lawyer in this deeply personal work from Ira Sachs.
New
The Shiny Shrimps The Shiny Shrimps
Comedy 2018 103 mins Director: Cédric Le Gallo
After making a homophobic remark on live TV, an Olympic champion swimmer is given a chance at redemption by coaching a water polo team to the world’s biggest LGBTQ+ sporting event, the Gay Games.
Pain and Glory Pain and Glory
Drama 2019 113 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar
In one of his most personal works, Pedro Almodóvar presents a vivid portrait of a filmmaker confronting age-related anxieties.
Phoenix Phoenix
Drama 2018 86 mins Director: Camilla Strøm Henriksen
Camilla Strøm Henriksen’s astute and atmospheric adolescent drama follows a young girl having to grow up quickly in an intensely adult world.
Sea Sorrow Sea Sorrow
Documentary 2017 73 mins Director: Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave makes her directorial debut with this impassioned documentary about the ongoing refugee crisis.
Honeyland Honeyland
Documentary 2019 86 mins Director: Ljubomir Stefanov
When a nomadic family move in and break Honeyland’s basic rule, the last female wild beekeeper in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.
120 BPM (Beats per Minute) 120 BPM (Beats per Minute)
Drama 2017 143 mins Director: Robin Campillo
Pulsating with life and pounding with urgency, Robin Campillo’s extraordinary account of 1990s AIDS activism is a rousing, sensual and heart-breaking celebration of personal and political resistance.