Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Keep the Lights On (DVD)

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Keep the Lights On tells the story of a Danish filmmaker, Erik (Thure Lindhardt), who’s working on a new documentary and living in New York City. He enters a loving yet complicated relationship with Paul (Zachary Booth), a struggling drug and sex addict. The film takes a rare and honest look at the complications that impact on most relationships and the negative effects addiction can cause for yourself and a partner, all put together in a way that makes you not think of this as a ‘gay film’. [Read more…]

LGBT Films Get The Nod Amongst Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

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The nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards have been announced and LGBT movies have done pretty well. The ISAs are the premiere US awards for independent movies. Many see them as the Oscars for those who don’t have the means to launch a massive, multi-million dollar awards campaign (e.g. most LGBT film), but who have still made a great movie.

Ira Sach’s Keep The Light On – about the tumultuous 10-year relationship between two men, which spirals downwards due to drugs – leads the LGBT contingent with four nominations. They include Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenpay and a Best Male Lead nomination for the wonderful Thure Lindhardt, who plays the film’s leading man, Erik.

Other LGBT interest came with Richard Linklater’s Bernie scoring two nominations. The film, about a closeted undertaker, is up for Best Feature and Best Male Lead (Jack Black). Indeed, Best Male Lead is a pretty gay category, as Wendell Pierce is also up for the award for playing a married man who starts a relationship with a teenage boy in Four (Bradley Cooper, John Hawkes and Matthew McConaughey are also nominated in the same category for playing straight roles, so it’s not totally gay).

Elsewhere, Gayby gained queer filmmaker Johnathan Liseki a Best First Screenplay nomination. The movie is about a straight woman and a gay man who decide to have a baby together.

In the Best Documentary category, How To Survive A Plague scored a nom. The movie looks at the early days of the AIDS crisis and the emergence of activist groups such ACT UP and TAG. Finally, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, which features queer actor Ezra Miller playing a brash gay teen, scored a Best First Feature nomination.

The Independent Spirit Awards will be presented on 23rd February, 2013. You can find all the nominees here.

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Chatting With Keep The Lights On Director Ira Sachs

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Ira Sach’s Keep The Lights On has been getting massive amounts of praise on the festival circuit, with rave reviews and adoring audiences. It even won the Teddy award for the best gay-themed film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie, about a relationship between two men which faces huge difficulties over the course of a decade, has now reached UK cinemas (you can read our review here). Director Ira Sachs was in the UK last month for the movie’s screenings at the London Film Festival, so we took the opportunity to catch up with him.

You’re in the UK for the London Film Festival. I believe there was a screening of Keep The Lights On last night. How did the audience react?
I think the audience was really engaged with the film, and they had lots of good questions. It always sort of sparks the viewer’s introspection, I think. [Read more…]

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Keep The Lights On (Cinema)

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Keep The Lights On comes to the UK after an incredibly well-received run on the festival circuit and very strong reviews for its US release. So does it live up to the hype that’s suggested this is the gay-themed film of the year? It pretty much does.

There’s been a lot of comparisons between last year’s Brit flick Weekend and Keep The Lights On. There are indeed quite a few similarities between the movies, even if one takes place over two days and the other 10 years. They share a similar tone and style, so that rather than a traditional narrative it’s like peeping in on two gay people’s lives, almost documentary style. They also share the fact that while for years most gay-themed films have centred on issues of identity, both Weekend and Keep The Lights on are about living a gay life once those questions have largely been settled. [Read more…]

Keep The Lights On UK Poster Debuts

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Keep The Lights On is undoubtedly the most buzzed about LGBT-themed movie of the year. It arrives in the UK on November 2nd, following screenings at the upcoming London Film Festival (we’ve seen it and it’s well worth watching, but you’ll have to wait for our full review for all our thoughts). Now Peccadillo Pictures has released the UK quad poster for the movie, which you can see above.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘It’s 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops. As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. A film about sex, friendship, intimacy and most of all, love, Keep the Lights On takes an honest look at the nature of relationships in our times.’

And if you’d like to see more, click here for the trailer.

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