Keep the Lights On
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Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

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  • Starring: Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth
  • Summary: Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik and closeted lawyer Paul meet through a casual encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together, they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity while being true to himself. Director Ira Sachs’s fearlessly personal screenplay is anchored by Lindhardt, who embodies Erik’s isolation and vulnerability with a gentle presence. Harrowing and romantic, visceral and layered, Keep the Lights On is a film that looks at love and all of its manifestations, taking it to dark depths and bringing it back to a place of grace. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    Sep 6, 2012
    100
    Lindhardt, sweet and childish and achingly vulnerable, gives a stunning performance.
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Sep 4, 2012
    100
    This is a drama about finding one's self-worth; you simply have to see it.
  3. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Mike McCahill
    Nov 4, 2012
    80
    Every frame pulses with hard-gained experience: it may be the most lived-in film of 2012, and certainly counts among the most moving.
  4. Empire
    Reviewed by: William Thomas
    Oct 29, 2012
    60
    While not quite on a par with Andrew Haigh's "Weekend," this is still an undeniably powerful piece of filmmaking.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. GreatMartin
    5
  2. MartinNYID
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I don't understand why it's 'hip' to remake material we've all seen before with a 'gay' label. If someone has never had experience with addiction, this film might do something. But it skirts its responsibility to delve deeper into the treacherous aspects of bottoming out and recovery - we go from 'just using' to a full-on intervention full of characters we've never met. And then suddenly, "shazam!" they're procaiming their love for each other again.

    I found the lead actor distracting - nothing against a foreign accent, but this brought nothing to the film except some unwanted comic parody. I didn't find either believable, and feel that this is another 'make a gay movie' from an angle that once all gays see the light and adopt the broken, pathetic marriage and relationship system of straights, the world will then be all good, golden and complete.

    Addiction is a serious disease, and far more rampant in the gay demographic than anywhere else. This film doesn't do much to shed new light, despite the title.    … Expand

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