Two Shades of Blue; Music Box Makes Post Sundance-Berlin Pick-Up of ‘Keep the Lights On’

Contempo Queer cinema is alive and well. After showings at Sundance and in Berlin, Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On is following along in the footsteps of Weekend and Pariah towards a theatrical release as Music Box Films inked a deal for the North American rights to the film. While no mention of a release date was made in the press release – don’t be surprised if this receives a limited summer showing.

Gist: Ben is another gay man in New York trying to make a connection through a phone sex line. He meets Nick – closeted, handsome and with a girlfriend attached. From the start, this casual encounter extends itself into a hopeful moment between potential lovers. As Ben negotiates life as a documentary filmmaker, his relationship with Nick, a precociously young lawyer in a prominent publishing house, becomes more than just a fling.

Worth Noting: The pic premiered in Park City and then collected a Teddy at the Berlin Film Festival. East coast preem will be at Tribeca.

Do We Care?: Our reviewer who caught the film at Sundance, and to date, has seen the Sachs’ entire filmography points out in his 4-star review that “this is refreshing and honest depiction rarely seen in cinema” and is “arguably his most poignant and strongest work yet”. Could this follow in the trajectory of Andrew Haigh’s Weekend or Dee Rees’ Pariah?