Erik
(Thure Lindhardt) is an over 30 filmmaker who seems spoiled,
undisciplined, independent and always on the outlook for a sex partner
while Paul (Zachary Booth) has a girlfriend (for a minute or two) and is
a serious, responsible lawyer who is dependent on those around him.
They connect one evening, have sex, and it turns into a ten year off and
on again romance between them. The co-writers of this
semi-autobiographical screenplay (Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias)
really don’t show why these men would get together for that length of
time and the audience may not buy it if they have never been in love
with the ‘wrong type’.

Being
a gay love story it seems almost mandatory that there be scenes showing
anal and felatio sex along with a masturbation one, the latter out in
the woods to give it ‘meaning. One of the mistakes the director (Ira
Sachs) and director of photography (Thimios Bakatakis) make are too many
artistic shots adding nothing to the film but time.

While
Lindhardt and Booth don’t give award worthy performances most of the
time they do make the two men believable. Paprika Steen as Erik’s sister
and Julianne Nicholson as his best friend give good support as do
Souleymane Sy Savane, Christopher Lenk and Sebastian La Cause.

Many
of the production values don’t have to do with enough money in the
budget but with technical mistakes. There are many points where the
actors are not audible, the music score is a mess and certain
locations--what is that country location doing there?--are too busy.

Though
being sold as a love story it succeeds more in showing a relationship
where each man changes the other, not necessarily a bad thing, and an
ending you may not see coming. At an hour and forty-two minutes it would
have been a better, tighter, more meaningful movie if cut by 12
minutes.

“Keep
The Lights On” is not one of the best, or honest,  romance, gay or
nongay, stories put on film but so far, this year, it rates high.