Extra Cinema: Love is Strange (15)

Greek philosopher Plato professed love to be a serious mental disease, while Martin Luther King Jr believed it to be capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

Shakespeare poetically described love as a smoke made with the fume of sighs. For Ira Sachs and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias, love is a long-term relationship between two gay men in bustling Manhattan.

Love Is Strange is an elegant character study, which sketches these middle-aged soul-mates with tenderness and heart-breaking intimacy.

Sachs’ film is illuminated by two exquisite performances from John Lithgow and Alfred Molina who perform as if they have been sharing the same space for decades as their carefully ordered world unravels. Tomei, Jackson, Perez et al offer strong support, enriching their own dysfunctional yet loving relationships.

Love is a drug and regardless of the symptoms, we all want to be addicts.