Indie filmmaker Ira Sachs creates finely observed relationship dramas (Forty Shades of Blue, Keep the Lights On) in which life's disruptions are characterized not by dramatic blow-outs but by small everyday scenes that slowly build to heartbreaking clarity. Here, a loss of a job leads to a drop in finances which forces Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) to give up their Manhattan apartment. After nearly four decades together, the pair is also physically separated, forced by the city's brutal real-estate market to seek temporary shelter apart: Ben bunks down with his nephew's squabbling family and George gets a couch with former neighbors, two young gay cops who stay up late. It's awkward for everybody, but especially hard on the two older men, who in the process see their dignity, identity and intimacy gradually eroded away. With marvelous performances from Molina and Lithgow, and a sly ending that re-orders all that has come before.
