I finally watched Keep the Lights On and have been trying to put into words what exactly bothered me so much about this seemingly accomplished film, which takes the viewer into one corner of the drug-soaked world of late '90s gay Chelsea.
Ira Sachs' Keep the Lights On starts with a credit montage of bad paintings. His protagonist, Erik (Thure Lindhardt), is first seen cruising gay-sex phone chatlines looking for company.