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When I'm 64 (2004)

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Overall Rating 76%
Overall Rating
Ranked #10,212
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One-off drama about the friendship that grows between two men from very different backgrounds, whose paths cross for the first time as they approach retirement age. --IMDb
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Review by bluemeanie
Added: May 3, 2006
Over the years, gay love stories have come in all shapes and sizes. We have seen the love story between all sorts of GLBT combinations, and even the most shocking of all... the love story between Harvey Fierstein and Matthew Broderick in "Torch Song Trilogy". Never, however, have we seen such a 'unique' relationship build on the screen. "When I'm 64" is about never giving up, no matter what the age. It is about the ability to discover happiness at all ages in life, and the ability to rediscover new alternatives to typical forms of love. I don't know if I have been this moved by a film before - it has this magical quality to it that just keeps our attention fixated the entire time. These are characters we grow to care about, and characters that make us care because they care so much for one another. "When I'm 64" was another highlight of the Birmingham Shout! film festival, and also one of the best films that I have seen, thus far, this year.

Ray (Paul Freeman) is a regular joe. He is a widower of eight years, with two grown children, who drives a cab and goes down to the local pub every evening to unwind. His life is not very complicated, and we wonder if it ever has been. He misses his wife. One day, Ray gives Jim (Alun Armstrong) a ride to the hospital. Jim has checked himself in for a nose job. He leaves his jacket in the cab and something propels Ray to take the jacket back to him, in person. From that point forward, a relationship between these two 64-year-old men begins. They begin visiting one another, going out for Chinese food, hitting the stores on shopping sprees, and finding romance they thought they had given up forever, or never found before. It is touching in the way that these two men find one another, connect, and instantly understand what the other is going through. When Ray's family discovers his secret, he denies it, hoping to save his relationship with his children. But, when it comes to love, Ray discovers that you can't hide from it that easily.

What a genuine joy this film was for me. I love the way this relationship builds - so slowly, yet we see every step and understand it, from their initial conversation in the cab through Ray's revealing of his past flirtations with men. The most incredible scene in the film comes when Ray follows Jim into his house. Not a word is spoken, but Ray follows Jim upstairs, into the bedroom, and closes the door. They both know what is about to happen, but neither seems sure what to do. This is one of the most honest and touching scenes from any film I have seen before, and it still makes me smile just thinking about it. The whole film is covered with ideas and sentiments of how you should never give up on happiness, how you should always try to live, and how your life doesn't have to end when you reach a certain age. At the age of 64, the film ends with Ray and Jim embarking on an adventure that serves as the beginning of their new life together.

Paul Freeman and Alun Armstrong deliver award worthy performances as Ray and Jim, as one of the most finely crafted couples I have ever seen. The rest of the characters and actors are merely backdrop for the two stars, who steal the show. "When I'm 64" caught me offguard in a good way. I had not even intended to see it. I walked it, ready to head upstairs to another documentary, but something about what I was watching just kept me glued to the screen. And, I am so glad I stayed. It is the kind of film that makes you happy from the inside out. It is the kind of film that makes you wish we were all so lucky to find someone who made us that content. It is the kind of film that makes you wonder why most of the films we see in theatre are as lacking and as dull as they come. This is the film people need to see. "Brokeback Mountain" has nothing on this one. Who needs two gay cowboys when you can get a cab driver and a retired school teacher?

9/10.
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