Chris & Don: A Love Story (NR)

synopsis

"Chris & Don: A Love Story" is the true-life story of the passionate three-decade relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood and American portrait painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior. From Isherwood's Kit-Kat-Club years in Weimar-era Germany (the inspiration for his most famous work) to the couple's first meeting on the sun-kissed beaches of 1950s Malibu, their against-all-odds saga is brought to dazzling life by a treasure trove of multimedia. Bachardy's contemporary reminiscences artfully interact with archival footage, rare home, reenactments, and, most sweetly, whimsical animations based on the cat-and-horse cartoons the pair used in their personal correspondence. With Isherwood's status as an out-and-proud gay maverick, and Bachardy's eventual artistic triumph away from the considerable shadow of his life partner, the film is above all a joyful celebration of a most extraordinary couple.