Eduard Grau/The Weinstein Company
A gay man in the Cold War year of 1962, George Falconer (Colin Firth) struggles in a chilly sea of apprehensions.
Even those who have never heard of Tom Ford might guess, from the evidence onscreen, that the debuting director of "A Single Man" primarily makes his living as a fashion designer. His first film resembles a tasteful magazine layout with a 1962 Southern California theme. The impeccably costumed actors stalk through scenes like models. The color scheme is so artfully de-saturated -- so lifeless -- that the movie seems almost embalmed.
Eduard Grau/The Weinstein Company
A gay man in the Cold War year of 1962, George Falconer (Colin Firth) struggles in a chilly sea of apprehensions.
As it turns out, the whiff of formaldehyde is appropriate, as is the film's stiffness and joylessness (I never imagined watching Julianne Moore twist to "Green Onions" could be so grim). Adapted from a 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, "A Single Man" is the story of a man who is not just in mourning but planning his suicide -- a man so self-effacing that he plans to kill himself inside a sleeping bag, to lessen the mess.
The man is middle-aged college professor George Falconer (Colin Firth). As a gay man in 1962, George has lived much of his life in a state of apprehension. He's no longer alone in his nervousness: The Cuban missile crisis is a background presence in the film. "Fear is taking over our world," George tells his students, who don't understand his references to a persecuted "invisible" minority.
As the movie opens, George is mourning the death of his longtime live-in lover, Jim (Matthew Goode), killed in an out-of-town car wreck. Unwanted and unacknowledged by Jim's family, George is unable to publicly mourn. Even his longtime best friend, a glamorous, aging divorcée (Moore), accuses him of wasting his life on a relationship that wasn't "real."
Scripted by Ford and David Scearce, the movie follows the broken-hearted George for what he expects will be the last day in his life. Memphis' own Ginnifer Goodwin appears briefly, as a neighbor whose husband-and-obnoxious-kids existence represents, for George, some sort of hetero hell.
"A Single Man" plays much better during the second viewing that most viewers won't have the patience to experience. Watching the film again, one becomes less aware of its self-conscious, fashion-plate artfulness and more attuned to Firth's sensitive performance, which has earned Critics Choice and Golden Globe award nominations for Best Actor, in deserving recognition of its peculiar challenge: For the film to succeed, Firth must be memorable as a man who has spent most of his life avoiding notice.
"A Single Man" is playing exclusively at Malco's Studio on the Square.
-- John Beifuss, 529-2394
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Comments » 1
BrunettoLatini writes:
I thought this was the best film I've seen since Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
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