Okay, I’m going to talk a bit about the production values of the movie first. This is a movie directed by a fashion designer after all, so it’s worth discussing. If you don’t want to bother, then skip down to *story*

The two most prominent things about A SINGLE MAN are: it’s score–by Abel Korzeniowski (the amazing Stephen Trask, who did the music for HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, was a music executive consultant per the credits). Only on occasions do I ever actually *hear* the music of a film. Most of the times, I’m so engrossed in the story that I don’t even remember hearing music: the quiet kind playing on the background for dramatic effect. The loud kind often use for montages? those I do hear because, well, there’s no one talking at the moment. But now and then, the score of a movie is so embedded into the DNA of the film that you cannot isolated. It is one with the visuals and it really enhances what you are watching. Some examples are: TITANIC, SIGNS, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIM BUTTON, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, and now A SINGLE MAN. Which makes it a crying shame that the academy didn’t nominate it.
The second thing is the art direction of the film. A SINGLE MAN is the most aesthetically flawless film of 2009. You can tell Tom Ford directed this movie, and that the team responsible for the production design, is the same from tv show MAD MEN because that show is really something to look at. Every single frame of this movie was flawless; a lot of straight, clean lines, symmetrical shapes, etc. The clothes, the designs, the styles, the cars, the houses, the furniture, the bottles of liquor… nothing was amiss. Even things that had dirt or dust or smudges, you could tell that those smudges were done precisely to look the way Tom Ford intended for them to look. And that’s not all, he employs a color palette trick that really works wonders for the movie: he shoots the movie in a dry, ashen shade that strips almost all colors down until they look sort of grayish. But then, for scenes where Colin Firth’s character feels a bit of life stimulation (he’s depressed) Tom Ford makes all the color’s flush, as if everything comes to life. It is a very neat trick the helps us the viewers, really feel what Colin is feeling and connect with him further. As far as music and style, Tom Ford has made himself proud. And now the…..
*STORY*
A SINGLE MAN is an adaptation of the 1964 Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name. It deals with a gay, British professor–George Falconer played by Colin Firth–living in southern california in the early 60s. The whole story takes place within one single day in the life of George. He recently lost his partner of 16 years in a tragic car accident, and the loss has left him depressed. We meet the partner–Jim, played by Matthew Goode, who I must say, is a very handsome man–through flashbacks/daydreams George has of their life together. Jim’s death has left George with no purpose in life and he’s considering suicide.
It really is a seemingly normal *day in the life* story; the twist is that it isn’t normal, at least not to the audience because we can see that George is planning on killing himself, we can see how Jim’s absence is deteriorating him. The people around him, do notice some changes, but they all think he’s just under the weather for the most part, with the exception of Kenny (played by Nicholas Hoult, the kid from ABOUT A BOY. Completely unrecognisable! I saw the whole thing and didn’t even notice it was him until a friend pointed out), who gets the sense that there’s something wrong with George and decides to keep close to him.
Julianne Moore has about two small scenes and then one big one with Colin Firth. As always, she’s fantastic (when will this woman win an oscar?!). She expertly show us a woman who resents to an extent, that the one man she might have truly love and could have made her happy is her gay best friend, but can’t do nothing about it. On the other hand, she keeps herself together by sheer force of will and only lets us see the cracks one peak at the time. Colin Firth is also fantastic at playing George. He’s a very quiet, polite character who keeps getting tempted by fate, but is so proper that he will always choose to do the right thing (he’s British also, so you know he grew up with the *go by the rules* mentality). It is a very understated role that on someone else’s hands would have been ruined. It would have told us nothing. Colin gives George so much life, he really projects his inner sadness/suffering, with just a look, the way he cocks his head, they way he touches something; only a brilliant actor could do this. Nicholas Hoult, though his role calls only for him to be the naive, maybe gay young man who senses his professor is gay and wants to connect with someone like him, etc. I think he did all right, he doesn’t comes off as too shy or to eager. Matthew Goode has the least dramatic role, as he’s only there to ease George’s pain, for George only daydreams of their happiest times together.
The movie is very good overall, I think because there’s not much in terms of drama that the story offers, it may feel like it lacks something. I was worried that being directed by Tom Ford, he would only care about the look of the movie and not have the skills to give it a heart, creating a hollow piece of art, but I think he’s done an excellent job in both counts, and I’m very curious to see what he would do with meatier story; something darker. Grade: A-
A Few Lingering Points on the 100 Favorite Films
Before reading this post, please check out my list of 100 favorite films of the decade so you can have a better sense of the bulletpoints below. Thanks.
Okay, let’s now dive in:
06/02/2010
Categories: MOVIES, SOCIO-POLITICAL/POP CULTURE COMMENTARY . Tags: animation, avatar movie, decade's best films, movie characters you hate, movies, mystic river, pop culture, taking comedies for granted . Author: Nate . Comments: 2 Comments