movie review by brandon, the movie nerd: a single man

A Single Man- *** out of *****

It's very obvious Tom Ford's day job is as a clothing designer. Halfway through A Single Man, his directing debut, my friend whispered to me, "I feel like this is a long ad for Tom Ford's fashions." In a way yes…but at least everyone looks damn good.

Colin Firth plays George, a dapper, middle-aged gay man who is mourning the loss of his younger lover. Unable to deal with his pain, he decides to kill himself. He makes plans for his eventual demise, and spends what might be his final day preparing for death…but also looking for reasons to stay alive. As the main character, Colin Firth gives what's probably the best performance of his career. Famous for playing stiff Brits, this film allows him to expand more and really dig into his performance.

While George is also a stiff, secretive man (he has to be, as the movie takes place in the 60s), Firth does a brilliant job conveying the emotion roiling behind the mask he has to wear. The movie is also brilliant at detailing the gay culture of the 60s, where all speech is done in code and the protocols are murky at best. There's also a great supporting turn by Julianne Moore, a friend in love with Firth who can't grasp that his homosexuality isn't just a lark.

I wasn't as impressed with Firth's young student, but his role is also pretty thin. There's also beautiful cinematography, although any one who's seen Mad Men might get a case of déjà vu. And I think it goes without saying that the costumes are fantastic.

Unfortunately, Ford's inexperience at filmmaking is all too obvious. The close attention to detail in the technical aspects of the film seem out of balance with the direction and pacing. The film moves in fits and starts, moving from ambiguous scenes (like Firth's encounter with a Spanish hustler), to weird montages of the male physique, to brilliantly handled scenes (Firth and Moore's scene together, or the flashbacks to Firth and Matthew Goode), to scenes that drag on long after they've made their point (most of the conversations with a young, gay student). Ford relies too much on tricks that feel a little too film school. Such as the drab color scheme suddenly growing bright and colorful when Firth sees a sexy man or a dog. Yes, I know, these things brighten his world, but did it have to be SO obvious? And how exactly do children affect him? Because he is trapped in a lifestyle that makes children impossible? That would've been an interesting idea to explore, but we only really see the "downsides" of homosexuality in the sense of the world not accepting him.

We also get themes that are brought up and dropped, like Lee Pace as a paranoid professor or radio shows about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can see how 50's paranoia could relate to homophobia, but why bring it up if you're not going to deal with it? The camera tends to dwell on clothes, which I suppose isn't surprising, but it does slow the movie down (I will say the slow pans of the suit he wanted to be buried in worked). The long, slow shots of male faces and bodies did start to grate on me though. I'm sure being straight plays a part, but at times it felt like Ford was more interested in lovingly caressing Firth's face or ass than telling a story. The final scenes with a young student come off as just very typical. I see what they're going for, but we've seen it before, and it takes too long to get where we know it's going.

But even that's not quite as annoying as the forced existentialism of the final minutes. It winds up feeling more like a cheat than a natural path. If Ford can tone down his indulgences, I think he can be a great filmmaker. He's got a lot of style, and he draws great performances from his cast. His debut reminds me of another flawed but very well done film from this year…Duncan Jones' Moon. Both are talented people just finding their legs, and I'm excited to see what they do next.