Saturday, January 16, 2010

Singular Sensation: For those of you who are like me and are sick and tired of hearing about the single ladies (thank you, Beyonce!), the new movie titled A Single Man will make you forget all about that infectious ditty. Based on the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name, Man tells the story of George Falconer who struggles to deal with his life after his partner of 16 years dies in an automobile accident.

The film is directed by famed designer Tom Ford and every single frame of the movie is so stylishly and artfully shot that the fact this is Ford's first film makes the movie all the more breathtaking. And let me say this about Firth's performance: He has played a myriad of roles in his nearly twenty-six year film career, including a gay tenant in Apartment Zero, the ever popular Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, playing father to teen Amanda Bynes, and singing alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia! Each one of those roles was memorable in their own right but in A Single Man, Firth erases those previous roles by giving an indelible, amazingly honest and sexually charged performance. Even if he doesn't win the Oscar this year (he might but probably won't), this is a role that deserves to be talked about and dissected.

The film closely follows the book complete with a myriad of scenes with very minimal dialogue; this is the kind of film that other Academy Award hopefuls should be getting ideas from, one in which the performance dictates the action as opposed to the plot. The only major flaw I found with this film was the ending; I didn't like it in the book and I don't like it on film. However, it's still worth seeing and thanks to Ford's keen eye, he deserves to receive a nominee for best director. The film also stars Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult and Gennifer Goodwin.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

Great, now I can't get the "One singular sensation" song out of my head. There are even can can dancers up there doing the kicks. Thanks a lot!