Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Single Man

From the preview of Tom Ford's A Single Man, I was expecting something merely slick & stylish. Fortunately it turned out to be much more than that. The movie is certainly wonderful to look at. It's almost hyper-real, with its artificial shifts from drab tones into bright color, its seductive close-ups of eyes & lips, & its adoration of early 60's design (Were there really lavender-colored cigarettes then?). It is also a great period piece with much sly humor. For some reason I found it very funny when George, about to leave his office, washes down a few Bayer aspirins with the dregs from a bottle of Scotch in his desk drawer. I believe that shortly after this, he drives to a gun shop & buys bullets from a teenage shop assistant.

We see everything through the eyes of Colin Firth as George, & he does deserve all the accolades he has been receiving for his performance. In the scene in which George & Jim are home reading together on the couch, Mr. Firth only needs half a second to show us that George is dominated by the fear of losing Jim. Matthew Goode as Jim appears in only a few scenes, but we easily regret the loss of his sunny, self-assured character.

The Christopher Isherwood novel on which the movie is based is plotless & psychologically interior, seemingly poor movie material. Mr. Ford's adaptation is confident & impressively true. He evokes the period with sureness. The scene between Colin Firth & Julianne Moore as Charley made me think of Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I also liked the sad & ominous string score by Abel Korzeniowski. It could have been for a Hitchcock movie.

4 comments:

Immanuel Gilen said...

This movie looks fascinating. With your approval, I should hurry up and go to the theater!

Axel Feldheim said...

No need for my approval, I am sure. Entartete Musik is the one to blame here. I was hesitant to see this myself, since the scenario is so unpromising. I mean, there is hardly any action at all. But there is something seductive about how it is all presented. & I found many unexpectedly funny moments as well.

Gavin Plumley said...

I am thrilled that my recommendations encourage at a great distance... glad you appreciated it too.

Axel Feldheim said...

I am occasionally susceptible to goading, it seems.