Sunday, January 10, 2010

A Single Man


The sixties are all over the big screen with funny comedies and light hearted dramas. Tom Fords A Single Man, is set in the 60's but is not on the light side of drama. This has a dark forlorn quality that is not seen often in film. Colin Firth is so moving in this story of a man dealing with losing the love of his life. Played out in one day the script is about a detached yet emotional man that can no longer see the point in life. The story is based off a Christopher Isherwood novel that must be a impressive read. George Falconer (Firth) is a gay British university professor living in Southern California. The sudden death of his lover Jim (Matthew Goode) takes him by surprise and puts him in a living coma of grief and despair. When we lose someone close to our heart it is hard to see life like before, it is hard to see what can make the next day seem brighter. Even George's close friend Charley (Julianne Moore) is holding on to the past. It is hard to see how much you could mean to someone new when the past lives in your mind everyday. Can a Spanish stranger (Jon Kortajarena) or a young student (Nicholas Houltt) make George look to the future with hope? This is told through the eyes of Tom Ford a famous fashion designer is known for crisp and clean lines. Tom had to finance it himself and did a fine job in his directorial debut. The production team that created the sets in Mad Men made the sets in this film just picture perfect. This with the grainy style made some say this flick is clichéd or dated. With their logic just because a movie uses camera movement or wide pans instead of jumping from shot to shot with little cuts makes it seem slower or old-fashioned. Not the case in this beautiful film set in a time that might seem simpler then the fast paced world we live in now.
.

No comments:

Post a Comment