← Back to Reviews
in
A Single Man
(directed by Tom Ford, 2009)
*** This movie was singled out by ash_is_the_gal ***
Ponder this: You're gay and it's the 1960's. You've had a male lover for the past 16 years who lives with you. He decides to go away on a little vacation to see his family - and of course he can't bring you - and what should happen on that vacation? He gets into a car crash and dies. And what should the typical, closed minded 1960's family do about you, his secret male lover? Not invite you to the funeral, of course. Your partner went away on a little trip and you had no idea you would never see him again.
But that's not entirely what A Single Man is about. This movie deals with the lover who was left behind, George (Colin Firth), a college professor in Los Angeles. It's been eight months since his partner died and he can't take another day -- life is just too painful for him now. He has a gun and he's planning to kill himself at the end of the day. He goes to school and does his usual routine, but something is off about him -- everyone notices that he's not in good shape. As the day goes on, we meet other characters he knows, including his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore), who wishes George was straight so they could have had a relationship together, and a young student that George teaches who appears to have a little crush on him and is following him around everywhere.
Well, let's get this out of the way: Tom Ford's The King Speech was a lot better than this movie. Ash has heard me give comments about this movie, already - I told her I liked it, but the truth is, it's not something that will blow people away. Despite the terrible situation that Colin Firth's character finds himself dealing with, there really could have been a lot more depth brought to the table. Speaking as someone who really understands the pain this guy has gotta be going through, I do think that a lot of opportunities for crafting together a truly unforgettable film about being gay and losing your partner in a horrific manner were wasted.
For starters, the suicide plot is stupid. It's pretty apparent that this guy is not gonna kill himself. Don't worry - that's not a spoiler - you'll realize this early on. I also think that having the film take place only on one single day limits the scope we could be seeing in regards to what this guy really is like, how he handles himself and what kind of agony he truly experiences. A Single Man is a depressed version of Pee Wee's Playhouse -- you've got your Miss Yvonne character (Julianne Moore), traipsing around with her big hair and her own self-contained horniness, in which she flirtatiously hits on one specific best male friend, but doesn't go far with it. You've got your random hot Latino character that pops up briefly - in this movie's case, it's a male prostitute played by Jon Kortajarena. You've got all these other characters that stop by Colin Firth's house and it's all within a single day. It's just not really brilliant, exciting, deeply emotional and memorable material. Something like this - a movie with that kind of storyline - something not really done before, at least not in a mainstream motion picture - could have become a complex, rewarding, very engaging and very epic event. Instead, it's a party film. It is a stylistic, gay American Beauty without the originality and complexity of that film. It's a movie that features Colin Firth and Julianne Moore dancing around together as a highlight - and most of the time, Colin Firth's character is cold, or, at least, detached.
The movie tries to show him warmly opening up to the world and to the people around him before he's supposed to go off and kill himself, but the devices they use for this are typical -- "You have very pretty eyes", "Do you know how much your cheerful attitude has always made me happy?", "You're better looking than James Dean, you know?" -- it's a Isn't the World a Great Place? film. It's the wrong kind of story for this material.
It makes good use of what its doing, for the most part, and there's some things about this movie that are worth checking out -- thoughts about getting older and death, in particular -- but sadly, if you skip A Single Man, you're not missing much. It truly is a terrible situation that Colin Firth's George character is going through, but I wish they really had drawn us into him and his life and how it's been going since the time his partner died instead of focusing on a "last day of your life" scenario. I mean, if he's really suicidal -- and he has every right to be and this could have truly been shown, especially since they bothered to set this movie in the 1960's -- why wasn't his last day more depressing? Why couldn't we have seen the darkest of the dark? Trust me -- that's a very possible reality. Not everything is sunshine and lollipops and college age boys in fuzzy sweaters suddenly stalking you and undressing themselves in front of you. Sometimes life stinks and there's no Febreze.
(directed by Tom Ford, 2009)
*** This movie was singled out by ash_is_the_gal ***
Ponder this: You're gay and it's the 1960's. You've had a male lover for the past 16 years who lives with you. He decides to go away on a little vacation to see his family - and of course he can't bring you - and what should happen on that vacation? He gets into a car crash and dies. And what should the typical, closed minded 1960's family do about you, his secret male lover? Not invite you to the funeral, of course. Your partner went away on a little trip and you had no idea you would never see him again.
But that's not entirely what A Single Man is about. This movie deals with the lover who was left behind, George (Colin Firth), a college professor in Los Angeles. It's been eight months since his partner died and he can't take another day -- life is just too painful for him now. He has a gun and he's planning to kill himself at the end of the day. He goes to school and does his usual routine, but something is off about him -- everyone notices that he's not in good shape. As the day goes on, we meet other characters he knows, including his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore), who wishes George was straight so they could have had a relationship together, and a young student that George teaches who appears to have a little crush on him and is following him around everywhere.
Well, let's get this out of the way: Tom Ford's The King Speech was a lot better than this movie. Ash has heard me give comments about this movie, already - I told her I liked it, but the truth is, it's not something that will blow people away. Despite the terrible situation that Colin Firth's character finds himself dealing with, there really could have been a lot more depth brought to the table. Speaking as someone who really understands the pain this guy has gotta be going through, I do think that a lot of opportunities for crafting together a truly unforgettable film about being gay and losing your partner in a horrific manner were wasted.
For starters, the suicide plot is stupid. It's pretty apparent that this guy is not gonna kill himself. Don't worry - that's not a spoiler - you'll realize this early on. I also think that having the film take place only on one single day limits the scope we could be seeing in regards to what this guy really is like, how he handles himself and what kind of agony he truly experiences. A Single Man is a depressed version of Pee Wee's Playhouse -- you've got your Miss Yvonne character (Julianne Moore), traipsing around with her big hair and her own self-contained horniness, in which she flirtatiously hits on one specific best male friend, but doesn't go far with it. You've got your random hot Latino character that pops up briefly - in this movie's case, it's a male prostitute played by Jon Kortajarena. You've got all these other characters that stop by Colin Firth's house and it's all within a single day. It's just not really brilliant, exciting, deeply emotional and memorable material. Something like this - a movie with that kind of storyline - something not really done before, at least not in a mainstream motion picture - could have become a complex, rewarding, very engaging and very epic event. Instead, it's a party film. It is a stylistic, gay American Beauty without the originality and complexity of that film. It's a movie that features Colin Firth and Julianne Moore dancing around together as a highlight - and most of the time, Colin Firth's character is cold, or, at least, detached.
The movie tries to show him warmly opening up to the world and to the people around him before he's supposed to go off and kill himself, but the devices they use for this are typical -- "You have very pretty eyes", "Do you know how much your cheerful attitude has always made me happy?", "You're better looking than James Dean, you know?" -- it's a Isn't the World a Great Place? film. It's the wrong kind of story for this material.
It makes good use of what its doing, for the most part, and there's some things about this movie that are worth checking out -- thoughts about getting older and death, in particular -- but sadly, if you skip A Single Man, you're not missing much. It truly is a terrible situation that Colin Firth's George character is going through, but I wish they really had drawn us into him and his life and how it's been going since the time his partner died instead of focusing on a "last day of your life" scenario. I mean, if he's really suicidal -- and he has every right to be and this could have truly been shown, especially since they bothered to set this movie in the 1960's -- why wasn't his last day more depressing? Why couldn't we have seen the darkest of the dark? Trust me -- that's a very possible reality. Not everything is sunshine and lollipops and college age boys in fuzzy sweaters suddenly stalking you and undressing themselves in front of you. Sometimes life stinks and there's no Febreze.