Virginian Pilot Review of "A Single Man,"

While Tom Ford's "A Single Man" has received glowing reviews in the gay media (e.g., Out Magazine, which has stunning photos of Nicholas Hoult), I was stunned to see it get a positive review in the Virginian Pilot. The reviewer, Mal Vincent, typically doesn't like most movies, yet he heaps praise on Colin Firth's (pictured at right) performance and just maybe the review will cause some of the more homophobic elements in Tidewater Virginia to check the movie out - or at least be dragged to see it by their by their spouses. I have yet to see the movie, but it sounds like it will deliver a message that the Christianists so strongly oppose: that same sex love is legitimate and every bit as powerful and heterosexual love. Indeed, it is something beautiful and blessed by God. Here are a few highlights:
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When a character looks into a camera and tells you, quite flatly, that his heart is broken, you tend to reciprocate with more sympathy than any tearful, melodramatic scene might elicit.
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Such a scene is at the opening of "A Single Man," the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and his own label. At the center of the film is a stunning performance from British actor Colin Firth as a 52-year-old Los Angeles English professor who has lost the one thing that meant anything in his life, his partner. The film is set in 1962, eight months after the partner, played by Matthew Goode, was killed in an automobile accident.
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Firth plays the part of a repressed man who never had much personal life and now has lost that. The identity of his lover was, in accordance with the times, a secret. George goes about meticulous plans to kill himself - laying out the proper suit with instructions on tying a Windsor knot, getting papers into order and so on. It leads to an almost-comic-if-it-weren't-so-sad-scene.
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He began the current award season by winning the Venice Film Festival accolade for this performance and went on to raves at Toronto. He is nominated for a Golden Globe Award Sunday night and has a good chance at receiving an Oscar nomination.
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All the attention is well deserved. George is much more than a grief- stricken man. Firth let s us see that he's not entirely sympathetic. George is arrogant and distant, and he appears to be altogether self-sufficient. But he's not. That's what you call layered acting - emotions that develop rather than merely being trotted out.
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As it turns out, George seems to be getting encouragement from varied sources to end his mourning. These include a T-shirted James Dean look-alike hustler and a curious young student who has a crush on him. The latter role is played by Nicholas Hoult, who brings the very essence of youthful flirtation to the movie and to the world of his college professor. There is a nude swimming scene that would have made Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster blush from here to eternity.
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Ford, though, has not so much directed the movie as he has staged it. Every scene looks like a fashion layout for Vogue. There is the glass house - an architect's showcase. Moore wears stunning gowns just to hang around the house. Firth is tailored and groomed to perfection. If a guy is going to kill himself, he might as well look good doing it, right?
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The boyfriend and I definitely plan on seeing A Single Man.