Woke up this Christmas morn to find a letter in my virtual stocking. Not from Santa Claus (or Krampus), but from director of A Single Man, Tom Ford. I’m anxiously but patiently waiting to put together my top ten films of the year list until I’ve had the opportunity to see three more movies. One of those is A Single Man.
Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, A Single Man is the story of George Falconer (Colin Firth), a 52-year-old British college professor who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his longtime partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). George dwells on the past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where a series of events and encounters ultimately leads him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend Charley (Julianne Moore), a 48-year-old beauty who is wrestling with her own questions about the future. A young student of George’s, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), who is coming to terms with his true nature, stalks George as he feels in him a kindred spirit.
With some seriously heavy hitters in the lead roles (Moore, Firth and Goode), what looks to be a solid script and something a little bit different from your ordinary, everyday drama piece, A Single Man certainly has the potential to truly blow this commentator right out of the water. A Single Man is playing in limited release right now. Very possibly in your neck of the woods. Here’s what Tom Ford had to say to us all…
When several years ago I set out in earnest to make my first film I had to find my voice as a filmmaker. I knew what I stood for as a fashion designer but I had to be ruthless and ask myself why anyone would need to see a Tom Ford film. Who cares? What did I have to say?
For me, story is everything and ultimately I believe that a film should challenge the viewer and that a film should haunt and linger long after one leaves the theater. We seem to have lost character and story-driven films with dialogue, and these are ultimately the most rewarding films for me as a viewer. This is the type of film I set out to make.
I first read the book A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood in the early 1980s and was moved by the honesty and simplicity of the story. Three years ago, after searching for the right project to develop as my first film it occurred to me that I often thought of this novel and its protagonist, “George.” I picked it up and read it again. Now in my late forties, the book resonated with me in an entirely different way. It is a deeply spiritual story, of one day in the life of a man who cannot see his future. Often darkly humorous it is a universal tale of coming to terms with the isolation that we all feel, and of the importance of living in the present and understanding that the small things in life are really the big things in life.
Set in Los Angeles almost 50 years ago, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, A Single Man is the story of George Falconer, a 52-year-old British college professor played by Colin Firth who gives a nuanced and stunning performance. George is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his longtime partner, Jim, played by Matthew Goode. Colin’s character cannot shake a deep depression and so decides to end his life. Thinking that he is seeing things for the last time he finds himself living in the present for the first time in years and confronted with the beauty of the world. Nicholas Hoult gives a terrific performance as a young student drawn to George on this particular day. Julianne Moore plays George’s breathtakingly beautiful onetime lover Charley, and her performance is layered, heartbreaking and powerful.
While the hero of A Single Man is gay, the film transcends sexuality. Love is love and this is the story of a single man’s search for meaning in his life.
This film is perhaps the thing that I am the most proud of in my life. I believe that a good film should be both entertaining and thought-provoking. In that way, I hope that A Single Man makes you question things…think about things in a way that you haven’t thought about before.
I have always believed that a film should speak for itself and I hope that A Single Man speaks to you.
—Tom Ford, director
I adored this film.
This is a beautiful, beautiful film and Colin Firth is incredible. The score is hauntingly and lovely. Do go see it!
It’s fair to say Ford achieved what he set out to do. The film certainly lingers and he’s not mixing words when he talks of Firth’s performance; it’s spectacular.
So I was really anticipating this movie cracking my top ten, but unfortunately it didn’t really even come close. Firth and Moore were awesome and the film is handsomely shot, but for some reason I didn’t latch on to the characters as much as I thought I would. The story is kind of dragging since I had no real emotion for the characters.
Still, I liked it enough for what it was – especially a director’s debut! I REALLY look forward to more from Ford. I foresee masterworks and Oscars in his future; probably near future.
most common complaints I’ve heard:
1. main character not developed/don’t care for him
2. shot too much like music videos/waste of choreography
3. 8 1/2 is such a personal film and thus this version robs it of all its intensity
I’m waiting for a rental.
Goon are you talking about A Single Man or NINE?
I really liked each individual scene for what they were. But the scenes don’t really add up to a whole lot. It reminds me a little bit of A Serious Man. But there’s a lot more going on in the Coen Brothers’ story to latch onto. With Single, we just kind of follow this guy around and peek into his brain – which is interesting and I enjoy a good character study, but I wish there was something more encompassing all of these thoughts. Maybe a symptom of too high of expectations.
And again, I love the setting and the cinematography.
Its breaking into my top ten, I loved it.
regarding the idea of a main character not being developed, just in general I don’t care for this approach to evaluating a film unless the film itself is trying to make a point of development. A Single Man is about the details, not the arc. It is deliberately saturated in beauty, the sixties superficial shell of normalcy beneath which Firth’s character stirs. Its not arbitrary, there is a scene where the voiceover goes into a kind of Patrick Bateman schtick about the how hard it is to make himself what he is to the outside world, the act of getting dressed like camouflage… there is a sinister perfection to the way the film looks that does more to involve a sense of character than any kind of exposition would require.
The film is in no rush to get anywhere, it wafts like cigarette smoke. Aside from a small gripe with how the film ends (with two better endings occurring prior) A Single Man is note-perfect. A friend I saw it with compared it to In the Mood for Love, and I can see that comparison.
“Goon are you talking about A Single Man or NINE?”
I’m sick and I fucked up. End of story.