A Single Man review
An excellent Colin Firth, accompanied by an equally, if not more, impressive Julianne Moore, along with some other much more forgettable folk, take centre stage in Tom Ford’s film of a gay professor largely failing to come to terms with life after the death of his lover.
As prominent as the acting performances, the visual style stands out, which isn’t much of a surprise with an ex creative director of Gucci at the helm. Striking costumes and sets are met with often experimental cinematography. The first half in particular is stylistically impressive with effective frequent use of slow motion and colours and contrast shifting with emotions. Although largely successful, application of stylistic elements are pushed a little too far, become almost tedious, and some experiments (such as an odd single black-and-white scene) are distracting and don’t work as a result.
Given some strong credentials it’s a shame that the film is so boring. There’s little originality in the story of lost love and events are so subtle, dry and, well, uneventful, that there is little, aside from the visuals and the acting performances, to latch on to and show interest in.
20th Feb 2010 | Official site | On IMDb
