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Title: A Single Man (2009)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Colin Firth | ... | George | |
| Julianne Moore | ... | Charley | |
| Nicholas Hoult | ... | Kenny | |
| Matthew Goode | ... | Jim | |
| Jon Kortajarena | ... | Carlos | |
 |
Paulette Lamori | ... | Alva |
| Ryan Simpkins | ... | Jennifer Strunk | |
| Ginnifer Goodwin | ... | Mrs. Strunk | |
| Teddy Sears | ... | Mr. Strunk | |
|
|
Paul Butler | ... | Christopher Strunk |
| Aaron Sanders | ... | Tom Strunk | |
|
|
Aline Weber | ... | Lois |
| Keri Lynn Pratt | ... | Blonde Secretary | |
| Jenna Gavigan | ... | Other Secretary #1 | |
| Alicia Carr | ... | Other Secretary #2 | |
It's November 30, 1962. Native Brit George Falconer, an English professor at a Los Angeles area college, is finding it difficult to cope with life. Jim, his personal partner of sixteen years, died in a car accident eight months earlier when he was visiting with family. Jim's family were not going to tell George of the death or accident, let alone allow him to attend the funeral. This day, George has decided to get his affairs in order before he will commit suicide that evening. As he routinely and fastidiously prepares for the suicide and post suicide, George reminisces about his life with Jim. But George spends this day with various people, who see a man sadder than usual and who affect his own thoughts about what he is going to do. Those people include Carlos, a Spanish immigrant/aspiring actor/gigolo recently arrived in Los Angeles; Charley, his best friend who he knew from England, she who is a drama queen of a woman who romantically desires her best friend despite his sexual ... Written by Huggo
What's up with all the single paragraph reviews of this movie? Usually single paragraph reviews on IMDb denote a spam of plugs by the filmmakers and their friends who make junk accounts to inflate a film's appeal. In this case "A Single Man" needs no artificial inflation, but I'm still perplexed as to why nobody has really dug into the guts of this film.
And then I realized that it might be because this is a very challenging and somewhat abstract film that defies analysis. Well, that doesn't help you, so let's roll up our sleeves and take a whack at it.
Beginning with the setting and look of the movie: It is set in 1960s Los Angeles, and appropriately it has a very dated, nostalgic look with a lot of browns and sepias. But it isn't just for show; the colors (and lack thereof) are designed to strongly convey the protagonist George's state of mind. In the beginning we learn that he has suffered a tragedy, and if you've ever experienced something life-shattering like that, you know that the world becomes bland to you. Technicolor bluejays don't come flying out of nowhere like in a Disney musical, but rather everything seems unspectacular and tasteless. I thought the inter-weaving of the 60s nostalgic look (going by those faded photographs of the 60s which, coincidentally, match the fading of memory with its color shift to monochrome) was well done.
So if I haven't bored you to death with my (now 3!) paragraphs of unsensational writing, read on because there's a reason. The story itself is rather unsensational, and so it requires a decent attention span. If you bore easily, then this isn't the film for you. It's a mostly quiet exploration of a man's tormented mind; however it's spiced up by a nice little attention grabber right near the beginning. George plans to kill himself.
Ah now that got your attention, didn't it? Although it shouldn't dominate the story (and doesn't), it's enough to keep you on the hook, knowing that there is an impending sense of finality. Call me a sucker, but I fall for this plot device every time, and I love movies that begin with the premise of the protagonist facing death because it adds value to even the tiniest details that unfold. Not to mention the whole morbid curiosity of wanting to see if the deed is done.
Back to the story. George is a gay man in the 1960s who is not only alienated from people by his tragedy, but he is further excommunicated by the homophobic attitudes of the time. Don't worry, it's not bashed over your head like some pity party; the homophobia is shown with subtlety, so it's not a cartoonish farce. George is a respected, classy gent and there are no sensational scenes of bullying or hate, but perhaps more insidious than bullying, there's a sort of polite barrier that people (his family) construct.
His one friend is "Charley" played by Julianne Moore. She plays a sort of deplorable socialite whom you can't help but love. Herself guarded by a facade of makeup and a contrived New England accent, she is a prisoner in her own sort of polite barrier. There's one scene I loved where George & Charley break down their respective oppressive walls of gentility and groove out to a hip 60s tune ("Green Onions" by Booker T Jones) which was the 1960s equivalent of pelvis-thrusting house music. The spectacle doubles as an interesting seduction scene, and you'll have to watch the movie to see how that turns out.
"A Single Man" has a artistic feel and visually poetic quality that could only be achieved by a brash cinema newcomer who hails from a different artistic discipline altogether. We got exactly that with debutante director Tom Ford, a fashion designer who revamped Gucci in the mid 90s, saving the company from collapse. I haven't seen his Gucci creations, but I was surprised that the look of this film is surprisingly dark and conservative. No flashy runway theatrics required.
Tom Ford's vision reminds me of other stylish directoral debuts from art crossovers like Chanel/Dior model-turned-director Daniella Amavia ("A Beautiful Now") and dancer-turned-director Arielle Javich ("Look, Stranger"). It also reminded me very much of the excellent film by Sally Potter (dancer-turned-director) "Ginger & Rosa" which is similarly set during the 1960s in polite society while the Cuban Missile Crisis and threat of nuclear annihilation looms over the head of Ginger, a very troubled teen. In all of these films I've mentioned, the look is very distinct, graceful and memorable. If you like films like that which, in addition to providing lush eye candy, also force you to think about subtle themes rather than action & car chases, check out "A Single Man" and all the others.