He won’t win the OSCAR, but he must be seen: Colin Firth in A SINGLE MAN.

Great flick starring the chicly buttoned up English actor as gay lit professor George Falconer; with his Yeatsian last name he stands on the brink of a cultural riptide, L.A. circa 1962. The film is adapted from the Christopher Isherwood novel; fashion designer and first-time director Tom Ford pulls us right into the opening shots. From overhead, we watch the professor stride into view (it could be Ford himself in elegant black and white), and follow this single man through a single day. His longtime lover has died and he is unable to mourn openly, or do anything openly for that matter. The style of the film reiterates the condition of the man: a perfectly composed surface barely containing the life beneath. Everything about the film is muffled– George’s perfectly calibrated voice, pristinely controlled manner, surroundings, and dialogue; there are wide spaces between the words which hold an aching sea of grief and desire

Firth quietly absorbs us with his eyes behind heavy framed glasses. We cannot look away. (Except when Julianne Moore is onscreen, overacting as the beautiful lush next door. Love her hair; hate the performance.)

Check out A SINGLE MAN and understand the difficult choice OSCAR voters have to make.
Click on the box below to see A SINGLE MAN trailer!

Later–
stay tuned!