Moving Brilliance - A Single Man

(Forgive me for venturing into your territory, Hurley Who?, but this film was practically begging me to. And everyone else, please forgive me for the pretentious-educated-cinephile tone that I seem to have adopted. Soz.)





Produced and directed by the fashion designer Tom Ford and despite knowing that this film is based upon the novel of the same name, you cannot help thinking of this film as a portraiture of his relationship with his partner, Richard Buckley. The lead performance by Colin Firth is simultaneously powerful and subtle, but I could nonetheless still detect traces of the socially-awkward-Englishman character that the English are forever typecast in in American films. But Nicholas Hoult has brushed up considerably in both appearance and performance since his Skins days (although the head-wobbling still persists) and Julianne Moore is the perfect addition to the supporting cast as the pining lover wearied by the past and what could have been.

Beautiful score, brings to mind Carter Burwell’s work in In Bruges. Bonus points, too, for hiring the Mad Men production design team.

The synopsis RottenTomatoes.com provides – “A story that centers on an English professor who, after the sudden death of his partner tries to go about his typical day in Los Angeles.” – is largely inadequate, so watch, watch!





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