A Single Man
How do we know the indie world is running a bit brain damaged at the moment? A Single Man turns out to be the first real film sale of the festival.
Does that mean I dislike the movie? No. But in a festival with a lot of good, small films, why is the one they all suddenly had to have the Strand release blown up by Tom Ford hype? Just odd.
Ford, as a first timer, does a nice job creating a living, breathing Vanity Fair magazine. The film is pretty. And Colin Firth is excellent as a closed off, pained man who feels his life is over with the loss of his lover. It’s the kind of performance in the kind of movie that could draw an Oscar nod in the thin list of actress contenders each year. But Best Actor is a 1000 to 1 shot. In fact, Julianne Moore has a better shot at Supporting, which might be why The Weinsteins bought the film… to protect their category, which is likely to already be an uphill fight with 2 likely nominations for Dench and either Hudson or Cruz.
Anyway… the movie is good, but self aware to the point of what will be comedy for some audiences. It’s practically made in Gay-O-Vision, with the most beautiful men on the planet, Julianne Moore as The Ultimate Fag Hag ( beautiful, drunk, and desperate to sleep with our gay hero because she no longer can deal with the idiocy – and ungroomed hair – of straight men), and even a color scheme change to signal the audience that sexual arousal is occurring.
I admit, if this was a straight story and the star was Harrison Ford or Kevin Coster or Richard Jenkins, it would be a different, more commercial animal. But it never would have been shot like a J Crew catalog shoot where the stylist forgot to bring the clothes. Thing is, that IS Ford’s accomplishment. He has made a pretty movie of a tiny, fragile story and it works. In many ways, it is the gay Precious… only there is no gay Oprah to front it as Important. (No, I’m not sure that Ellen will relate.) But is is, all in all, a better movie than Precious. Ford shows a skill and though it is a very, very specific skill, it includes solid, simple storytelling and he gets good work out of all of his actors.
So… what to make of it? It’s a ghetto film, but it’s the most beautiful ghetto ever. Ford shows none of the subtextual complexity or range of Todd Haynes or the brutal intimacy of Ozon or the camp insight of Sam Mendes and Alan Ball’s American Beauty. It’s like an extended version of one scene from the work of those masterful films. But that’s good company and a good start. I, for one, will look forward to seeing if this pony has a second trick.
I saw it, I was fine with it, I can see it being “a film for us”, and I applaud the idea of films for us. It will play great on wide screens in retail stores with no sound. And I would be afraid that this was an insult, except I also feel that this is exactly what the filmmaker intended on this one.
I’m confused with the review. I don’t know if you liked it or not. You say you were fine with it, yet the mood of the review is of hesitation.
As for the gay issue, my belief is that a film has no gender or orientation, so I don’t know why it has to be assumed as gay. Nobody calls “Casablanca” a straight movie.
Don’t forget, Darien — in certain critical circles, “Casablanca” IS considered a gay movie. (Rick and Renault end up together at the end of the movie, after all those cute conversations they’ve had together, beginning their “beautiful friendship,” etc.)
This movie is not for me, at least as David describes it… not because it’s like “Precious,” but because it SOUNDS precious. In the extreme.
I agree this “review” is waaaay confusing. But the one thing that isn’t confusing and the thing that immediate popped to mind when The Wrap was *FIRST!* to report this is, it’s an Oscar bait movie and the Weinstein Company is in the Oscar bait business.
I dunno if this signifies the indie film world being brain damaged, but it seems more like the idea of an all around good MOVIE falls by the wayside if there’s the sense an Oscar can be won somehow. It’s a sad day when good to mediocre movies are picked up and pushed because of Oscar potential. And everyone loves Colin Firth so he’s got a good shot and it might be considered his “time.”
“As for the gay issue, my belief is that a film has no gender or orientation, so I don’t know why it has to be assumed as gay.”
Someone’s apparently never seen a high school satire in the last twenty years. “Heathers” and “Pretty Persuasion” are gayer than Harvey Fierstein. See also, anything by the Nip/Tuck dude.
The Torch Song Trilogy is gayer than Harvey Fierstein and he wrote and starred in it!