Review of A Single Man (2009) by Iván R — 01 Sep 2016

While everyone has well-documented the crisp visuals -- complementing the crisp nature of the fictive life in question -- I was struck by the performances of Julianne Moore and Colin Firth. While I love Moore, and love her here, I don't think this is the Oscar-buzz performance as noted elsewhere -- that is, unless they want to give it to her as payback for some other role for which she was robbed the statue.

Firth, however, is a strong contender. While I'm not at the stage of life Professor Falconer is at here (but, 99% of the audience I attended with was), I was able to feel the character's isolation and the joy of the fleeting moments of connection with other people.

At a brisk 1 hour and 39 minutes, it hardly seems like one could get into the head of a character but here the viewer is there from the first minute. To that end, Ford's debut is a success in that he feels no compulsion to weigh the viewer down in unnecessary exposition.

You simply get the barest information to know what's going on. Ford knows how to edit himself, and that is a strength I wish more directors/ writers had. The one main problem I had is that I did not like Nicholas Hoult, who has a weird serpentine mouth.

I kept expecting him to snap Firth/ Falconer's head off in a move right out of Harry Potter. That is certainly not the filmic disconnect you want to have with the rest of this cast and this story.