------------- MY RATING: 73/100 -------------
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
"A Single Man" is a film involving around a mid-age homosexual Englishman in the 1960s who resides in the US, works as a professor and suffers from the loss of his boyfriend in a car accident.
The movie has the perfect melancholic tone which is only enhanced by its majestic soundtracks and probably the best cinematic filming for a drama movie. As the movie progresses and with the knowledge that the protagonist is to kill himself at the end of the day, we get to see how a man who is about to die (and knows it) reacts his last hours. He is getting distracted at his work, he notices undetectable facial and body details and sees the colors much more brightly.
Undoubtedly, the movie, through its protagonist, makes you wonder about several important things. First, about our society and how fear is distorting facts (or "fake facts" as the splendid professor would say) only to manipulate the masses in the end, starting with consumerism and political ideology to fascism and racism. How a set of stereotypes are forbidding willing individuals to live their lives without fear and how political correctness is shaping a convenient, boring and predictable society. Secondly, how youth is full of energy, optimism, nosiness and confidence and how an older man is curious about those attributes which diminish with age. Thirdly, how "unwaiting" events can fundamentally change your mind while it is fate which will have it its way in the most ironic way. I will never forget how George put his gun in the desk and locked, how he burned the letters he made for his suicide, only to die minutes later from heart attack. And fourthly, how surprising and depressing is to realize that for every man there is only one possible future: death.
The movie also has (at least for me) a spiritual side. The colleague enters George's life and makes him reconsider his decision to kill himself. We even see him taking George's gun and sleep with it to prevent him from his act, without explaining us how the young man knew the protagonist is planning to die. For me, the young man who step in the last day of George's life is some sort of a "guardian angel" or Jim's reincarnation.
However, "A Single Man" is damaged by unnecessary/unrealistic additions (like Carlos and even the colleague), distorting the direction the movie is heading from its first minutes. I, personally, would like to see how a man who is going to kill himself spends his last day, every preparation and detail and then go on with the inevitable act, all dressed up with the memories and the reasons our character has taken this tragic decision. Spawning a homosexual colleague who notices that his professor shares the same sexual preference and a Mexican who originally tries to get a free bottle of whiskey are unnecessary, unrealistic and a bit of cliché. Cliché goes for the character as well, why all homosexuals must be portrayed as Englishmen?
All and all, the movie delivers in the end. Just not exactly what you expected...
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
"A Single Man" is a film involving around a mid-age homosexual Englishman in the 1960s who resides in the US, works as a professor and suffers from the loss of his boyfriend in a car accident.
The movie has the perfect melancholic tone which is only enhanced by its majestic soundtracks and probably the best cinematic filming for a drama movie. As the movie progresses and with the knowledge that the protagonist is to kill himself at the end of the day, we get to see how a man who is about to die (and knows it) reacts his last hours. He is getting distracted at his work, he notices undetectable facial and body details and sees the colors much more brightly.
Undoubtedly, the movie, through its protagonist, makes you wonder about several important things. First, about our society and how fear is distorting facts (or "fake facts" as the splendid professor would say) only to manipulate the masses in the end, starting with consumerism and political ideology to fascism and racism. How a set of stereotypes are forbidding willing individuals to live their lives without fear and how political correctness is shaping a convenient, boring and predictable society. Secondly, how youth is full of energy, optimism, nosiness and confidence and how an older man is curious about those attributes which diminish with age. Thirdly, how "unwaiting" events can fundamentally change your mind while it is fate which will have it its way in the most ironic way. I will never forget how George put his gun in the desk and locked, how he burned the letters he made for his suicide, only to die minutes later from heart attack. And fourthly, how surprising and depressing is to realize that for every man there is only one possible future: death.
The movie also has (at least for me) a spiritual side. The colleague enters George's life and makes him reconsider his decision to kill himself. We even see him taking George's gun and sleep with it to prevent him from his act, without explaining us how the young man knew the protagonist is planning to die. For me, the young man who step in the last day of George's life is some sort of a "guardian angel" or Jim's reincarnation.
However, "A Single Man" is damaged by unnecessary/unrealistic additions (like Carlos and even the colleague), distorting the direction the movie is heading from its first minutes. I, personally, would like to see how a man who is going to kill himself spends his last day, every preparation and detail and then go on with the inevitable act, all dressed up with the memories and the reasons our character has taken this tragic decision. Spawning a homosexual colleague who notices that his professor shares the same sexual preference and a Mexican who originally tries to get a free bottle of whiskey are unnecessary, unrealistic and a bit of cliché. Cliché goes for the character as well, why all homosexuals must be portrayed as Englishmen?
All and all, the movie delivers in the end. Just not exactly what you expected...