A Single Man is a drama about love, death and also how to deal with these things in your day to day life. The message it shows can be powerful at times in this movie(not always) but still has the heart that a film like this needs to reaffirm "life is worth living". With some great acting seen mainly from it's lead man and an artistic look that we don't always see so much, A Single Man turns out to be solidly pretty good, and here below is why I felt that about it all.
The story is slow and for such a short running time really has to cram everything in, although any longer and I think most would be sick of it. It has a deep core of emotion and you really get this when it is just the main character reflecting on certain events, it can really strike a cord with you and lets you delve into his mind. It also I think likes to deal with the fact that homosexuality was very frowned upon in that era and so the film really smacks the point down that, people then were gay but looked down on also in society.
Colin Firth is very good in this and no doubt why he received an Oscar Nomination, his portrayal is as said emotional yet when he seems most out of it, he deals with getting back to his life well, and Firth fits the mould well. I wasn't too keen in Julianne Moore here, she isn't bad whatsoever but she just seemed to over dramatic and the character maybe is to blame, but her talents are wasted on such an annoying woman. Nicholas Hoult finally brings a bit of new acting styles to the film, but never up stages Firth at any point, Colin controls this all the way through.
Tom Ford the director injects an artistic vision in to this which can at times pay off, but also not do that well, it can very annoying to see the shades of colour used and the sets can seem as if they are too glossy maybe. Hand it to Ford on the writing, he amongst others do well in the script department and even simple actions are done in a way you just know is straight from the page. Although the sets aren't the best, they are unique I will say and some parts look amazing here.
My main criticism is mostly in the sense that the story can be dull at times, very very slow and although Firth never suffers from this, he certainly doesn't gain from the speed. As I also alluded to with the artistic part, the colours and shades used when people are happy and sad make for a very annoying and over used effect which yes, work for the first few times but by the end, it is just too bright in most senses.
Who will like it, well if you want a Drama that deals with life and death then this could be a good one to watch, if you are slightly down in life yourself, this isn't for you as parts can be, well very depressing. It has the odd bit of comedy thrown in, not massive laughs but the odd smile and chuckle and so it can brighten up your day so there's a point for anyone who wants a Drama with both good and bad.
Overall it is Solidly Kind of Good, not quite Good mostly resulting from the more dull parts of the movie. It is far from bad though and in truth, if you want to be an actor, look no further than seeing Colin Firth so in this, truly one of the role models in the modern acting world. One more thing, For anyone who likes the 60's, this could be a great trip back, the sets and settings are truly 60's style and if anything Tom Ford over does the style used throughout the movie.
The story is slow and for such a short running time really has to cram everything in, although any longer and I think most would be sick of it. It has a deep core of emotion and you really get this when it is just the main character reflecting on certain events, it can really strike a cord with you and lets you delve into his mind. It also I think likes to deal with the fact that homosexuality was very frowned upon in that era and so the film really smacks the point down that, people then were gay but looked down on also in society.
Colin Firth is very good in this and no doubt why he received an Oscar Nomination, his portrayal is as said emotional yet when he seems most out of it, he deals with getting back to his life well, and Firth fits the mould well. I wasn't too keen in Julianne Moore here, she isn't bad whatsoever but she just seemed to over dramatic and the character maybe is to blame, but her talents are wasted on such an annoying woman. Nicholas Hoult finally brings a bit of new acting styles to the film, but never up stages Firth at any point, Colin controls this all the way through.
Tom Ford the director injects an artistic vision in to this which can at times pay off, but also not do that well, it can very annoying to see the shades of colour used and the sets can seem as if they are too glossy maybe. Hand it to Ford on the writing, he amongst others do well in the script department and even simple actions are done in a way you just know is straight from the page. Although the sets aren't the best, they are unique I will say and some parts look amazing here.
My main criticism is mostly in the sense that the story can be dull at times, very very slow and although Firth never suffers from this, he certainly doesn't gain from the speed. As I also alluded to with the artistic part, the colours and shades used when people are happy and sad make for a very annoying and over used effect which yes, work for the first few times but by the end, it is just too bright in most senses.
Who will like it, well if you want a Drama that deals with life and death then this could be a good one to watch, if you are slightly down in life yourself, this isn't for you as parts can be, well very depressing. It has the odd bit of comedy thrown in, not massive laughs but the odd smile and chuckle and so it can brighten up your day so there's a point for anyone who wants a Drama with both good and bad.
Overall it is Solidly Kind of Good, not quite Good mostly resulting from the more dull parts of the movie. It is far from bad though and in truth, if you want to be an actor, look no further than seeing Colin Firth so in this, truly one of the role models in the modern acting world. One more thing, For anyone who likes the 60's, this could be a great trip back, the sets and settings are truly 60's style and if anything Tom Ford over does the style used throughout the movie.