The leading men of the past few years have often portrayed superheroes, pirates and soldiers of war, all with varying success, but all with a similar sense of strong manhood that gave them their edge. Jack Sparrow was a womanizing swashbuckler, Tony Stark built a kick-ass robot suit, and John Connor had a very Batman-like gravely voice. So when a movie comes around that gives us the polar opposite of these characters and easily provides the best performance of any of them, it deserves special attention despite any shortcomings.
A Single Man is that movie, and Colin Firth is the man. Firth (Mamma Mia!) carries this film in almost every way possible. Where the writing may have gone downhill, he injects life into it. Where the direction may have become gimmicky and repetitive, he allows it to be affecting.
And when any other performance is coming off as weak or downright bad, Firth overshadows it enough to give the viewer the chance to shake it off.
Firth is George, an English professor trying to get through a single day with an emotional “ball and chain” dragging him down. That would be the unexpected death of his 16-year partner, Jim (Mathew Goode, Watchmen). George portrays himself as a confident, image-conscious man, who all the while is in deep turmoil.
Among various everyday activities, he visits with his lifelong friend Charley (Julianne Moore, Children of Men), who is struggling with her own feelings of purposelessness and loneliness. Moore doesn’t really blow you away with this role, as it is limited to begin with, but she supports Firth with enough for him to work with.
In fact, just watching Firth play off of various aspects of the film is what makes it so entertaining. Director Tom Ford chose to integrate a color-changing system into the cinematography, with the world phasing into color every time George begins to live in the now. It phases back to black and white when he is reminded of Jim through a flashback. A gimmick like this can become tiresome, but Firth supports it with subtle-yet-telling changes in his body language.
When George is by himself, Firth truly shines and proves himself to be the superior actor he is. The flashback in which he learns of Jim’s death over the phone is breathtakingly done. Instead of the clichéd single tear, George mentally shifts from content to downright horrified and cringes in his chair with tears streaming down his face. Easily one of Firth’s best scenes ever delivered, this is also the best scene in the movie.
As with every other day-long film, George’s day turns out to be anything but ordinary, and this is where the film begins to drag. The major plot line evolves to include of George’s students, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult, About a Boy), stalking his teacher.
This was a mistake, as Hoult is just plain bad at acting. It seemed he was cast as a pretty face first and an actor second, as his abilities are far below those of every other actor in the film.
To make matters worse, the final stretch of the movie is dragged out too long, possibly due to the anticipation built up for an ending, which is not satisfying at all. It ends with a double-twist that has the viewer’s eyes rolling. George also spits out line after line of philosophy in the final minutes of the film, saying things like, “I must always appreciate life’s little gifts.” These lines have all been said before, but they become acceptable with Firth delivering them from such a well-developed character.
You read it here: Firth will win an Oscar. OK, possibly not. But he has already won various awards for his performances and certainly deserves an Oscar nomination. A win would be the least surprising thing to happen in movies all year. The score awarded to this film is almost entirely to the credit of Firth’s performance, and without him, you can easily knock off two stars.
diversions@umdbk.com
RATING: 4 stars out of 5
