REVIEW: ‘A Single Man’

When an actor is tasked to portray grief on film or on stage, it’s common to go “over the top” with the performance. Colin Firth doesn’t take the easy route with his portrayal of a man gripped with the loss of a loved one in “A Single Man,” which makes the small film that much harder to overlook.

“A Single Man” Rated R • 99 minutes Starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult Written And Directed By: Tom Ford RCC Rating: Worth Seeing At A Matinee

Firth’s character, a British college professor in 1962 Los Angeles, loses his lover of 16 years in a car wreck. After months of attempting to cope with the grief, George decides to take his own life. “A Single Man” looks at what George perceives to be his last day in great detail, while showing glimpses of his former life and why the loss grips him so tightly. There are ample interactions George has throughout his day that might serve as a touchstone, should he decide to reconnect with the humanity he’s lost, but the pain of the loss is simply too great.

Tom Ford’s script (based on the Christopher Isherwood novel) and direction gives Firth the ammo to deliver a big performance through small gestures, in the dignity with which George carries himself. No one – not his students, his neighbors, nor his decades-long friend (Julianne Moore) – see any hint that his pain has finally become too much to bear. It may be the “stiff upper lip” British composure, or the aloof nature of a tenured professor, but the viewer’s knowledge of George’s endgame gives us the context that his peers are blind to. It’s a testament to both Firth and Ford that George becomes a ticking time bomb with just the slightest of nods.

There’s a hazy focus to the visual makeup of “A Single Man” that’s part Los Angeles smog, and part early ’60s nostalgia. It’s a beautifully-shot movie, a wonderful feat for a first-time director.

One other facet to George: he’s gay. I bring this up this late in the review only because the film deals with George’s sexuality in such a phenomenal matter-of-fact fashion that after the initial reveal, it becomes mostly secondary to George’s grief. While the film’s marketing campaign either ignores or flat-out refuses to inform viewers prior to seeing the film that it revolves around a gay man might be alarming, but I feel it forces the viewer to come to terms with it quickly and get on with the remainder of the story. It’s a refreshing approach, and one that should be lauded.

“A Single Man” is a quiet, tidy film about a subject that is often messy, and a well-crafted film at that. Firth’s performance, while understated most of the time, is riveting – and Oscar-worthy. Sometimes, you don’t have to shout to be heard.