Review: 'A single man' is an intense experience

Film: A Single Man
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult, Paulette Lamori, Nicholas Beard, Brad Benedict, Paul Butler, Ridge Canipe
Director: Tom Ford
Rating: * * * ½

Scripted by  the director Tom Ford(fashion designer and saviour of
Gucci), David Scearse and Christopher Isherwood, ‘A single Man’ tells  the story of George Falconer(Colin Firth), a 52 year old British
College professor who is struggling to find  meaning to his life after the death of his long-time partner Jim(Mathew Goode). The film follows the base story of  the landmark novel written in 1964 by Christopher Isherwood ,an openly gay British author who was also credited with the story of ‘Cabaret'. His  book  was once credited with being the first  truly liberated gay novel in English..

It’s an extremely  intense experience specially because the film takes you through the unique trauma that George experiences through his existential condition which sets him apart from the rest of the world.

It’s Los Angeles 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis and George is grieving profoundly for his lost love while going through the motions of living the life of a professor. A series of stark ,no frills images flit across the screen setting the mood for an intensely sublimating experience. Grief, stark and paralyzing enfolds him to the extent that he is even contemplating death. His interactions with former lover and now good friend Charley (Julianne Moore) helps little but his brief interludes with a flirty student Kenny (Nicholas Holt) are what helps gradually lift the fog from his mind and maybe gives him a reason to stretch his life further. Colin Firth has always been a competent actor even great at times and with this film he proves beyond doubt that his acting credentials are up there with the best.

In this film he gives a delicately nuanced performance, his legendary reserve becomes another intriguing facet of the character George and his facial oddities make the cinema canvas a rich emotional palette that the director Ford and his cameraman Eduard Grau capture with infinite finesse. Here’s a film that is truly rich in all the qualities that matter in cinema!