MOVIE REVIEW: A Single Man

Fashion designer Tom Ford's first film is A Single Man and stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

A Single Man is about a gay (closeted) professor of English in Los Angeles named George Falconer played by Firth who has lost his handsome, younger partner of 16 years, Jim (Matthew Goode) in the last year, and follows him during the course of one day, depicting his attempt to come to terms with grief, loss and hope. Julianne Moore plays George's best friend and neighbor, Charly, who also knew him years before in London and is now (again) single and clearly hopeful that now that George is single also the two could be more than friends.

Nicolas Hoult plays a youthful and attractive student with impossibly large, bright blue eyes who is curiously, inappropriately interested in George's personal life.

The most memorable features of the film is the incredibly detailed art direction which depicts southern California of 1962 with elegant accuracy. Another high point is Colin Firth's lead performance which does an excellent job of really communicating the depth of feeling of a man who is grieving the love of his life but is constrained by social conventions (this is almost a full decade before Stonewall, after all) from doing so. Unfortunately, it is clear that this is Tom Ford's feature film debut, because it is directed with a heavy, obtrusive hand.

Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for some disturbing images and nudity/sexual content.
Director: Tom Ford.

OVERALL GRADE: B+ (3.42/4.0).

ACTING: A.
IMAGERY: B+.
PLOT: B.
IMPACT: B+.