A Single Man

Tom Ford's, A Single Man, is an introspective character piece set in the 60's. It marks his directorial debut and is also his first screenplay. Taking this into mind the film is definitely a great achievement for Ford (Who according to some sources also completely financed the film). The synopsis for the film is as follows, "It's November 30, 1962. Native Brit George Falconer, an English professor at a LA area college, is finding it difficult to cope with life. Jim, his personal partner/lover of sixteen years, died in a car accident eight months earlier when he was visiting with family. Jim's family were not going to tell George of the death or accident let alone allow him to attend the funeral. This day, George has decided to get his affairs in order before he will commit suicide that evening". The saddening overtone is evident throughout the film and it positively effects the emotions that are brought out in the audience before the end credits roll.

The film stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, with the prior garnering an Oscar nomination along with several other awards for his role. Firth manages to navigate between emotional disconnection to his students, colleagues, and the world, to childish flirting in a bar with an ex-student, to drunken exuberance with Moore's character seemingly effortlessly. Moore's performance in the film, although brief shouldn't be overlooked, her role as a convincing drama queen who is tied to the main character's past in England is important to the crux of the story. She is just simply overshadowed by Firth's acting. Also, relative newcomer Nicholas Hoult, turns in an award worthy performance, as a student at the university where Firth's character teaches.

Visually this movie is fantastic, and from the beginning I could tell that Ford must have had some influence on how it was shot as well. The set decoration felt very authentic with the film being set in 1962. But, it's the costume/wardrobe and makeup that really has a "Tom Ford" touch to it. The actors and actresses cast seemed to be chosen perfectly, whether it was Matthew Goode or Ginnifer Goodwin's characters they brought something that genuinely evoked some feeling which I think the director was attempting to get across.

It isn't very difficult to understand why this movie didn't get the distribution that Up in the Air or The Hurt Locker received, because it doesn't have the level of marketability that either of those films have/had. I'm sure most studio's liked the attachment of such a well known global figure like Tom Ford, but didn't want to take the gamble when he hadn't yet proven himself in the movie business. Although, with the critical success that this film has had I bet when Ford decides to direct another film production companies will be a lot more generous with their checkbooks.