The story of A Single Man comes from the  novel of the same name by Christopher Irsherwood.  Mr. Ford shares writing credit with David Scearce for adapting.  It centers around one man, George, played by Colin Firth.  George is a mostly unremarkable man, an intelligent professor at a small college.  The most remarkable thing about him, surrounded by a community of intolerance at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, where everyone looks and dresses the same, is his sexual orientation.  He’s reeling from the loss of Jim (Matthew Goode), his partner of sixteen years.  The grief builds and builds and is quickly taking over all rational thought for George.

The film spans only one day, but lends itself to multiple flashbacks: the night he met Jim the first time, happier days, dream sequences.  Many of these flashbacks could be ripped out of the pages of Vogue, or another high-end fashion magazine (or an upscale homo-erotic publication, likely centered around a smoking fetish).  The vision of Ford seemed to be perfectly paired with cinematographer Eduard Grau who gave the film a polished touched that sets it apart from it’s peers.  A sweeping original score by Abel Korzeniowski compounds this effect.  Mr. Firth is in fine form here.  In fact, this may be a career high for him.  He’s proved once and for all that he can handle the trickiest of roles.

A Single Man weaves its story with a slow, but confident pace.  The emphasis is not simply on a plot arc, but is an examination of a tortured man.  Using the word ‘tortured’ brings to mind cliches and worn out devices.  I promise, this is not the case here.  First time director Ford shows a remarkable amount of promise.  His well placed instincts are served best by his cast, of whom he gets the most.  One of the film’s most remarkable scenes plays out between George and his friend Charly (Julianne Moore).  A quiet dinner, between two lonely souls who’ve had too much to drink, allows a brutal honesty to rage before quickly hiding itself again behind tact and manner.  It’s a prime example of all the emotions running just below the surface through the length of the movie, just dying to be set free.  Certainly, one of the best films of 2009.

4 out of 4 stars

]]> http://bitchinfilmreviews.com/a-single-man/feed/ 6 http://bitchinfilmreviews.com/watchmen-very-am-bitch-ious/ http://bitchinfilmreviews.com/watchmen-very-am-bitch-ious/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:10:11 +0000 Blake http://bitchinfilmreviews.com/?p=406 The only thing better than the blogosphere tossing out reviews of Watchmen, is the blogging world blogging about bloggers tossing out reviews of Watchmen; which I am now guilty of.  But it’s true.  I would feel so redundant trying to verbalize how I feel about this film when I can just steal the opinions of other people who have 1) read the graphic novel (yes, I’m one of the 15 people in the world who haven’t), 2) already posted something that I can leech off of.  So, here are some gobbets (a free DVD to the person who can tell me what movie I’m quoting there) from some blogs I respect quite highly. While I don’t agree with all of what they say, I respect their opinions.

I will say however, that I very much enjoyed Watchmen.  The acting was mostly awesome, the story was fantastic, it definitely didn’t feel like three hours, and I will definitely watch it again.

Also, I didn’t ask the following bloggers for permission, I apologize is this offends you, email me and I’ll fix it.

Madhatter wrote (click here for the full review):

THE WATCHMEN is a good movie that could have been a great…something. I’ll get back to that. The story hasn’t been handled well enough to transcend. So while it is a solid action/sci-fi movie, it don’t believe it will have the broader appeal that recent hits like THE DARK KNIGHT, SPIDER-MAN, and IRON MAN received. For starters, the heroes spend most of the film struggling with their own stations in a changing society, and precious little time performing acts of daring-do. Beyond that, the story is set in an age that many of its core audience will have either forgotten, or worse, not have even been born during. While neither of these are game-breaking problems, they are heavy obstacles when trying to appeal to a broader audience than the comic store frequenting base.

Shannon from Movie Moxie (click here for full review):

..it isn’t hard to follow, it’s easy to follow so much so that I found myself left with time to wonder “What am I even following?”. Nothing actually seemed to be happening, which can be fine but if that is the case it better at least look awesome, or great sound, or transcend to something or somewhere. I didn’t find any of these things. We are set up with a mystery to be solved (there is that plot trying to nudge its way back in) but are entrenched in speculative world history, the dark ‘current’ world, the looming future and then numerous characters all with lengthy back stories. When the dust settles after establishing thsi world, it feels like not much happens. As time went on it became clear that there is a focus and a point, but it takes a fair amount of time to bring you there.

The guy from karlhungus.com (I don’t know his name, click here for his full review):

Now, I say there’s problems with Snyder’s style, yet I cannot think of a director today who would have brought us a better adaptation that this. His obvious reverence for Moore’s work is what makes the film successful, the incredible story is brought to the screen without being watered down, and most importantly, the characters are completely spot-on, almost every bit as deep and rich as in the Watchmen comic book.

Anders from Cut, Print, Review. (full review here):

Watchmen is a visually arresting and affecting adaptation that mostly does the source material proud. Yet because of the specific appeal of Alan Moore’s mature graphic novel, and the convoluted narrative structure that has resulted from its translation to film, Zack Snyder’s faithful recreation is unlikely garner the wide praise that rightfully bestowed last year’s The Dark Knight. After all, The Comedian is no Joker.

So, there.  Enjoy those reviews in lieu of my own.  And you really should check out their full texts, they’ll help you take your Watchmen watching experience to a whole new eschilon of bitchin’.

3.5 out of 4 stars

The first third of the film was incestuously and erotically charged (a la The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci).  The story follows Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) as he begins his studies at Oxford.  While there, he becomes friends with the flaming homosexual Sebastian (played ever so creepily by Ben Whishaw), who happens to be royalty, and the son of Lady Marchmain (the wickedly talented Emma Thompson who may have, with this performance, joined the ranks of royal British actresses like Judi Dench and Helen Mirren).    Sebastian has a sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell).  Between the two siblings is something odd, and disturbing.  While Ryder experiments with Sebastian, he also becomes involved with Julia.  And it’s really really weird.

Then the movie quickly changes pace (don’t take this to mean the pacing is quick, it’s not, it’s very very slow).  It’s as if Evelyn Waugh decided to stop writing about homoerotic skinny dipping in the estate’s pond, and decides to pontificate on her feelings about the church…  You see, Ryder is an atheist (no, not agnostic, atheist) who is living in sin with a man, but wants to marry Julia, which Lady Marchmain, the extremely pious and self-righteous Catholic simply can’t put up with.

As the rest of the plot unfolds, the piousness of Lady Marchmain and her children’s fear of disappointing her ruin life after life, and there’s sub-plot after sub-plot that just sort of loses the viewer.  Is this about sex (can it really be about sex with a PG-13 rating)?  Is it about the evils of the Church of England and Catholicism?  Is it about something deeper?  I can’t tell!

It’s not that the movie isn’t beautiful.  Filming locations are remarkable, giving it such a grandiose, and beautiful feel, that you can’t help but be transported back into that time.  The real pride of the film is in the acting.  Emma Thompson (as mentioned before) steals the show and every scene she’s in.  The younger actors shine as well.  Matthew Goode, who has shown us his talents in bigger films like Woody Allen’s Match Point, and lesser known indies like The Lookout, proves he can carry a film as the leading man.

While this movie isn’t fantastic, I’d suggest a viewing, given the fact the pickin’s are kind of slim right now.  Maybe Waugh fans will catch lots of meaning that I managed to miss.  Do watch the trailer though, it’s great!

2 out of 4 stars

Rottentomatoes: 68% – Cream of the Crop: 69%