Review: A Single Man

After seeing this film, I'm incredibly pissed at it's advertising campaign.I had heard early on that the previews for this film were misleading, and I managed to avoid them. After watching it, I decided to look up it's trailers, and what I saw in the 2 minute trailer seemed like a completely different film from what I had just seen.


'A Single Man' follows an English professor (and native Brit) George (Colin Firth) as he goes about his day in the Los Angeles college where he teaches. George is reminiscing about his former lover Jim. (Matthew Goode) Jim was killed in a car crash 8 months earlier, and George hasn't gotten over it. He goes through the motions of his tedious, detailed life. He has thoughts of suicide, and we follow him on what could very well play out to be his final day. He interacts with various people. His childhood friend Charley, (Julianne Moore) Carlos (Jon Kortajarena), a Spanish immigrant and man of *ahem* many talents and Kenny (Nicholas Holdt) a student that's taken quite an interest in his professor.

First off: Tour-de-force performance from Firth, his best in his career in my opinion. He's so captivating, he gets George down to every last detail. You can see the emotion in his face and feel it in his voice. I was completely blown away by him. Julianne Moore was great as well (I forgive her for 'Next') Charley has a lot of layers, she secretly desires her best friend despite his sexual orientation and Holdt's Kenny is equally as mesmerizing.

Everything about the film fits, the cinematography, the music, the costumes. They go into detail about what kind of shirts they prefer to wear and it's never boring. Everything about this film is interesting. If you saw those trailers, ignore them and see the film for yourself. You'll be pleased.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A

Memorable Quote: "Everyday goes by in a haze, but today I have decided will be different." - George (Colin Firth)