After taking stock of some of the films we've been talking about this season, I realize that we're dealing with a really interesting collective of directors. There are the old dogs—Clint Eastwood of Invictus and Lee Daniels of Precious; women *gasp* directors—Jane Campion of Bright Star, Kathryn Bigelow of The Hurt Locker, and Lone Scherfig of An Education; and then there those of the next generation—Jason Reitman of Up in the Air.
From our last category, Tom Ford emerges as the first-time director of A Single Man.
Not to be confused with A Serious Man, the latest brainchild of Joel and Ethan Coen, A Single Man tells the story of an English professor coping with the death of his longtime partner. Colin Firth plays the protagonist, George, and Julianne Moore plays his closest friend, Charlotte, who helps him through this rough time.
This is quite possibly the most beautiful trailer I have seen yet for a film to be released this year. I'm not sure about Ford's background, but for a first-time director, he has an impressive grasp of movement, color, and cuts; the trailer reminds me of Daldry's The Hours or the underrated de Palma film, The Black Dahlia. It appears to visually capture 1960s style and culture very well, perhaps much to the chagrin of the filmmakers of An Education. Here we have a high tension thriller that looks and feels like an Oscar winner. Will it deliver?
Many have already singled (no pun intended) out Firth for a nomination, asserting that he's A) well-liked and possibly considered overdue within the community, and B) his performance is subtle, yet meticulous and moving. However, subtle does not necessarily win you an Oscar, especially when Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) and Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) couldn't pull it off.
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Shame Bill Murray didn't take it for Lost in Translation. Sean Penn was strong but so very very Acted. Murray has this wonderful unaffected quality that Oscar often forgets is also good acting. (Ledger vs. PSHoffman... now there's a match I can't decide... tie?)
ReplyDeleteI hope A Single Man is as fantastic as its poster!
I know. I'm certainly guilty of fawning over performances that are complete transformations (as I said in another entry, like Penn's Harvey Milk and Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview, although there are many other examples). The Academy tends to ignore the nuanced performances and champion those complete transformations.
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