We’re a tiny bit behind on this one, but all good things to those who wait. One of our favorite movies of the year, and probably the best film we saw at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival was fashion designer turned filmmaker, Tom Ford’s “A Single Man.”
We called the film, “expressive, immaculately shot and an impeccably well-groomed film.” It’s really extraordinary when you consider that this preternaturally assured, composed and emotional picture was Ford’s feature-film debut. It’s like an old pro constructed it.
Based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood, the picture stars Colin Firth as a gay British college professor living in Southern California. Julianne Moore plays one of his ex-lovers and a drunken mess of a friend and Matthew Goode plays his long-time lover in flashbacks, as the character has passed away in an accident at the beginning. Nicholas Hoult also puts in a great turn as Firth’s gay younger student (Ginnifer Goodwin has a small role as well).
Don’t worry that’s not a whole spoiler, the picture is essentially about a man in mourning who learns to live again and find a new purpose in life and it’s really just a beautifully rendered and haunting portrait.
The new poster is somewhat unremarkable (Firth looks like he’s wearing those funny-looking gag glasses), but what else could you really do with it? Some are remarking how this version of the trailer is shying away from the gay romance in the movie, but at this point, we’re all pretty much used to a mainstream trailer for the pleebs and one tailored for the cinephiles, no? (an international version was seen earlier when the film made waves at the Venice Film Festival). Colin Firth won Best Actor in Venice and we’re telling you, as people who didn’t necessarily care for him before (or at least he never turned in a performance that made us give a second look), he’s phenomenal in the movie and will guaranteed earn an Oscar Best Actor nomination.
The film should get a Oscar Best Picture nomination as well, at the moment it feels like a dark horse, but we’ll wait until the film is released on December 11. Julianne Moore is also very likely a shoo-in for a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Read our full review as well if you really want to get a sense of how deeply affecting this picture is.