A Single Man

I can easily make room on my Top Films of 2009 for a film I finally caught up with this past weekend----A SINGLE MAN (not to be confused with the excellent and funny A SERIOUS MAN--also a top film from this past year.) It is always a relief to know that the last few films that straggle into Seattle from any given year are worth the wait. A SINGLE MAN is based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood (best known as the author of the BERLIN STORIES that inspired CABARET), and although it was many years ago that I read the book, I remember feeling how resonant the mood and story struck me, how the author created a most universal and sympathetic character out of a middle-aged gay man struggling to process the sudden and recent death of his long time companion, during a time (1963) where it was impossible to come out to society and family--he was an invisible man in so many ways. The novel is mostly an internal narration of the main character's thoughts and feelings, but the film sucessfully gives us his inside and outside world. The director of the film, Tom Ford, is a well know fashion designer, and this is his first directorial effort, yet he infuses the story with a great deal of stylish melancholy and subtle flourishes, in both his camera movements, costume and set designs and music choices. In an obscure way, it felt like you were watching a runway show from one designer who was taking you on a journey of discovery through his life--in this case George (a beautifully cast Colin Firth), who we find out early on, is wanting to "tie up" all the loose ends of his life in one day because he is tired of loneliness and living "invisibly." One might think that this is a depressing prospect, yet as we learn to understand George, we find out all sorts of intriguing contradictions in his life. He is a respected English professor, well liked professionally, open to his students, compulsively organized, a devoted friend to an ex-girlfriend (Julianne Moore) who still carries a flame, and in one amusing scene, we realize that he is too obsessively and compulsively tidy to leave the mess of a suicide. Still, the film carries a lot of tension throughout as we follow his life for that one paramount day, for we know that something important is going to happen. Will it be renewed interest in life?, the finality of death?, a new found love?, some epiphany of meaning?, a purging of the past?, or something as mundane as a quick sexual experience with a stranger? As these themes all parade the runway of the movie screen, we revel in the fine actors, the fabulous stylish clothes, the unique and ironic "window house" and furnishings, the modish yet appropriate 1960's music score, the moody, evocative cinematography, and the humor that creeps into these proceedings, and we feel grateful that the creative forces behind this film know how to move and entertain us. When the surprise (!) ending does occur, we might feel cheated for a moment, but the film has been honest from the start, and what more can we ask for but to say that we've witnessed life on a grand, if modest, cinematic scale. It is always a PLEASURE for me to see a great film.

Not exactly great, but an oddly entertaining "film noir" from 1954 is BLACK WIDOW, a DVD selection that features Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner and Reginald Gardiner--a strong ensemble cast in the twisted story of a young woman who tries to destroy the lives of several innocent people to achieve her goals, even after her murder..... This is an enjoyable curiosity that has a couple of unexpected turns.