This is a very intense biopic - a day in the life of Christopher Isherwood. I have just bought the novel of the same name and look forward to reading it. The acting from Firth (Falconer) and Moore is top class and forces itself off the screen to deliver three-dimensional characters. I don't know if it's because it was set in my early childhood, but if I believed in reincarnation, I would long to reappear as a WWII baby with liberal parents, self-confidence and the ability to enjoy all that the 60's offered! The sets, the costumes - even the cars all engender a sense of a world which is clean cut, perpendicular, filled with strong colours and things which forcefully invade the senses. The use of differing colour palettes as Falconer lurches in and out of grief-ridden melancholy is done most effectively.
The story moves along, but for me the ending is far too neat: temptation, new life, reconciliation, death. A whole life's story told in the last 10 minutes. Why? Tom Ford's direction is good, but his screenplay ends all too neatly and left me feeling uneasy in that a good film could have been a great film with a different ending. Perhaps the DVD will offer these choices?
I'll give this 7/10
1 comment:
I agree with you about the ending of the film. It can be seen as quite rushed. I wrote a review myself, check it out
http://obsessionandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/08/single-man.html
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