Reviews of Colin Firth in 'A Single Man,' Daniel Day-Lewis in 'Nine'

 

By Ann Hornaday

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, December 25, 2009

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122402427.html

 

Consider, for a moment, what's on offer today at your local multiplex or art house. In "Nine," Daniel Day-Lewis plays a philandering movie director who, fighting a creative block, comes to terms with his wife, mistress, mother and sundry female archetypes, all from the vantage point of narcissistic isolation. In "A Single Man," Colin Firth delivers a quietly devastating performance as a man mourning the loss of his longtime lover, as he navigates a typical day from behind a scrim of buttoned-down desolation.

Even the most interesting part of "It's Complicated" -- a frothy romantic comedy nominally about a woman grappling with two suitors -- is a lonely guy: a remorseful ex-husband, played by Alec Baldwin in a hilarious burlesque of male midlife angst. (As for "Sherlock Holmes," director Guy Ritchie has reconfigured the Arthur Conan Doyle classic as an action-adventure bromance; but at least Holmes and Watson have each other.)

Oddly enough, it's Firth's understated, virtually wordless turn in "A Single Man" that possesses the most life, or at least enduring truth. He plays George Falconer, a British college professor living in 1962 Los Angeles, who is struggling to put his life back together after the sudden death of his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). As "A Single Man" opens, George is waking up to another obscenely beautiful day in the gorgeous modernist home he and Jim shared; what ensues is a portrait of a man simply going through the motions, as George dutifully follows the niceties and conventions of civilized society without feeling any connection. .

It all sounds terribly dull and inert. But "A Single Man," which has been adapted from a Christopher Isherwood novel, becomes something dynamic and alive in the hands of its director, the fashion designer Tom Ford, making an astonishingly promising debut. As George goes about his day, he has a series of encounters -- with an admiring student (Nicholas Hoult), his best friend, Charlotte (Julianne Moore), a stranger in a parking lot -- during which an almost imperceptible opening-up occurs, and George begins visibly to come back to life.

Viewers will no doubt notice Ford's hand at work in these scenes. When George converses with Hoult's young Kenny, for example, Ford amps up the colors when the camera is on Hoult's electric-blue eyes, leaving poor George flat and colorless. Later, in the parking lot, Ford stages the scene in front of a billboard advertising an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and the sky is a lurid, smoggy pink; the ode to old-school L.A. continues with Abel Korzeniowki's lush, classically inflected musical score.

If these moments demonstrate the obvious, self-conscious will of the director at work, Firth's performance is all nuance and understatement. As George begins to experience quotidian moments of transcendence -- finding unexpected beauty in that parking lot, for example, or in the face of a young girl he crosses paths with at the bank -- he begins to change, the tiny emotional fissures finally bursting in a truly cathartic transformation.

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Firth gives brilliant performance in ‘A Single Man’

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091225/ENT/712259981

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Toronto: Swooning for Colin Firth in 'A Single Man'

http://movie-critics.ew.com/2009/09/18/toronto-a-single-man/

其他作品評價真不知道該哭還是該笑XDDD

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Movie review: Colin Firth is subtly eloquent in Tom Ford's 'A Single Man'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122401073.html

這個REPORTER八成也是P＆P的愛好者XDDDDDDDDD

evoke heartbreaking loneliness and appealing warmth.......

ATTRACTIVE ABJECTIVES

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'A Single Man' is singularly superb, thanks to Firth, visuals

 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/ 2009-12-15 -ColinFirth15_CV_N.htm

 

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在1962年的美國、一位因男友喪生而不知如何繼續生活的英國籍同性戀大學教授從此踏上未知旅程的《單身漢》（A Single Man）媒體綜評75分（Yahoo方面為B，爛番茄網站新鮮度84%：47票支援︰9票反對），贏得滿堂彩。『將人性深處的淒美與無法釋懷的悲傷鮮艷地描繪成形的一出上乘人性劇』、『注入適度的溫暖與幽默，把整篇悲劇絢爛而擲地有聲地書寫完整』、『知性和優雅的程度讓人無法相信這竟是一位來自時尚界的新人的處女作，原著的內涵被200%地挖掘無遺』、『即使僅剩下攝影、藝術指導、服裝設計等技術部門的精巧、曼妙、傑出，也足夠湯姆‧福德導演驕傲一輩子了！』……。

　　不僅如此，『科林‧弗斯那嘔心瀝血的攝魄演技，洗褪了一切技巧和算計，僅僅通過其本能的高貴與從容，也實現了官能的感動和代入功能，這部電影完全是屬於他的！』，即便有一些因意識流類的鏡頭過多而對本片大發牢騷的媒體也都在弗斯的演技驚為天人這點上被迫妥協。另外，『朱利安‧摩爾登場時間雖短但存在感強到淒厲、表現力大到揪心的震撼演技，同樣氣場犀利逼人』……。主流媒體中只有《休閒紐約》一家給出最低分，而《娛樂周刊》、《洛杉磯時報》、《時代》、《綜藝》、美國公共電台等多家權威機構則堅定地送來100分。演技部門除弗斯幾乎鎖定影帝提名外，摩爾的女配角席位也基本牢固；攝影、藝術指導、服裝設計自不必提，甚至有望角逐最佳影片、導演、改編劇本獎。

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A Love That Speaks Its Name---THE NY TIMES

 

http://movies.nytimes.com/ 2009/12/11 /movies/11singleman.html

 

The comments at the bottom of the page are so funnyXDD

 

Deshard

Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and especially Colin Firth's fine, fine performance. There were times though, when I wasn't sure if I was watching an Abercrombie & Fitch ad come to life or Ms. Darghis pointed out, a perfume ad. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be problematic and that good thing here is Mr. Ford's eye for good taste.

Julianne Moore's scenes were so fun to watch as both she and Firth just seem to take control over Mr. Ford, like they were self-directing as Ford stood behind the cameraman and got schooled on the art of performance versus the art of style.

And a note to Allan from PA: I know what you mean. We should have a "happy" gay movie just like we should have a gay pair on "Dancing with the Stars". Sarcasm intended.

– Deshard , Newport Beach, CA

 

 

 

Ha...Ha....Ha.....

 

Just as I considered......

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HOLY GOD.....how can I wait till March......Orz....