Christmas Countdown: Top 25 Movies of 2010 – No.17

Day 9 so that must mean that it is time for the 17th best movie of 2010…

A Single Man, is the story of George Falconer, a 52 year old British college professor who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner, Jim. Consoling Jim is his closest friend Charley, a 48 year old former beauty who is wrestling with her own questions about the future. Starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore it’s an acting tour-de-force about the difficulties of loss and moving on, especially when your way of life is not exactly welcomed by the masses.

Why it’s worthy: Colin Firth is magnificent. This is the performance of a lifetime for the man long associated with Mr. Darcy. Firth is raw, honest and remarkably relatable as the impeccably dressed Jim, whose outer facade hides a person riddled with doubts and despair. The look is great, with the hair and makeup, the clothes and cars, the whole Mad Men feel transposed to the big screen. Sure it has a rose tinted glasses feel to it, but it’s how we like to imagine the early 60′s.

Fatal flaws: The changing colour palette, which is used to highlight George’s mood gets old very fast. It becomes a bit stifled, with style overcoming substance to give the entire project the feeling of a living painting. This causes the audience to lose the emotional draw, but that is soon rectified by Firth’s magnetic portrayal. Shame the rest of the actors aren’t as good. Julianne Moore is solid a always, but Nicholas Hoult and Matthew Goode don’t elevate the quality of the movie in any noticeable way.

Verdict: As a single performance piece this is a near-perfect example of an actor at the height of his prowess, as a film it’s a really very good old-school artistic movie. Essential viewing for any fans of classic cinema.

About Niall

The proverbial man lost in La Mancha. Sports aficionado and all-round scoundrel. Über-geek to boot. I run the movie website Scannain.com and can usually be found twittering away as @niallxmurphy.

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