My Next "Must See" Film

Openly gay fashion designer Tom Ford makes his directorial debut with his adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel A Single Man, about a day in the life of an English professor (Colin Firth) who is trying to cope with the sudden loss of his long term lover. I've never read any of Isherwood's works, though I probably should.

Born in the UK, Isherwood eventually emigrated to the U.S. and settled in southern California where he began a long and tumultuous affair with a man 32 years his junior. He was friends with the great Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury and worked with satirist and screenwriter Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove; Easy Rider).

Joining Firth in the cast are the gorgeous and talented Julianne Moore (Far from Heaven; The Hours); Watchmen's Mathew Goode as the dead lover and puppy-eyed cutie Lee ("Pushing Daisies") Pace.

And while the trailer does little to tell you what the film is actually about, it certainly displays Ford's eye for style and aesthetics and early reviews have been exceptionally positive.

Will A Single Man do what Brokeback Mountain couldn't, and finally convince Americans that love is love, no matter who is doing the loving? Probably not. If Ang Lee's gorgeous and painful tragic romance couldn't do it, I doubt any movie can. Still, I know a few open-minded straight boys (and one adorable little gay elf) I'll be dragging along with me to see it.

More, anon.
Prospero