EW and RS captivated by A Single Man

The more I see, the more I sigh. Aching for more, yet on edge with anxiety that A Single Man might be too outré thematically or stylistically rigorous. Or simply too exquisitely refined for this rough and tumble awards arena of reflex extremities: the season of sharp elbows and knee-jerk reactions.

Doing our best here to help buffer the blows and cushion the speed bumps for a smooth ride to the red carpet.

Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman gives Professor Falconer an A-

A Single Man is suffused with beauty ‚Äî it’s a movie conceived in a swoon. It’s based on a 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, who wrote tales of liberated love in a pre-liberated era, and as we watch, something richly emotional and ironic happens: Since the film is set in a time when a man like George had to ”pass,” almost invisibly, through his life, all of his romantic feelings are forced to flower, exclusively and luxuriously, inside him.

This is the first movie directed by Tom Ford, the former fashion designer, and he proves a born filmmaker with a rapturous eye. A Single Man takes place over one long day in which George teaches his classes, commiserates with his lonely lush of a best friend (a marvelous Julianne Moore), gets drawn to the gaze of an adoring student (Nicholas Hoult), and makes plans for the suicide he intends to commit that night. Firth plays him as a man of his time who is also mournfully ahead of his time. He’s addicted to his own broken heart. A Single Man may break yours as well.

3¬Ω stars from Peter Travers at Rolling Stone:

A sorrowful beauty infuses every frame of this remarkable debut feature from fashion designer Tom Ford. …The film is stunningly visualized, with Ford achieving a feeling for light and texture to rival Wong Kar-wai’s.

Life with Jim is seen in black-and-white flashbacks that contrast vividly with the rich color palette of his present encounters, notably with Kenny, beautifully played by Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy), a student whose interests exceed the academic, and his British friend Charley (Julianne Moore), a divorcee who fantasizes that George will marry her. Moore is explosively good, especially in her drunk scene. But the film belongs to Firth. Uncanny at showing the heart crumbling under George’s elegant exterior, he gives the performance of his career. Ford is a true visionary, but it’s his humanity that gives the love story a ravishing, bruised grandeur.