A Single Man

A Single Man is the directorial debut from Yves Saint Lauren's Tom Ford and provides fantastic performances from Colin Firth and Julianne Moore but very little else worth its time. The story follows Colin Firth whose male lover of 16 years has passed away as he deals with his day to day life. To represent his depression Ford employs the color technique of making his face so dulled it is practically gray, until moments of joy when he miraculously within a shot becomes Florida spray tan orange. The film doesn't really go anywhere until he meets with his best friend Charlie, played spectacularly by Julianne Moore who in playing an English woman shows her Meryl Streep like versatility to do practically anything. We are then graced with a moment when we learn more about his character than just he misses his companion and is sad but as soon as the door closes as he leaves Charlie's house, so does the door close on any form of actual story. With several shots of rippling male back muscle and rear nudity you can be forgiven for expecting text of 'a new fragrance by Fendi' to appear on screen. Whilst Ford creates a beautiful landscape on the screen he lacks the knowledge of film to present it in a way that tells story above your average film student technique level. When attempting to create a flashback to a romantic moment jump cuts pull you away from ebracing it. This film is simply a case of filmmaking 101 but with a higher production budget mixed with high end commercials. If you are simply in love with films which look beautiful then this will provide an enjoyable moment but it gives little more than this. Much more to the point it is overstyled to the point where the film does not look like it is lived in. Julianne Moore's characted is somebody who is unhappy with her life and doesn't get out of bed most mornings yet not a single hair clip will be found out of place visually. All in all this film proves to be a huge disappointment considering the calibre of actors.

A Single Man has been picked up by the Weinstein Company and is expected to have a rush release in time for awards season this December providing the Weinstein's follow through on their promises....

White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

This documentary follow Jack and Meg White as they tour Canada throwing in an impromptu show at every location.  The performances as always are fascinating and shot on 16mm film stock it has a beautiful grainy appearance appropriate to its subjects.  However, the big question is how much of this is actually documentary.  Jack White enjoys preaching the chaos theory but some of it has to be taken with a grain of salt.  Even the fact that during his and Meg's interview portions there is a man lying on a bed in the background of set surely preconceived by none other than Jack himself.  They talk about the impromptu performances on their tour claiming that they just show up and figure out where would be fun to play a couple of hours before.  In reality this is just not possible with public performance licenses being required for such gigs and the staff to run crowd control, not to mention sourcing electricity for amplifiers and microphones.  Additionally there is talk of how they never have a set list and don't know what they're going to do until it happens on stage.  They may not write it down but surely they will have some pre conceived notion especially when we see bagpipers on stage part way through a show, again another thing which has no choice but to be planned.  Additionally there is Jack mentioning how him and Meg are brother and sister when in fact they are not, they were simply once married.  To add to the deceit of this three people are cited as 'Jack and Meg's distant cousin' and his title in the credits is Jack White III which by this point you just don't know anymore.  Regardless of how reliable a source Jack himself is there is also the pre meditated shots and scenarios such as Jack and Meg standing posed in front of aeroplanes.  This may be a masterful piece of filmmaking but whether or not it is a documentary is highly questionable.