Let’s get this out of the way at the start here, this movie is all about Colin Firth. Much of the buzz around this film concerns Firth’s acting and deservedly so. He is a fantastic actor to begin with and here is an absolutely fascinating character that he can really sink his teeth into. The amount of emotion that he brings to this film is outstanding and his nomination for Best Actor is certainly justified. In essence this film is a exploration of grief at its most base level. The loss of his long term partner irreparably damages George Falconer to the point that he feels suicide is the only answer. Over the course of a single day we witness George trying to tie up the loose ends in his life so he can finally end it. The story is simple and does not try and overwhelm the viewer with a complex narrative. Rather, Tom Ford allows Firth and the supporting actors to really explore grief and the impact that it can have.
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There was a reasonable amount of buzz going in to this movie with a trailer which did a great job of building anticipation. However, this has to be one of the biggest disparities between a trailer and the actual movie that there has ever been. The trailer was considered, tense and left the viewer with a great sense of unease. The actual movie was formulaic, poorly written and ultimately forgettable. Scorsese can usually be relied upon to deliver tight, focused movies. However, the direction here felt very inept. The use of flashbacks and dream sequences bordered on the comical and the overuse of CGI sapped the emotion out of the film. They were relied upon to convey the back story of the main character, that of the death of his wife and his experiences in World War Two. However, this reliance on flashbacks just served to slow down the movie for little purpose. It got to the point where we no longer care about the main character’s motivations and just want the present day story to resolve itself. (more…)