(Julianne Moore is brilliant in Tom Ford's A Single Man, but Colin Firth delivers what The New York Post calls a "moving, career redefining performance.")
It's the men who go through the most dramatic emotional changes in (500) Days of Summer, Up in the Air and A Single Man. They lose love. They struggle professionally. They seek redemption or solace or happiness or quiet from pain, grief, an economy beyond the verge.
And the actors charged with presenting these stories to us -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, George Clooney and Colin Firth, respectively -- each deliver powerhouse, not-to-be-missed performances that eclipse the presence of the women who share the screen with them.
This, of course, is no easy feat. The women in Summer, Air and Single Man do amazing work. Still, it's the men who make the stories work, who make us care when cliche or familiarity or overwrought sentiment would make us turn away in disbelief.
No surprise, Gordon-Levitt, Clooney and Firth have all reaped their share of award-season buzz. Firth, however, has the greatest chance of seeing his name on an Oscar. The buzz sounds the loudest for Firth and Jeff Bridges, who carries the weight of yet another critically acclaimed film on his shoulders (I've yet to see Crazy Heart; that's why I didn't include it in the intro).
Of the three films, A Single Man was the most surprising. From first-time director Tom Ford, the movie tells the painful story of a bereavement. The camera's lens focuses squarely, and often uncomfortably close, in the face of this grief. Firth - known for his work as a romantic lead in Love Actually, the Bridgette Jones Diary films and Pride & Prejudice - delivers what the New York Post calls a career redefining performance -- one that (finally) overshadows his Mr. Darcy from the BBC miniseries.
There are no surprises in Clooney's performance in Up in the Air. He's still cool, a bit detached, funny -- but the story and the screenplay match him perfectly. It's as if films like Michael Clayton were his dry run for this movie. I don't think he deserves an Oscar - or even an Oscar nomination - for this movie. Still, this clever and timely movie would not work without him at its center.
Gordon-Levitt's mostly moping greeting card writer is sympathetic, assessable, familiar. I map the story's conclusion after the first 20 minutes, but still found it entertaining. Gordon-Levitt appears in almost every scene -- in almost every shot. While I expected I'd get annoyed with him after a time, I instead was able to sympathize, started rooting for the kid who should have known better.
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