Having kicked off the festival with a pair of comedies, today brought a much more serious tone, with John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel “The Road,” and fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut, “A Single Man.”
The Playlist’s editor-in-chief pretty much flipped for “A Single Man” at Toronto, and we agree with pretty much every word he wrote — it’s easily one of the best movies of the year. We went in pretty skeptical, despite the great buzz — from the melodramatic-sounding subject matter, and the fashion background of the director, we were expecting a handsome, but thin picture, like Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven.” As it turns out, it’s undeniably a great looking film (we’re particularly envious of Firth’s wardrobe, it should be said), but it’s also a deeply soulful, moving piece of work. Ford proves himself a born director (the cutting in particular is exceptional — editor Joan Sobel does a tremendous job), and we hope we’ll see many more films from him. Colin Firth is every bit as good as you’ve heard, and if he doesn’t pick up at least a nomination at the Oscars this year, it’ll be a huge miscarriage of justice.
On “The Road,” we were a little more lukewarm. We love the novel, an incredible piece of writing from one of the best living novelists, and we thought that John Hillcoat was a perfect choice to direct, after his extraordinary “The Proposition” — his bleak, grimy worldview seemed a perfect fit for the material.
And it many ways, he was – the film is mostly very successful. Despite some fears from the trailers, the movie hasn’t been turned into a disaster film or an actioner – in fact, it’s almost a beat-for-beat rendition of McCarthy’s novel, plot-wise, although, to the credit of writer Joe Penhall (“Enduring Love”), it doesn’t feel too episodic. Tonally, the perfect mid-point between bleakness and hope is struck, and the photography matches it beautifully. Best of all are the central performances. Kodi-Smit McPhee fully justifies the early buzz about his role – the innocence of the character as written comes through, but he never feels like a saint, he’s simply a child. Viggo Mortensen, meanwhile, is spectacular as a broken man who struggles through each day because of his love for the only thing he has left.
The problems begin with the other big-name star in the cast, Charlize Theron, who plays Mortensen’s wife in flashbacks, littered through the film. The bulk of these come in the first half of the movie, and they virtually cripple the movement of the narrative – one opens the film, and as soon as you begin to get involved in the post-apocalyptic world that the filmmakers have created, another one arrives. Theron’s not to blame – she’s very good, but it means that the film feels choppy, and as a result it takes some time to settle in. Perhaps because of this, or simply because of our familiarity with the novel, we were left a little cold by the film. Others in our audience were devastated by it, and our editor found it heartbreaking, but, in our view, the film never quite moved us in the way the book did, becoming instead a meditation on how far a good man will go to survive.
This isn’t to say we disliked it — for the most part, it’s a very strong, absorbing piece of work that should be applauded, despite some flaws (besides the ones above, we also found Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ score to be more conventional than their best work, and some of the supporting performances a little broad, particularly Garrett Dillahunt’s Hannibal Lecter-ish turn). We also feel that, as with most literary adaptations, you’ll enjoy it more if you’re unfamiliar with the source material – our expectations were so high, and our love for McCarthy’s prose so strong, that we’d probably have been disappointed in any circumstance.
The rest of the weekend holds the premiere of hotly tipped French film “Father of my Children,” the British gangster flick “44 Inch Chest” and Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air,” so reviews will be popping up for those in the next couple of days.
“A Single Man” – [A]
“The Road” – [B+]