The review of A Single Man by Robert Ebert is a complete plot synopsis. It takes you through the entire film, from start to finish in great detail. Ebert does take the extra step to analyze George’s personality by mentioning that George’s “thoughts cannot be read in his eyes.” This explains who George is in a nutshell and how he acts throughout the film, a dismal man. The final two paragraphs of the review are dedicated to the director of the film, Tom Ford, but as I was reading the review, I could not help but ask myself, “Is this even a review?” I was expecting a lot more out of Ebert, and was highly disappointed with the way that this review was approached. Not once did Ebert give his opinion of the film’s content. I believe that, in a partial way, Ebert achieved Sontag’s prescription for a successful criticism because it did give a thorough description of the film however; I would have to argue on the form. I feel that if Ebert would have given just a brief synopsis of the plot and then went about describing the content and his opinion of such content, the review would definitely have been more meaningful. Ebert might have been hesitant to say anything negative about the movie because of the fact that the subject of the film, homosexuality, is touchy and he did not want to look like he was attacking the gay community.
The element of mise-en-scene that really stuck out to me was the lighting aspect of the film. Ford’s use of color is truly artistic. Some examples that stuck out to me within the film was the scene were George was going to the store and spotted a dog (the same dog that him and his lover Jim had) and starting to sniff the dog. Although this is a sort of creepy act, the artistic part was when he started sniffing the dog, the picture got saturated. Another part that was artistically presented was when George was driving out of his driveway and the scene was desaturated, but when he came across the little girl Jennifer, things went in slow motion and the image got saturated and the pink in her dress was bright. This was very artistic because in my opinion, it expounded upon the theme of the film which is to cherish every small moment in life.
As we discussed after the screening, some people view this movie as a very touchy topic. Therefore it can be expected that most reviews would be merely plots rather than strong opinions. Jessica states that Ebert did not once give his opinion. This could be expected I guess but why? I guess a lot of people find the topic of gays as a touchy topic. I have gone to school in the arts for dance for middle, high school and now college. Not to be extremely blunt but every single guy in the dance programs I have been in are gay. I do not find the topic of gays to be touchy. After the movie almost the whole class agreed that the two men kissing was extremely uncomfortable to them. Once again I have seen men kiss men and women kiss men and women kiss women on a daily basis. I was not uncomfortable watching this movie. It was actually my favorite of the ones we’ve seen so far. The fact that people only stick to plot because they are uncomfortable speaking about gays is to me more offensive than giving your true opinion. Gay people are people just like everyone else. I like what Jessica discussed about the use of the slow motion. The car scene in slow motion really does emphasize the idea of cherishing the small moments in life.
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