A Single Man

Another movie review.

Two long-timed friends stayed over during the Raya break, had some fun catching up.

One of them is an early riser, so when the rest of us refused to get up to kick start activities of the day, she will kill her time watching dvds.

Her compliments my good collections of dvds reminded me of the many dvds that I have collected but not watched: 'A Single Man' starring Colin Firth and Julian Moore is of them.

Do we need to say more about Colin Firth superb acting? If you think "The King's Speech" is awesome, you should have watched 'A Single Man'. Well, it is true that the later won Colin Firth an academy award for best actor, but again, movie preference remains something very personal, no?

In this motion picture, Colin Firth played George Falconer, an English Literature Professor, teaching, from England, teaching in LA, sometime around the 60s.

The main plot of the movie lies on how did George cope after the untimely death of Jim, his 16 years long-termed gay partner.

Colin quietly brought audience to experience the devastating experience of losing the love of your life.

Left all alone in the beautiful home they shared, it became extremely hard for George to recover from the pain, every corner he turns, their memory lingers:how they met, their pets that were gone in the same, their conversation about the boy next door etc.

He decided to put his suffering to an end, by ending his life.

On the chosen day, he went to teach as usual, except he cleaned up his room.

In the last class of his life, he deserted the original teaching plan and went on to discuss about fear ---mankind's fear of unknown, of minority - it was actually an expression of his feeling as gay man in his time. George was not even allowed to attend the wake of Jim, and Jim's parent did not even want to inform him of the death.

One of his student, Kenny, approached him after the class. Kenny has this inquisitive look in his eyes, searching constantly or seeking out for something. It turned out that Kenny has been following George closely, close enough to ask for his address from George's secretary, close enough to notice that George has tidied up his room, and asked "Are you going somewhere?"

Kenny was drawn to George for some reason, a reason that perhaps he knew but refused to admit.

George went on to clear his safe in the bank, determined to seal his life.

Lying all the titles, bonds, keys, all his belongings on his desk, he rehearsed the last act of life.

He tried to find the most comfortable position, a trial was run on whether he should lie his head on a pillow, his has even spread a duvet over his bed, fearing that his blood will stain the mattress, I don't know. He tried the position of holding his pistol to shot right into his mouth.

I felt his choice for committing suicide was not too beautiful for a gay man.

George went to meet his long-time friend, Charley, both of them went way far back to the days when he was in London. Charley was once George's lover, before he came out clean to himself.

They had a great time indulging themselves in some nice music and of course Gin, they talked about days in London and plans of returning. Their conversation dwell onto the page on relationship. Charley said something to the extent -- The thing you have with Jim, is something that I never had, not even with Richard (her husband).Wow, the same goes to me, I am not in their stage of life, say in their 50s or 60s, but again, I have a feeling that I am hardened as times goes by and it is getting more and more difficult to blend into my very settled life at the moment. I must have love this man so much, to have allowed him a space in my life now, if he ever comes.

After the farewell session with Charley, George dashed to his hang out bar to buy more drinks, he met Kenny again, they went for naked swim by the sea, at night.

The sound of the ebb, the laughter of the two men on their crazy actions, the dark background looming. That was a mixture of feelings - this doesn't seem right to be the end of life.

George, died that night, after he decided not to end his life.

He died of heart attack.

How ironic, the trick life plays on us.