"a single man" stands out

When I saw A SINGLE MAN the other night on DVD, I thought the late George Reeves (one of the first actors playing SUPERMAN in the'50S)came back to life.I have to check the box to find out who the actor was. It was Colin Firth. With those black rimmed glasses on, he was a dead ringer for George Reeve's Clark Kent.

In this movie, he played a College professor who has just lost a partner ( male one ) and somehow, when a movie is about homosexuality, one is tempted to take the DVD out and put in something else.

But the first five minutes ( the most crucial part of a movie ) caught my attention and I continued watching it just to see how it ended.

Of course you want to know at least what the basic plot is. Well, Colin Firth's character has just lost a partner ( male, of course )of 16 years. The partner drowned accidentally in an LA beach. Quite a long time to stay together. So he got depressed, lost his zest for life. He wanted to end it all during that week end.

So he prepared everything needed for his funeral. He emptied his bank deposit box and on a table in his living room, he laid all papers, letters to different people, maybe his will, his funeral clothes, and yes, the suicide weapon: a handgun.

Julianne Moore ( whom I fist saw as a charcter in the soap opera AS THE WORLD TURNS, played his girl friend before he met his deceased boy friend. The day his boy friend died, Colin went to her, crying like a baby in her arms, and somehow, I would think the two would be reconciled.

Yes and No. They became good friends again, but that's all there is. He did not tell anybody his plan of shooting himself in the mouth. There was a funny scene ( the movie, inspite of its sombre theme has comic episodes which helps break the tension ) where he tried lying down in bed, finding the best position on how to insert the pistol's barrel into his mouth.

Which brings us to the moot question. Did he or did he not die in the ending?..THat's what I wanted to find out so I persisted in watching it, thwarting all kinds of drowsiness just to see if he was able to blow his brains out..

Wanna find out?.Rent the movie. I rate it 4 stars out of 5. Its worth the rental fee if only for the crispy and well written dialogues ( and the good acting by ALL characters, major or minor ones.---#