Release date: February 12, 2010
The cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode
The pitch: Colin Firth is a gay college professor trying to come to terms with the death of his partner (Matthew Goode) in 1962 Los Angeles.
The buzz: If you are at all interested in fashion, you’ll know director Tom Ford as the influential former creative director of Gucci. Until this, his only work in the movies was designing Bond’s tuxedo for Quantum of Solace. Nevertheless, the buzz on this is positively deafening, mainly due to what is rumoured to be a career-defining performance from Firth. Produced independently, this adaptation of a Christopher Isherwood novel was picked up by the Weinsteins at the Venice Film Festival and is expected to clean up at awards ceremonies all over the world in 2010. Could do for mainstream gay cinema what The Piano did for feminist cinema.
Reasons this could be good: It’s always good to watch a trailer that is a work of art in and of itself, and there is plenty to admire in here. Stylistically, it’s wonderful. Not only (as you might expect) the costumes and design, but also some of the memorable shots hidden in there – the snowy car crash at 0:26, the reflection of the little girl standing on the table at 1:06, the rap on the window as Firth reaches for his gun at 0:58. Watching in HD, the lighting flips between a nostalgic, milky glow and a haunting, washed-out twilight. It also appears to have been edited by someone with an idea of the film’s leitmotifs – note all those close-ups of eyes and lips.
Reasons this could be bad: When a promo tells you more about how critically acclaimed the film is than its plot, is it right to be a bit worried about its motives? And for a film that is selling itself on the terrific performances of its stars, there is very little acting in there, let alone dialogue. All of which suggests a film more interested in surface than in content. Unfair? Don’t forget it’s directed by a fashion designer. The presence of Julianne Moore also invites comparisons with the hysterical camp of 2007’s Savage Grace.
We think: Trailers don’t just exist to give a précis of a film’s synopsis, especially in arthouse cinema. Instead, a promo should give the feel of a film, and that is what this does in a lucid, precisely-constructed two minutes. This one piqued our curiosity, and not just because of the lovingly-embossed reviews being thrust in our face throughout. The important reaction is we want to see more.
Music: There’s fierce debate online about the origins of the jarring strings and metronomic ticking that scores this clip. Though it sounds Clint Mansell-esque, I suspect it’s from Abel Korzeniowski’s score, excerpts of which can already be heard on his website.
Did you spot? Despite his credentials, Ford didn’t design the costumes. The credits at the end list Arianne Phillips as the costume designer.
Odds of you seeing it: If you’re a fashionista, chances are you’ve already got tickets. Fans of Mad Men and/or Firth will be right behind you in the queue. The rest of us? We’ll wait to see the full length trailer before making up our minds.
