***1/2
Starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, Lee Pace and Ginnifer Goodwin.
Directed by Tom Ford.
Finally got a chance to see this little film from late last year that created a buzz for it being the performance of Colin Firth's career. Maybe so. I'm glad he got this chance. I can't say he buried himself in the role, but that we got to see what Firth can really do when he's the center of attention and he can take the time here and there to just pause and absorb what's going on.
I've noticed I'm a sucker for the dramatic pause. When I watched Wall Street again, as fun as it was to lap up the ooze from Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko, my favorite moment was the five-second pause Martin Sheen takes when he realizes how corrupted his son has become. There's the look on Jeff Bridges's face that washes over him in Crazy Heart when he realizes that due to his drinking, he has lost his girlfriend's son. Any movie worth its salt that casts Robert Duvall makes sure to give him one or two.
Firth gets a few of those here. He's a starched shirt of a professor in 1962, and he's just lost his long-time lover in a car crash. Being a closeted homosexual, he has to keep hidden the grief he's suffering. There are several agonizing moments Firth is allowed.
My vote still would have been for Bridges, but Firth was definitely worthy of the consideration.
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