It’s a slow paced drama about the last day of a man’s life. George has just lost his partner in a freakish car wreck. He had spent 16 years with this man and gave up his entire world to this man. After his lost, George goes empty and cold. His world has ended and his only option to get out of the overwhelming loneliness is to end his life. He spends one day going through the preparations of finding a suitable ending, but along the way he runs into reasons why he shouldn’t end it so soon.
While I won’t argue that this film is certainly slow in pace and drab, thanks to a broken main character, it shows some of the most beautiful ‘little things’ in life that we generally don’t notice. That’s what is really amazing about Tom Ford’s film. He singles out these things through the eyes of George (Colin Firth). From the smoke escaping from a young man’s lips after a drag on a cigarette or the innocent vivid green color of a little girl’s shoes, the little things creep out beautifully through George. These things are the reason for George not to end his life. Ford’s message is clear; don’t end it all so soon because there are other moments to live for. Ford’s focus on these little things inspires moments of greatness in a character’s life that seems hopeless. It’s a seesaw movement of good and bad.
Firth’s performance of George is one of the greater roles he has been apart of (at least since Love Actually). As an audience member you immediately bond with him from the first scene when he gets the call about his lover’s death. You care for him immediately and sympathize with his feeling of loneliness. Firth really nails this character beautifully.
As for the Blu-ray version of this film, it’s hauntingly beautiful. The portrayal of George’s drab existence through very bland, dark colors pours through methodically in high-definition. It’s important to visually establish this side of the movie because the beautiful scenes/reasons to live come out more. The obvious differences between sad and happy shine through thanks to the Blu-ray. The audio is the same way, though a bit haunting and sad. It shines and is extenuated through a DTS-HD transfer. It makes the film a bit more powerful; special thanks belongs to the string section.
The features on the Blu-ray are a tad bit skimpy. You get some great Tom Ford commentary, which is brilliant. The man knows what he wanted and he clearly got it. You also get a very short 10 minute documentary about the making of the film. It adds some insight about the book it came from, but it doesn’t get too technical in the explanation of the film itself. It’s a tad bit shallow for such a dramatic film. Of course, you also get BD-Live.