A SINGLE MAN SUGGESTS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN WHEN A GAY PARTNER DIES
A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford, brings the 1964 novel by gay writer Christopher Isherwood to the screen. In 1962, the lover of UCLA Professor George Falconer (played by Colin Firth) dies in a car crash near Denver. He is informed by a younger member of his lover’s family of the death as well as the fact that he is not invited to the memorial service. Falconer decides to kill himself as a result, but first he has to teach a class, buy bullets and wine, and dine with Charlie (played by Julianne Moore) for old time’s sake. After his class, he is approached by a very bright, handsome student, Kenny (played by Nicholas Hoult), who has more than academic interest in him, but he brushes him off. He encounters an attractive Spanish would-be actor at the liquor store, also brushing him off. During the conversation with Charlie, she intimates that his 16-year relationship was not real love, whereupon Falconer flies into a rage. After the dinner, he heads for a bar near his Malibu residence, and Kenny happens along. The two take a nude dip in the ocean, then return to his residence together. After a couple of beers, both fall asleep in different parts of the house. The ending of the seeming autobiographical film is a puzzle. MH
AVATAR IS THE MOST PROFOUND ANTI-IMPERIAL FILM OF THE YEAR
Obsoletorium is necessary for the human race to survive, filmviewers of Avatar are told, so an expedition goes to the planet Pandora in 2154 to get the substance. Humanoidlike creatures, the Na’vi, inhabit the area where the substance can be mined, but the expedition is heavily militarized. To try diplomacy, some humans are put into a machine to resemble the Na’vi, thereby producing a new species—the avatar. The plan is to dispatch humans transformed as avatars to the planet surface to gain the confidence of the Na’vi. When diplomacy fails, which leaders of the expedition believe will be futile, military action is contemplated. Paraplegic Jake Scully (played by Sam Worthington) is recruited for the diplomatic mission; if successful, he will receive back his two legs in an expensive operation that he cannot afford on his own. The anthropological expert on the Na’vi, Grace (played by Sigourney Weaver), also becomes an avatar to direct the effort to contact the Na’vi. During the landing, Jake is separated from the rest, is saved Pocahantas-style by Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana), the two fall in love, and Jake sides with the Na’vi. But Colonel Miles Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang) is eager to use military force, for which he receives approval when diplomacy apparently is not working. The main puzzle is how the Nav’vi bow-and-arrow defense could possibly hold back the massive military technology under the Colonel’s command. As the plot unfolds, what becomes clear is the superiority of peace over brute force for which the film, directed by James Cameron, has been nominated for an award as best film on peace of 2009. In addition, the mistreatment of the indigenous Na’vi prompts the Political Film Society to nominate Avatar as best film on human rights. MH
PUNCTURED HOPE DEPICTS HOPELESSNESS AMONG GENITALLY MUTILATED PROSTITUTES
Not a festive film, Punctured Hope was released exactly one week before Christmas Day at a cinema in Santa Monica with the subtitle A Story About Trokosi and the Young Girls’ Slavery in Today’s West Africa. The film, directed by Bruno Pishiutta, shows how Edinam (played by Belinda Siarny) and other girls are enslaved and how they achieve liberation. Facts about mutilation and forced prostitution conclude the somewhat crudely made but extraordinarily revealing film. The Political Film Society has nominated Punctured Hope for best film exposé and best film on human rights of 2009.