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In a brief 11.5 riff about the Weinstein Co.'s poster for Tom Ford's A Single Man, In Contention's Guy Lodge wrote, "Call me cynical, but are they trying to hide the fact that it's about a gay man?" Gee, I don't know...maybe? Movie Marketing 101 says that you always conceal or downplay the gay element contained in any film, whether it be in the story or lead character or whatever. The Weinsteiners did the usual thing.
But it's surprising that they didn't try and convey the film's selling point, which for me is its sense of taste and restraint, a feeling of early '60s elegance, an extravagant and yet muted visual mood. A Single Man is about a gay man, sure, but more precisely about a sad and spiritually deflated one, and while it pulsates with a certain high-toned homoeroticism, it's really more about rediscovering a yen for life -- that sense of want, expectation and delectation that keeps us all going.
I would have tried for a kind of Michelangelo Antonioni vibe if I'd designed the poster. An image that would have suggested a film that delivers a gently classy atmosphere that doesn't "hide" the gayish current as much as make it palatable and intriguing for viewers of all persuasions.
I was thinking to myself as I walked along First Avenue in the East Village last night that I really love walking around Manhattan. (As long as it's not windy or bitter cold, I mean.) And it hit me that if you're not feeling really happy about the relatively routine aspects of your life -- about the simple joys of being alive and healthy and mobile and being able to dodge a cab at the last millisecond -- then you're missing something very basic.
Too many people look to highs and crescendos and big career accomplishments in life as the primary definers of happiness or fulfillment. I've just been through a stirring and delicious adventure with a beautiful blonde over the past month or so -- definitely one for the record books. But I honestly felt more spiritual satisfaction last night on First Avenue than from anything that came out of the hormonal and spiritual intensity of the last four weeks. It's not the riding of the great waves that matters the most (and I'm saying this as not just a lover of breathtaking women but also boogie-board surfing) -- it's the way you feel as you're sitting on the beach and watching the waves at sunset, right before you roll up the towel and head for the car.
This feeling of serenity and contentment is what A Single Man puts across at the very end, and it's really quite wonderful.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 5, 2009 at 7:37 AM
comment #1
maxfm
says ...
It's somewhat classy, but Wells is correct. Totally misrepresents the film and pushes it as a hetero thing. Not that the poster has to be gay, gay, gay, but a more solitary, abstract vibe would've been much cooler.
That said, it's nowhere near as horrific as the Everybody's Fine and The Boys Are Back one-sheets from Miramax. Those are absolutely terrible.
Posted by maxfm
at November 5, 2009 8:45 AM
comment #2
Scott Mendelson
says ...
My favorite 'hide the homo' marketing was for Transamerica. If you recall, the trailer featured the Huffman's son (Toby) being hit on and making out with a young teenage girl in a local dive. Said young girl was even featured on several posters, with her arms wrapped around Toby. Of course, if you saw the movie, you know that the teen actress was only in the movie for about 30 seconds and that the Huffman's son was actually a gay porn actor.
Posted by Scott Mendelson
at November 5, 2009 8:50 AM
comment #3
TL
says ...
"hide the fact that it's about a gay man"? Seems to me they're affirmatively misrepresenting that fact. If it's called "A Single Man," why not a poster with just, you know, a single man? (I mean, I love Julianne Moore as much as the next guy, but nobody's going to see the movie because she's on the poster.)
Posted by TL
at November 5, 2009 8:59 AM
comment #4
btwnproductions
says ...
The real problem is that it says nothing about the movie. Firth and Moore aren't big enough stars to draw ticket-buyers; they're going to need those money quotes to pull in a crowd. (And shoe-horn Hoult in there, too.) The similarly challenged poster for AN EDUCATION at least gives off a vibe.
Posted by btwnproductions
at November 5, 2009 9:07 AM
comment #5
Ronald McFirbank
says ...
There's downplay and there's bait and switch. This poster is for a movie about a thoughtful horndog who goes out with eight different women over the course of the picture before deciding the first one was the one all along.
Posted by Ronald McFirbank
at November 5, 2009 9:25 AM
comment #6
Joe McDonald
says ...
I like that riff at the end about walking around New York. I've never been there personally, but I've always loved the feeling of walking around a city with no particular place to go, just soaking it in. And it's true, sometimes it's those days where nothing happens that just stick to your memory, usually with a more pleasant aftertaste than any of the "big moments" in your life.
Posted by Joe McDonald
at November 5, 2009 10:21 AM
comment #7
joefilm1
says ...
this is basically the design of a Tom Ford for Men fragrance ad. ha.
http://www.statesman.com/shared-gen/blogs/austin/shopping/tomford2.jpg
Posted by joefilm1
at November 5, 2009 10:55 AM
comment #8
nemo
says ...
Until I clicked on joefilm1's link, I didn't realize that this Tom Ford is the same as that Tom Ford. That Tom Ford who is deeply into his own chest hair. That Tom Ford who wears sunglasses that make him look like a giant insect.
I suspect that Julianne Moore is on the poster because Tom Ford is proud of the early 1960s Jane Fonda look he achieved with her.
Julian Schnabel comes across as a preening fool in photographs and interviews, and is famous for his crappy paintings, But I let that keep me from seeing his films, I would never have realized that -- amazingly! -- he turned out to be a good director who makes good movies. I will try to be equally open-minded about Tom Ford.
Posted by nemo
at November 5, 2009 4:45 PM
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