A Single Man

So this is a really neat wordless trailer. The combination of the images and powerful string music evoke some strong emotional responses. Watching the trailer you really get the feeling that Colin Firth is a man who's life is in flux. He's a depressed man going through some really rough stuff emotionally, and Julianne Moore is there to be his anchor. The thing that keeps him grounded, and maybe just maybe there's a hint of romance there. But the trailer also suggests that Firth is gay in this movie, so there's some interesting conflict there. Really it's a strong trailer that combines strong images with strong music and hints at some powerful themes and internal conflicts, but doesn't give away too much. This intrigues me enough to make me want to see the movie, but they nearly ruined it with all those black screen testimonials.

OK I get it. Colin Firth has a good performance in this movie. I believe it too. No need to hit us over the head with it. Colin Firth is a fine actor and playing a gay man dealing with loss and a flirtation with Julianne Moore is just the type of role that can effortlessly create a powerful emotional response with audiences and critics. Oscar voters rarely go with subtlety they go with either big over the top emotions. Bonus points if that character is based on a real person. So my question is are you advertising to the audience or Oscar voters? Because I don't care if the acting is good if the writing is bad. Only people voting on awards would care if the acting is good, independent of the material. And that's the real worrisome thing about this trailer. The marketers have so little confidence in the material that they feel they need to sell the movie with quotes about how good the acting is. Not even quotes about how good the movie is,(except for one)but quotes on the acting.

Now it makes me think that the decision to make it a wordless trailer is more than just a fun stylistic choice. It makes me think that maybe the script wasn't strong enough for the marketers to find dialogue worth highlighting. I contend that you could find 2 minutes of neat images from any movie, put it to good music and create a decently entertaining 2 minute trailer.

That doesn't mean this is a bad trailer. It still has potential to be excellent. There are undeniably some great images in there that hint at great things, but be warned. The things they didn't show you can be just as telling. No dialogue. No plot. My expectations for this one are very modest. It has the tell tale signs of being a trailer that's better than the film its advertising.