‘A Single Man’

Now is the perfect time to catch up on smaller films you shelved over the holidays to stand in line for “Avatar,” many of them bejeweled with performances that should get an Oscar nod. Among them is the remarkable piece Colin Firth created in “A Single Man.” It’s the ‘60s, and George, the British professor he plays, gay in a closeted era and transplanted to L.A., is grieving the death of his longtime love. Director Tom Ford has constructed an exquisite stage on which Firth can play, and the actor takes full advantage of it, exploring his character’s emotional depths so much that you wonder whether Firth can shed either the sadness or the joy of it now that George is behind him. The performance is beautiful in its precision, with Firth taking not a single breath that doesn’t create the life force for George.

-- Betsy Sharkey