I love these two actors (Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth), have loved the different ways they've played gay, and being friends, as I understand it, their friendship is plainly apparent in their interactions with each other in this film. I understood that this was a going to be a quiet movie, more meditation than drama, and was looking forward to the performances. So... here goes.
The performances of Tucci and Firth were very good, mastering the material with poise and solemn grace, mixed with melancholy humor. But I found nothing particularly revelatory here, nor did I find the story particularly new. This was done better by Helen Miren and Donald Southerland in "The Leisure Seekers". Overall the film was mildly interesting, but mostly kind of dull.
Spoolers ahead: I also found the ending to be particularly confusing. The bed we see the two men spooning in at the beginning of the movie is their bed in the country house where they take up residence prior to Sam's concert. When Sam says to Tusker that he wants to be there with him at the end, you realize that this is their final time sleeping together. But in the final scene, you seen Sam performing his concert, and the question is, does this happen before or after Tusker's death (if in fact Tusker has died), and if before, is their final night together the final night for both (in other words, does Sam go with Tusker)? My feeling is that Sam's desire to not be alone leads him to give his final concert before accompanying his partner on their final journey together. And perhaps this is the point of the film. But such an end makes the movie that much more depressing.
Overall I found this movie to be a bit derivative with elements of the before mentioned "Leisure Seekers" and "It's My Party", with a little "Anniversary Party" mixed in.
In the end, good performances (may win some highbrow awards, but who knows - there wasn't that much out there this year becuase, well....), not enough story to carry 90+ minutes, and nothing revelatory in the least. Would have worked better as a short.
The performances of Tucci and Firth were very good, mastering the material with poise and solemn grace, mixed with melancholy humor. But I found nothing particularly revelatory here, nor did I find the story particularly new. This was done better by Helen Miren and Donald Southerland in "The Leisure Seekers". Overall the film was mildly interesting, but mostly kind of dull.
Spoolers ahead: I also found the ending to be particularly confusing. The bed we see the two men spooning in at the beginning of the movie is their bed in the country house where they take up residence prior to Sam's concert. When Sam says to Tusker that he wants to be there with him at the end, you realize that this is their final time sleeping together. But in the final scene, you seen Sam performing his concert, and the question is, does this happen before or after Tusker's death (if in fact Tusker has died), and if before, is their final night together the final night for both (in other words, does Sam go with Tusker)? My feeling is that Sam's desire to not be alone leads him to give his final concert before accompanying his partner on their final journey together. And perhaps this is the point of the film. But such an end makes the movie that much more depressing.
Overall I found this movie to be a bit derivative with elements of the before mentioned "Leisure Seekers" and "It's My Party", with a little "Anniversary Party" mixed in.
In the end, good performances (may win some highbrow awards, but who knows - there wasn't that much out there this year becuase, well....), not enough story to carry 90+ minutes, and nothing revelatory in the least. Would have worked better as a short.