CHLOE / ***½

Distributor: Sony Classics
Release Date: March 26, 2010
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

If Amanda Seyfried wants to keep making weepy chick flicks like the Avatar-killing “Dear John” and the upcoming “Letters to Juliet,” that’s actually fine by me. As long as for every two of those she squeezes in a film like “Chloe” that lets her show off her unique charisma, she can make as many crappy chick flicks as it takes to pay her bills.

“Chloe” is actually a remake of a French film called “Nathalie…” that I happen to have seen while I was working at an awesome independent video store on a college campus that pretty much stocked every movie ever. Director Atom Egoyan (Oscar nominee for “The Sweet Hereafter”) is at the helm of this remake, which disproves the notion that every English speaking remake of foreign films is inferior to the original.

Seyfried stars in the title role, a beautiful young escort who gets an interesting business proposition. Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson play Catherine and David Stewart (no relation to the Eurythmics member or the former Oakland A’s Cy Young winner), one of those wealthy couples that appear to be perfect on the surface. When Catherine plans David a surprise birthday party and he somehow “misses his plane,” suspicions she must have had for years come bubbling to the surface.

Catherine wants to confirm her suspicions, and hires Chloe to interact with her husband and report back to her. Naturally, introducing a third party to an assumed monogamous sexual relationship is going to complicate matters, and that’s exactly what happens. Chloe also involves Catherine and David’s son Michael (Max Theriot of “Nancy Drew”), and things spiral out of control.

Egoyan does a superb job building the tension and revealing the story slowly. Moore and Neeson are old pros who not surprisingly can handle emotionally complex material like this. It’s Seyfried (and to a lesser extent, Theriot) that really surprises with the depth of her performance. Hopefully she’ll get the chance to show wider audiences that she’s capable of more than looking longingly at Channing Tatum. Those of us that saw “Chloe” already know.

Theater: AMC Oakview 24, Omaha, NE
Time: 1155 am
Date: April 8, 2010

A SINGLE MAN / ***½

Distributor: Weinstein Company
Release Date: December 11, 2009
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

Colin Firth is one of those actors that seemed to be constantly underappreciated. He’s appeared in Best Picture winners like “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” and audience pleasers like “Love, Actually” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Yet he still seems to be the kind of actor that people recognize his face but can’t recall his name.

Now he’s finally landed the role of a lifetime, as George Falconer in Tom Ford’s adaptation of “A Single Man,” from the novel by Christopher Isherwood. George is the Single Man referred to in the title, and he’s been as such for the last eight months since his lover Jim (Matthew Goode) was killed in a car crash. The film takes place in 1962, in the throes of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which mirrors the conflict inside of George.

George mourns silently, while presenting a stoic front. He still dresses impeccably, speaks with dignity, and has no public outbursts. He keeps his grief inside, while maintaining his duties as a college professor. He keeps up appearances in front of his neighbors the Strunks (Ginnifer Goodwin and Teddy Sears).

But inside, George is undergoing turmoil. It feels like the loss of a lover coupled with a midlife crisis. What’s interesting about “Single Man” is that his sexuality is hardly emphasized. Ford certainly doesn’t shy away from showing it, but this is a movie about a Man trying to find his way after losing a lover, not a Gay Man recovering from the loss of his lover. There’s a big difference.

The film focuses on two current relationships in George’s life – one an old one, one brand new. The old one is with Charlotte (Julianne Moore), a woman that George slept with in his younger days and maintains an odd friendship with. She still seems affected by the fact that George could love someone other than her, and even tries to seduce him.

The other, newer relationship is with Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), one of his students. Hoult is known primarily as the boy in “About a Boy,” has done a substantial amount of growing up since then and is now a Man. He pursues a friendship with George, but it doesn’t take exactly the route I expected.

One tactic Ford used which I found rather inspired was the color palette. When George is in his normal state, the film is awash in pale colors. When he encounters something that excites him or makes him happy, the colors bloom. It’s an effective technique for showing George’s emotional state.

At the core of “A Single Man” is a dynamite performance from Firth. He’s sure to be rewarded with an Oscar nomination this Tuesday morning, and he had a lot of momentum before Jeff Bridges came in and swiped it. Even so, the work by Firth is not to be ignored – this is one of the best performances of the year.

Theater: The Ruth Sokolof Theater, Omaha, NE
Time: 730 pm
Date: January 27, 2010