AS THIS COMPLICATED DECADE DRAWS TO AN INEVITABLE CLOSE…

Time, time, time…
See what’s become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please

SIMON & GARFUNKEL recorded A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER back in the 60s. Fabulous song. But most days I prefer THE BANGLES version.

Harder edged usually has more resonance for me.

I won’t be sorry to say goodbye to this decade. In the last ten years, I’ve experienced dizzying triumphs, delicious surprises and the most devastating tragedies.

No matter. Beneath all of this charm, elegance and distracting blonde sensuality, there beats the heart of a lion.

Strong willed. Determined. Single minded. Unstoppable.

But it’s all over now.

I’m so grateful to the people that I care about – both on line and off. Your graciousness, decency and good will can never be forgotten.

Thank you to everyone who reads and supports CP. None of this would mean anything if you weren’t here to share it with me.

I’m all out of words.

To the future…

I leave you with DAMIEN RICE and THE BLOWER’S DAUGHTER, which is the song that plays at the beginning and the end of the film CLOSER.

Enjoy your New Years celebrations.

See you in 2010.

THE 100 BEST DRESSES OF THE DECADE

IN STYLE presents us with a broad overview of fashion over the last ten years. They have a gallery showing the 100 best dresses of the decade.

Here are the choices that I concur with – in no particular order…

KATE WINSLET (YVES SAINT LAURENT)

JENNIFER CONNELLY (VIVIENNE WESTWOOD)

RENEE ZELLWEGER (CAROLINA HERRERA)

JULIA ROBERTS (ARMANI)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON (ROLAND MOURET)

NICOLE KIDMAN (BALENCIAGA)

RACHEL WEISZ (VERA WANG)

HELEN MIRREN (ALEXANDER McQUEEN)

MARION COTILLARD (JEAN PAUL GAULTIER)

For the incredible slideshow, please go here

AND SO IT BEGINS (FOR ANOTHER YEAR)…

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Editors: This is the first story in this season’s OSCAR INSIDER series, a behind the scenes look at the ACADEMY AWARDS.

For 81 years, she had amassed movie memorabilia.

Her collection now includes more than 10 million photographs, 80,000 screenplays and 35,000 movie posters dating back to when THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS & SCIENCES was founded in 1927.

So it’s fitting that the MARGARET HENRICK LIBRARY played host to the future of the film industry when it welcomed this year’s crop of OSCAR voters at a private reception honouring the newest members of the ACADEMY.

Surrounded by movie history, these new inductees celebrated becoming part of it.

“This organization first handed out awards in 1929 and I’m connected to that,” said DAVID KAMINOW, who just joined the public relations branch.

“It’s having an attachment to the history of movies.”

The library was the ideal setting for celebrating new members of the ACADEMY, said president TOM SHERAK.

“The foundation for this organization is the history of movies and when you become a member, you become part of that history.”

And that includes ACADEMY members influencing history by determining who will win ACADEMY AWARDS – a process that began for the 82nd time on Monday when OSCAR ballots went out to 5,777 academy members, including the 133 newest voters – who will collectively select the year’s OSCAR nominees and eventual winners.

TOM SHERAK gave the voting rookies some simple advice on how to handle the responsibility: Be conscientious.

“This is something we do that the whole world pays attention to and we need to take it very seriously.”

Each of the ACADEMY’S 15 branches is responsible for nominating those in their field – so actors nominate other actors and sound engineers nominate other sound engineers – based on the year’s eligible films. (There were 274 in 2009.) The entire voting membership submits their picks for best picture.

TOM SHERAK reminded them that the category is now twice the size it used to be: 10 nominees instead of five.

“You’ve joined in a tough year because we’ve made it twice as hard to fill out the ballot.”

Ballots are due to PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS on JANUARY 23, 2010. Nominations will be announced FEBRUARY 2. The ACADEMY AWARDS will be presented on MARCH 7.

Voting on the OSCARS will be exciting, commented ACADEMY AWARD winning documentarian MEGAN MYLAN. But being officially connected to the history of film as a member of the ACADEMY is even more profound.

“It’s cool that they have all of this archival stuff because it does make you have an elevated level of respect for the work you’re doing. I can see that there’s something that I have in common with these grand storytellers. To sit here and read these names – and to think anything you do might have something to do with that – it’s very heady to think about.”

ON THE NET:

OSCARS.ORG

WHAT WOULD FELLINI THINK OF NINE?

This article is authored by CHARLOTTE CHANDLER at THE HUFFINGTON POST She also wrote I, FELLINI – a biography of the great Italian master.

I just watched 8 1/2 again on Christmas Day. It’s such a great work of cinematic art – rich, riveting, imaginative and astoundingly original.

I’m seeing NINE this week. So I thought that putting up this wondrous evocative piece would be the most appropriate form of anticipation.

FEDERICO FELLINI told me that the theme of his life and of his work was “dreams are the only reality. No one ever perceives the real world,” he said.

“Each person simply calls private, personal fantasies the Truth. The difference is that I know I live in a fantasy world. I prefer it that way and resent anything that disturbs my vision.”

“My films are often based on my dreams. When I wake up, I put them down as funny little drawings.”

“For me making films is making love. I’m most alive when I’m directing. But before I started making 8½, something happened to me which I always feared could happen and when it did, it was more terrible that I could ever have imagine. I suffered my greatest fear, director’s block.”

“Director’s block is like writer’s block, except that it’s public rather than private. My 8½ crew called me the magician, but the film I was going to make had fled from me. I considered abandoning it, but I could not let all of those people down who believed I was a magician. It came to me that I should make a film about a director who has director’s block.”

“It had been said that my films are autobiographical. True. I often use something that really happened to me.”

“When I was about seven, my parents took me to the circus…and I had the strong feeling that I was expected there.”

I know Fellini would have been highly complimented by the choice of DANIEL DAY LEWIS to play GUIDO in NINE. Since the character in NINE represents Fellini, I can imagine FEDERICO saying something like, “Such a fine actor, so good looking…so thin.”

GUIDO, in both 8½ and NINE, while being inspired by Fellini, is only part of the real man. In life, Fellini was rather shy and self conscious. In his imagination, he could be GUIDO. As MARCELLO MASTROIANI and now DANIEL DAY LEWIS, Fellini was vicariously able to be the character of his imagination without upsetting his less turbulent personal life with his devoted wife and star GUILIETTA MASINA.

“I am her best director, if not her best husband,” he told me.

Fellini would have appreciated the female actors chosen to be the women in GUIDO’S life – NCOLE KIDMAN, KATE HUDSON, MARION COTILLARD, JUDI DENCH and Penelope Cruz. Fellini was not the Casanova he sometimes was rumoured to be – he himself having spread the rumour.

“I have a playfully adulterous mind,” he told me. “In my mind, I never get tired of living out my sexual fantasies. In life, they would interfere with my work.”

Fellini would have been extremely pleased and certainly rather amused to lean that SOPHIA LOREN was playing his mother. She was his choice to star in JOURNEY WITH ANITA, a film he never made. ANITA was a girl with whom the story’s director has a brief fling. The film eventually was made by another director, with GOLDIE HAWN playing ANITA. In real life, GOLDIE HAWN is the mother of KATE HUDSON, one of NINE’S stars.

Fellini never saw the stage version of NINE on Broadway (he hated flying), but he was pleased by the idea that his films were enduring and that both 8½ and NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (which became SWEET CHARITY) were the basis of musicals delighted him. He had grown up loving the Hollywood musical, particularly those of GINGER ROGERS and FRED ASTAIRE, who inspired his film GINGER & FRED.

I’m certain that FEDERICO would have appreciated that NINE is in the tradition of the great Hollywood musicals without imitating them. Music was always important in Fellini’s films and he would have been thrilled that ROB MARSHALL was at the helm. His direction is never intrusive and always in control.

ROB MARSHALL has given us the definitive homage to Fellini, always in the spirit of the great Italian director yet never imitating him. I think that Fellini would have been especially pleased by NINE because it is not a remake of 8½, but a true homage, which stands on its own. I can’t speak for FEDERICO, but I can hear him saying, as he often did, “What do you think, Charlottina?”

I almost saw 8½ with FEDERICO.

During one of my visits to Rome, I was told by Fellini that a small theatre was showing the film many years after its release and we rushed right over only to find a decrepit cinema, mutilated print, ancient projectors and miserable sound. Except for a snoring man and an attentive dog who seemed to be enjoying the film well enough, the theatre was empty.

Fellini rushed out in panic, calling back to me, “You can stay if you wish.” I ran out, following him, to Cafe Rosati, to drown our sorrows in coffee and patisserie.

That was the day I almost saw 8½ with Federico Fellini.

I knew Fellini well enough to know that he would’ve slid down into a theatre seat to see NINE and he definitely wouldn’t have left. Sliding down in the seat was left over from his childhood spent at the FULGAR CINEMA in Rimini when he saw a film he truly enjoyed and didn’t want his mother to find him and drag him away.

I wish Fellini could have been here to speak for himself about NINE and I know all of you wish it, too.

I believe FEDERICO would have paid this film of NINE his highest compliment. He would’ve called it Felliniesque.

Fellini’s life exceeded even his dreams. “Life is the combination of magic and pasta,” he told me, so I believe he would have suggested that after you’ve seen the magic of NINE, you go out and have a meal of delicious pasta.

CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR…

And now it’s finally here.

Santa has all ready arrived at chez Wilding. I got everything I wanted.

I guess there’s something to be said for being a very, very good girl.

I don’t know how much I’ll post in the coming week. There are lots of screenings to attend. It’s likely that I won’t be around much for the next little while.

Nothing’s carved in stone. If I have something important or interesting to share, it will go up.

For example…

My birthday is next week. I can not be specific about the day because there are too many disturbed morons on the internet. So, like last year, I’ll open up the birthday thread on Sunday and it will be party central for the remaining days of this month.

Make sure to bring lots of champagne. Jewelry doesn’t hurt either.

Aside from that, I’ll see how it goes. Those new films will not be reviewed until next weekend at the earliest. There should be at least four of them. I’ll also be compiling my TOP 10 films of 2009 and a definitive TOP 50 list for the entire decade. That won’t be until the new year.

But I’d like to take the time to thank everyone that I adore (both on line and off) for getting me through the last 365 days or so. It’s been a wild ride – wondrous and very surprising. Mostly in good ways.

You know who you are and how much you mean to me. It’s great to have people in your life that care. I never take that for granted.

I am also eternally grateful to my precious readers. I’m the glamorous extravagant blonde who keeps everything running smoothly at a whiplash clip. But if it weren’t for you, it would all be for nothing. It certainly wouldn’t be any fun.

So, before I dash out, Snagglepuss (the patron saint of this joint) and I would like to wish everyone a fabulous memorable holiday season.

May it be glorious and delightfully awesome in equal measure.

Here’s a clip of the fabulous EARTHA KITT singing SANTA BABY.

For now, I’ll exit.

Stage left…

THE BLIND SIDE ***

The term steel magnolia could have been invented for LEIGH ANNE ROBERTS TUOHY (SANDRA BULLOCK).

She’s an interior decorator with a privileged life in Memphis. Her husband is SEAN TUOHY (TIM McGRAW). Their young son SEAN JR. is generally known as SJ (JAE HEAD). They also have a teenage daughter named COLLINS (LILY COLLINS).

Even though the twenty first century has dawned, Leigh Anne is like many southern women before her. She is very aware of her own femininity and the distracting sex appeal that she possesses. Her taste is impeccable. She is always immaculately groomed and dressed luxuriously and tastefully in the latest fashion.

However, Leigh Anne is an unstoppable force of nature when she’s reached a decision. She rarely has to raise her voice. Her presence is powerful and she definitely has her own opinions. When she wants something, she goes out and gets it.

For their own peace of mind, people should think twice about getting in her way. She will decimate any barrier in sight.

Leigh Anne has no comprehension that her pleasant idyllic family life is about to come to an end. But this formidable woman could easily rise to any challenge presented to her.

She will need every last bit of strength and fortitude that she has.

Due to an acquaintance’s intervention, MICHAEL OHER (QUINTON AARON) becomes enrolled at the school that SJ and Collins both attend. Michael is seventeen – extremely tall and strongly built. When the educational institution’s athletics coach watches him play basketball outside, he knows that Michael has serious athletic ability.

But he has a difficult troubled past.

Michael’s mother was a drug addict. His father disappeared years ago. He’s been in and out of foster homes and attended 11 different schools in a decade. His grade point average is practically nonexistent.

The teachers have a discreet meeting about him after he has been admitted as a special needs student. It’s obvious that he’s not understanding the lessons. He has no idea how to learn. Without solid grades, he won’t be allowed to continue attending. Certainly playing football will be out of the question.

The staff privately throw up their hands in exasperation. It seems to be an impossible situation. But then a ray of hope appears.

Michael clearly has a talent for writing. He can express himself through words. After testing, it’s obvious that he is extremely intelligent and resourceful. All he needs is motivation and someone to show him the way.

But there are other problems clouding the horizon.

Michael has never had an actual family or any kind of affection or caring. He is the only African American student among hundreds of caucasian kids. He is horribly lonely. His entire being radiates sadness and misery.

After months of no conversations or connections with anyone, Michael runs into SJ. He’s a real live wire. SJ has no problem approaching anybody.

But things get worse for Michael before they get better. The friend that helped him get into the school has a wife that is no longer comfortable with Michael sharing their residence. Michael has nowhere to go and no one to turn to.

He has nothing but the clothes on his back. He carries his belongings in a plastic bag.

Leigh Anne has seen Michael before but never talked to him. On a crisp fall evening, she and her family are returning from a game when they spot him going back to the gym where it’s warm.

Leigh Anne is shocked. This is completely unacceptable to her. She tells Michael to get in their vehicle and come home with them.

Michael stays the night. Leigh Anne looks into his background and finds out what’s been going on in his life.

Unlike most conservative Republicans, she puts her money where her mouth is. Leigh Anne is infuriated that a decent young man like Michael has lived such a bleak, disheartening existence. She decides that she’s going to help him make something of himself.

There will be many obstacles before Michael can ever play football. His grades have to be at a particular level. There is another thing that she hadn’t counted on. A lot of people (including her friends) harbour a great deal of negativity over the fact that Michael is living with her family.

For Leigh Anne, it’s simply the right thing to do. The questioning of her motivations continues over time.

But nothing will ever silence this forthright daughter of the south. Leigh Anne is the master of her own destiny. You wouldn’t dare to be on the other side of a disagreement with her. She won’t willingly concede to anyone.

THE BLIND SIDE is based on the book by Michael Lewis. Director JOHN LEE HANCOCK brings this real life tale to the screen in a stalwart straight forward manner.

Singer TIM McGRAW shows some natural ability as Leigh Anne’s supportive spouse.

JAE HEAD and LILY COLLINS are both terrific.

SANDRA BULLOCK is an attractive woman. But she has never looked better. Her character’s strong, fiery personality is offset by endless charm, cascading blonde hair, perfect makeup and a thoroughly amazing wardrobe. She definitely makes the most of it.

This is easily the best work that she has ever done in her entire career. Her accent is polished and authentic. She is completely believable as LEIGH ANNE.

QUINTON AARON effectively shatters your heart into a million pieces. He never needs dialogue to clarify his emotional base. You know how he’s feeling the moment you catch a glimpse of him. He is supremely gifted.

He’s going to be a very big star.

Make no mistake. In many respects THE BLIND SIDE is a typical shameless tear jerker that’s been positioned as potential awards bait.

What elevates it and separates it from the pack are the two exceptional performances from Ms. Bullock and Mr. Aaron. They deserve every bit of credit imaginable.

But one thing is unchanged. I still don’t give a damn about football.

GETTING INTO THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT…

Here are some photos of a few glorious holiday trees.

I love Christmas. Everything is so beautiful and serene. It feels like anything is possible at this time of year.

Don’t call me sentimental, though. You just might get spanked.

SOME OF THE BEST LOOKS OF 2009

Here are some incredible looks that made this past year memorable.

Wearing them are:

MILA KUNIS
ANGELINA JOLIE

HOW TO ENJOY YOUR CINEMATIC PRIVILEGES (WITHOUT BEING A JACKASS)

This article is authored by KELI GOFF at THE HUFFINGTON POST

When a friend of mine jokingly insinuated that I might consider enrolling in an anger management course so that “we don’t get shot” the next time we go to the movies – which she is 100 per cent convinced almost happened during our last trip – I thought maybe, just maybe, she was right.

Which of course meant that maybe, just maybe, I had been wrong when I loudly reprimanded a group of rude moviegoers during our last popcorn adventure – moviegoers who then ominously threatened to go “get someone.”

Then I came across the following posting (more like a diatribe…and I mean that as a compliment) on the media blog Gawker.

Based on the post, but more specifically the comments it generated, clearly I am not the only one for whom moviegoing has become as fraught as navigating a freeway on a motorcycle at rush hour – in all its crowded, traffic filled, not to mention road rage filled, glory.

Several months ago THE NEW YORK TIMES explored a number of theories for the declining box office revenues of major Hollywood stars. I could have saved them the trouble and summarized the reason in one sentence. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but going to the movies has officially become about as pleasant as a trip to the DMV or flying commercial post 9/11.

(And I certainly don’t mean either comparison as a compliment.)

When my friend asked me the last time I saw a movie before the one that resulted in our near altercation, I could hardly remember. And yet I enjoy films.

But I realized that I have actually attended far more Broadway shows this year than movies, despite the enormous price disparity between the two activities. After a few minutes of contemplation it dawned on me the last film I saw in a theater was THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE during a weekday matinee.

No fuss. No muss. No drama.

But recently venturing out to a Saturday night opening weekend in New York made me gladly willing to trade the temporary indignity of airport shoe removal for the herculean hassle of finding a seat during a crowded screening – and more specifically of finding a seat NOT located near someone who’s definition of multitasking is texting, talking on the phone, or to their neighbour DURING the movie.

Before you ask: no, I am not guilt free. I am sure I have probably broken every one of the tips below at some point in my movie going life.

(In fact I will confess to a mortifying cell phone moment during a screening of AMERICAN BEAUTY years ago that still makes me blush – and triple check that my phone is off at the theatre – till this very day.) So just think of me as someone who has found religion and is now determined to spread the good word.

HOW TO NOT BE A JERK AT THE MOVIES

5. Turn your gadgets off. Seriously.

Like many of you I have more gadgets than I probably need. But there are certain places where NO ONE should have them on or within reach because they are disruptive and a distraction – to EVERYONE. In the examination room at the OBGYN is one place that comes to mind and at the movie theatre is another. If your wife is expecting a baby or you are expecting a call from your son in a different time zone calling to tell you which law school he got accepted to, congratulations to you.

But please stay home.

There is this lovely service called Netflix and a machine called a DVD player that can keep you company while you await your urgent calls and conduct your conversations in the privacy of your own home. By the way, texting is just as bad. I’m just as addicted to it as you are but the tap, tap, tapping can be just as annoying to your neighbors as your yak, yak, yakking.

4. Unless it is a true emergency – please, for the love of humanity – keep your seats.

I thought it was bad when I watched a grown woman answer her phone mid film, then a teenager decided to enter and exit our row three separate times during one film to take phone calls outside. By the third time I was actually debating whether it would simply be more convenient for everyone if we all convinced him to just finish his chat right there in the theatre.

So unless it is a true emergency, one that involves bodily functions or death, please keep your seats.

Saying “Excuse me” is nice. But the truth is it’s distracting when you leave and even more distracting when you return so if you can, just relax and enjoy the show – the WHOLE show!

3. If it is not a children’s movie and you cannot find a babysitter, please stay home (with your lovely children).

I won’t even try to describe the awkwardness that ensued when someone decided to bring a 5 year old to a late night Saturday showing of Bad Santa. (Yes, the film where Billy Bob Thornton not only seems to determined to prove that there is no Santa – but that if there is one, he swears a lot and is a fan of anal sex references.) I would like to add an addendum to this one.

If it is a so called children’s movie but an adult show time, (i.e. 10 pm or later) please leave unruly kids at home. I recently saw The Princess & The Frog. It would have been nice to hear the film as well. But thanks to a toddler who was clearly not in agreement with her guardian’s assessment that 11 pm is not too late to have a toddler out and about I didn’t hear most of the film. Neither did my neighbours. The guardian’s defense upon being shushed multiple times (by multiple people): “Hey, it’s a kids’ movie.”

Umm, ok but isn’t it also past your kid’s bedtime? The kid in question clearly had more brain cells than the babysitter/mom/aunt eventually shouting, “I want to leave!” just before midnight. I guarantee you if they had, the entire theatre would have burst into spontaneous applause.

2. Unless you are literally shouting FIRE in a crowded theat
eer, please zip it.

Laughter is ok (after all, isn’t that why a lot of us go to the movies?) but speaking is not. Even if you think that you’re speaking in a whisper when you lean over to tell your spouse/child/friend that the star or costar or villain from the movie is the same actor from that movie you saw six months ago, trust me, we can hear you.

We can ALL hear you and we did not pay to hear you. We paid to hear the movie.

1. Just like a flight, or job interview, you need to arrive on time. And that means BEFORE the movie begins.

If you’re late to the theatre and proceed to try to take your seats, you’re not only announcing to the world that you are incapable of arriving on time even when given a 10 – 15 minute grace period known as previews.

But you are also announcing to an entire audience of people: “Hey, I know you rearranged your whole day so you could get here on time, pick the perfect seat and see your favourite actor go for Oscar gold. But I don’t really care. I’m late and I can’t find the group I’m supposed to sit with so instead of staring at Terrence Howard and listening to his opening monologue, you can stare at my backside in silhouette and listen to me say ‘Excuse me’ repeatedly for the next six minutes.”

THE ALVIN AILEY DANCE COMPANY has a terrific policy. If you miss curtain, you are escorted to a private upper balcony area until intermission regardless of how much you paid for your tickets. (As one of my friends unfortunately discovered.)

So how about the next time you and your posse open the door to a crowded theatre and see that the previews have ended and the movie has begun, in the spirit of the season do something selfless. Turn around. Go back to management and ask to exchange your tickets for a later show. Just think, you’ll be super duper early for that one and probably make someone else’s holiday viewing experience a little bit better.

Tis the season for giving after all.

Here’s wishing you all a happy, healthy holiday and New Year!

And a peaceful time at the movies.

KELIGOFF.COM

TOM FORD ON A SINGLE MAN: SUBSTANCE & STYLE

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A SINGLE MAN opens in my city on Christmas Day. I am intensely curious about this movie.

I adore COLIN FIRTH. TOM FORD possesses incredible instinctual fashion sense. If he can transfer his abilities over to film in a successful manner, this will definitely be a gorgeous unforgettable experience.

Designer TOM FORD has made a seamless transition to filmmaker with A SINGLE MAN – the soulful, immaculately styled story of a grieving college professor in 1960s California.

The ultraconfident fashion expert never doubted his abilities – though he admits plenty of other people did.

“It’s funny because everyone was so supportive. And now that I’ve made the film, quite a few people have said to me, ‘Isn’t it nice you did that when everyone was laughing at you?‘ ”

They’re not laughing now.

A SINGLE MAN has earned strong reviews – it opens widely across North America on Christmas Day – and last week received GOLDEN GLOBE nominations for its score and the performances of COLIN FIRTH and JULIANNE MOORE.

COLIN won the BEST ACTOR prize at the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL for his performance as GEORGE FALCONER, a gay Englishman in Los Angeles mourning the death of his long time lover in a car accident.

TOM FORD – who directed, cowrote and coproduced the film – has been praised for his subtle adaptation of CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD’S novel, which recounts a day in George’s life through seemingly unfilmable interior monologue.

The film adds a dash of plot and gallons of visual flair.

Unable to see a future without his partner JIM (MATTHEW GOODE), George resolves to end it all. He gets a gun and starts to set his affairs in order.

Along the way he encounters his best friend CHARLEY (JULIANNE MOORE – sporting a wardrobe to die for).

It’s all remarkably assured but then TOM FORD – a Texas native – has never lacked ambition. He transformed luxury brand GUCCI in the 90s before founding his own TOM FORD label. Filmmaking seemed like a small step.

“I’ve just never let the thought of failure stop me when there was something I felt that I wanted to do. I wanted to make a film. And I want to make another and another – and another.”

A SINGLE MAN is the work of a film fanatic – a love letter to cinema. George’s monochrome life bursts into Technicolor when he makes contact with other people. TOM FORD includes visual salutes to directors from ALFRED HITCHCOCK to PEDRO ALMODOVAR to WONG KAR WAI. Even THE WIZARD OF OZ gets a reference. These are not the acts of a director afraid to be compared to his idols.

The movie’s stylish surface offers all you would expect from a fashionista’s film: precise period detail, handsome actors and gorgeous outfits that capture the early 1960s in all their sartorial glory, from pin striped suits to pink mohair sweaters.

“I don’t know how to help myself,” laughed the neophyte director, who despite a jetlag inducing round of international openings is impeccably tailored, from his crisp shirt cuffs to his neat suit jacket.

“People said to me afterwards, ‘Everyone’s so beautiful.’ And I thought, ‘They are?’ It wasn’t anything that occurred to me. It’s kind of enhanced reality. You’re seeing the world through the eyes of a man who thinks he’s leaving and everything becomes hyperbeautiful to him.”

He insisted, however, that he did not put style over substance. Many reviewers have been surprised by the film’s restraint, the unflashy way it depicts an intelligent, ironic, emotionally reserved man consumed by grief. It’s a tribute to COLIN – who gives the performance of his career – but also to TOM FORD.

He said that, when he chose the project, “believe it or not, I didn’t care about the style. It’s layered on to support the characters. But when looking for the right project it was the story, something worth telling. That’s what attracted me.”

“I had to figure out what my voice was as a filmmaker. I knew what I stood for as a fashion designer, but let’s be real: Who needs to see a Tom Ford film? Who cares? What did I have to say?”

What the film seems to say is: embrace the moment and enjoy the beauty around you.

Like the late CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD – best known for writing the stories of 1930s Berlin that inspired the musical CABARET – TOM FORD has an interest in philosophy and spirituality.

“It is a very spiritual book. It’s about a guy who can’t see his future. It is all about living in the present.”

Despite the film’s warm reception, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. TOM FORD is openly gay and has taken some flack for advertising the film with a poster featuring COLIN and JULIANNE – implying, in some eyes, a heterosexual theme.

He said the poster is “marketing 101: you have your two biggest stars and they give great performances. Who are you going to put on the poster to get people to go see it?”

He’s less happy about having to cut the trailer to remove a male/male kiss – fine in Europe, but classified in the U.S. as adult sexual content that would limit the circumstances in which it could be seen.

He agreed to the cut – marketing won out again – but says the classification is “totally absurd.”

Over all, though, TOM FORD is enjoying his new career.

He stated that directing is “the closest thing to God we get to be.”

“I created that universe: It’s forever sealed in that little bubble. A hundred years from now, all the actors will be dead, I’ll be dead – but you’ll still be able to pop it in and laugh, cry, smile. It will be alive.”

“It’s just amazing.”