Each year, when department stores prematurely ratchet up their non-denominational wreaths and tinsel for the holidays, critics start hedging Oscar bets, predicting with varying degrees of success the year's top performances. And each year, there is one movie by which I'm completely blind-sided. In recent memory, that list has included Junebug, Frozen River, and Away from Her. This year, despite its hype when the film was cast, A Single Man is that film. Have I been totally oblivious or did it come out of nowhere?

Maybe it's because I keep thinking of the Coen brothers' A Serious Man when people talk about this movie. Or maybe it's because I've been so enthralled by Precious that I've failed to notice the other contenders. Or maybe it's because the Oscar are still months away and it's crazy to even start thinking about them.

When Tom Ford's directorial debut, an adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's novel about a gay college professor in '60s Los Angeles, screened at Venice, Colin Firth took home an award for best actor. Now, New York thinks Firth has a shot at Oscar along with the film itself for Best Picture, while EW is predicting a nod for the film's supporting actress Julianne Moore (who looks just like her character in Savage Grace). Ford also adapted its screenplay and produced the film, which co-stars Matthew Goode and sort-of-newcomer Nicholas Hoult (he was the young lead in About A Boy, opposite Hugh Grant, so please do not turn your Safe Search off when Googling him).

Here is the trailer for A Single Man. Now I need to find out what the hell's going on with Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.