Atonement

This was a movie I went to watch merely because it was nominated for academy awards. Why do I do that? Well, 1, because hopefully that means it will be good. And 2, so I can accurately bitch if it wins out to another movie I was rooting for.

Well, to my surprise, I found that I enjoyed this film alot more than I had expected to. Based on the previews, I thought it would be your standard tragic love epic with great acting and cinematography, but rather cookie cutter pretentious. However, this film is anything but cookie cutter.

The first thing I noticed was the amount of humor found in the film. Well, at least the first 45 minutes. Though I suppose this was to be expected as it was a bit of a coming of age story. The performances by everyone were fantastic. I'm quickly becoming a James McAvoy fan and Kiera Knightly truly is a star. And all the children actors were very good as well. The music definitely grabbed me, though. It was a very interesting and effective melding of sound design and music, which I enjoy very much. The clacking of the typewriter is used as it's own instrument in the score, and the meaning of that really hits home when the film ends.

The other remarkable feat of the film is it's use of non-linear story telling, placing a heavy emphasis on the theme of perception. The movie will often show us events through the eyes of one character, then backtrack and show us what really transpired. Not in the obvious way as done in a lot of modern thrillers...but a more subtle way, befitting the period of the film, and it's literary nature. This structure grows as the whole movie begins jumping through the space-time continuum (so to speak).

And then the ending of the film hits, and it's a true surprise...I won't say what, no worries, but it definitely makes you re examine the rest of the film and really appreciate just how layered the themes and story are. A work of great direction.

However...in the end, despite the amazing music, performances, cinematography (if you havn't heard, there's a 5-minute long tracking shot that will make any film geek need to change underwear), and the rich thematic devices...the story seemed to lack any real impact. Sure, there are surprises, but it was more in structure than actual story. The fate of our characters is more or less evident from the get-go. The circumstances leading up to the mistaken identity that the film hinges on is so obvious from the set up, that it lacks any real tension or suspense. And the final revelation, though interesting and compelling, is in the end, rather bland. Regret. The whole film's about regret. A fancy way of telling us, but not saying anything new about it, really, just that it exists and takes a long time to get over.

In the end...good...close to great, but just missing it.