Atonement (d. Joe Wright)
I’ve decided to watch as many movies as I can in the three weeks before school starts, because I found out today that I’m very picky with movies, and that’s probably a death sentence for a film student. When anyone asks me who my favorite director is, I tell them that I love a variety of movies, so I don’t have a specific movie or director that I like. Now that I think of it, all of that was just self-justification. I convinced myself that my taste in movies are just too diverse to have favorites, but having no perspective about movies is not something a film student should be proud of. I’ve been acting pretty arrogant. I’m glad I’ve snapped out of that illusion. No longer will I hang my head in shame whenever I tell someone that I haven’t watched Pulp Fiction/The Sting/Gone with the Wind. Gone will be my days of picking out sweet and bubbly chick flicks and animations over less escapist, timely classics. And so begins my journey to discovering my cinematic hero.
So the first movie I watched was Atonement. It’s by the same director as Pride and Prejudice and the movie I recently watched, Hanna. Holy shit. wait. I think I actually saw the director of the movie in person. They were doing a screening of Hanna at my school, and I think the director came in to talk for a moment! That’s amazing.
I also had no idea that he also directed Pride and Prejudice. Which I loved. Anyways, moving on to the movie.
I really loved the cinematography. The colors were beautiful and the movements were graceful and meaningful. The story itself kept me interested for the first third of the movie. The perspective shifts were a little jarring, but was probably what made the beginning so unique and interesting to watch. The characters felt vivid and alive, but it felt a little long as a prologue. The rest of the film feels somewhat scattered, as it was aptly described in a review I read on Rotten Tomatoes, but there were some moments that jumped out to me. The scene where Briony meets the dying French soldier is intimate, disturbing and powerful. There were some moments where it seemed overly melodramatic, like the scene where Robbie runs after the bus, but it was the eventual focus on Briony and the ending that tied everything together.
I feel like this movie is actually less about two lovers that were torn apart, and more about one girl’s irreversible mistake and her lifelong desperation for, well, atonement. Judging by my tendency to feel shame and guilt for the smallest things, Briony’s permanent remorse is what hit me, rather than the sadness of unrequited love. The scene where Robbie and Cecilia yell at Briony suddenly made sense once it turned out to be Briony’s imagination. It was anger at herself, for being the cause of a tragedy. And in the end, writing about it was her last effort to finally be in peace with the mistake she had made so long ago. The performances were incredible, and I was especially amazed by James McAvoy, who I saw only in two action movies: Wanted and X-Men First Class. He’s in Becoming Jane. Maybe I should watch that too. I’ve done an animated period drama inspired by Jane Austen’s novels…I should probably watch the movie that’s based on her life.
It’s refreshing to get over my dislike of watching unfamiliar genres of movies. Once I find the director/movie that I look up to and want to study, my next step would be to be prepared to watch the movies over and over again and study what makes the movie so amazing.
I’m excited. My next movie is The Last Emperor, which I’ve attempted to watch three times, all three attempts in which my attention span shorted out at the five minute mark.
