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DVD : Atonement [2007] .
Rating: 
- Over-wrought melodrama with little to commend it
How I loathe films like this! The camera moves dramatically, the violins surge and the story is shoveled down the audience's collective throat. Worse, there is virtually no chemistry between any of the major players! The result is a couple of hours of uninvolving, unconvincing sub-Speilberg twaddle.
If you want to see how it should be done, take a look at Losey's The Go Between or Altman's Gosford Park -- these are directors who understand the importance of subtlety and nuance and who don't underestimate their audiences.
Rating: - Don't believe the hype.
Only god knows why this film was so much loved by the media and alike. Which is why I was disappointed when I came to watch it. If nothing happening for the majority of the movie is your cup of tea then I say give this a try. The pacing is very slow and yet the character development is rushed and you feel that chunks of important story has been cut just to shorten it for this medium. Oh yeah one more thing... Keira Knightly must know some big wigs as she won a Bafta for her role... erm... she is hardly in it compared to the rest of the cast not to mention she wasn't even the best actor. Don't expect the 2nd coming of Jesus and you may like it.
Rating: - Melodrama not drama ....
Lots of hype and awards galore and I expected to enjoy it. But though the film is quite interesting in parts it really lacks any depth and plays up to psuedo-classic pretentions. McAvoy does a competent job and the acting is generally acceptable (with a notable exception) sometimes with flashes of class. A fair stab at an adaptation of a fine book. What doesn't quite work though are the two lead characterisations which makes the relationship lack the credibility that is so well drawn in the book.
It has to be said that I wish that Keira Knightly would do the acting profession and film-goers alike a bit of a favour and do some kind of training, possibly as a plumbers apprentice for which she would be infinately better suited. She is better in this than anything I've seen her in (e.g. her dire Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice). While less challenged in this role, she still manages to turn in a performance of the most mechanical kind with no emotional intelligence.
Rating:
- Love, war and betrayal.
Absolutely brilliant film that draws you in slowly with insight into a 1930's privileged lifestyle and a burgeoning romance, then smacks you back into reality with a lie and it's devastating consequences. Brilliantly cast and played, and THE best single shot sweeping panorama of a wartorn Dunkirk that you will ever see. You are left with a gut-wrenching sense of the hopelessness and loneliness of war, and the long-term consequence of betrayal. Loved it.
Rating:
- Stagey but spellbinding!
I personally found this a spellbinding movie, though I understand why critics would object. The literary origins are retained through the artifice of a structure essential to conceal the twist in the plot. The downside is that the film is somewhat stagey and stylised, though the author conceals shocks brilliantly. You are somehow aware of the artifice throughout, the reasons for which become apparent at the end.
The country house scenes look very chocolate box, and could easily have been the start of a familiar romantic drama of the Camomile Lawn ilk, but all is thrown into disarray in rapid succession by the use of a taboo word, an act of witnessed passion, the violent rape of a young girl and a false accusation.
What follows is the unfolding drama and the story of the atonement, told in several chapters and centred around the character Briony at three ages - 13, 18 and 77. To give each credit, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave each give a sparkling turn and look precisely like an older version of their younger selves. Ronan in particular makes a magical job of competing for screen time with the likes of McAvoy, Knightley, Cumberbatch, Kennedy and Walter - and frankly, wins hands down most of the time!
The finest set piece is however Dunkirk. There is a single, intricate shot weaving in and out of the huge and complex array of activity on the beach as McAvoy's Robbie and his two companions try to find their way around. This is masterly film-making and worth the price of the DVD on its own.
The denouement is left in the hands of Vanessa Redgrave, and what a smashing job she makes of it too. Fragile yet playful, wistful yet leaving no doubt of the sincerity of her regrets, this is a fine performance.
McEwan seems blissfully happy with the translation of his novel, and why not? It seems from what people say to have stuck closely to the script in the capable hands of Christopher Hampton. The story is opened out but remains very true to its historical mores and morality. If anything, this makes it even more claustrophobic. Perhaps Hampton could have listened less to McEwan and followed more closely his own instincts to create a vivid big screen vision of McEwan's novel, it could have achieved the golden 5 stars, but even so - pretty darned good!
- Over-wrought melodrama with little to commend itHow I loathe films like this! The camera moves dramatically, the violins surge and the story is shoveled down the audience's collective throat. Worse, there is virtually no chemistry between any of the major players! The result is a couple of hours of uninvolving, unconvincing sub-Speilberg twaddle.
If you want to see how it should be done, take a look at Losey's The Go Between or Altman's Gosford Park -- these are directors who understand the importance of subtlety and nuance and who don't underestimate their audiences.
Rating:
- Don't believe the hype.Only god knows why this film was so much loved by the media and alike. Which is why I was disappointed when I came to watch it. If nothing happening for the majority of the movie is your cup of tea then I say give this a try. The pacing is very slow and yet the character development is rushed and you feel that chunks of important story has been cut just to shorten it for this medium. Oh yeah one more thing... Keira Knightly must know some big wigs as she won a Bafta for her role... erm... she is hardly in it compared to the rest of the cast not to mention she wasn't even the best actor. Don't expect the 2nd coming of Jesus and you may like it.
Rating:
- Melodrama not drama ....Lots of hype and awards galore and I expected to enjoy it. But though the film is quite interesting in parts it really lacks any depth and plays up to psuedo-classic pretentions. McAvoy does a competent job and the acting is generally acceptable (with a notable exception) sometimes with flashes of class. A fair stab at an adaptation of a fine book. What doesn't quite work though are the two lead characterisations which makes the relationship lack the credibility that is so well drawn in the book.
It has to be said that I wish that Keira Knightly would do the acting profession and film-goers alike a bit of a favour and do some kind of training, possibly as a plumbers apprentice for which she would be infinately better suited. She is better in this than anything I've seen her in (e.g. her dire Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice). While less challenged in this role, she still manages to turn in a performance of the most mechanical kind with no emotional intelligence.
Rating:
- Love, war and betrayal. Absolutely brilliant film that draws you in slowly with insight into a 1930's privileged lifestyle and a burgeoning romance, then smacks you back into reality with a lie and it's devastating consequences. Brilliantly cast and played, and THE best single shot sweeping panorama of a wartorn Dunkirk that you will ever see. You are left with a gut-wrenching sense of the hopelessness and loneliness of war, and the long-term consequence of betrayal. Loved it.
Rating:
- Stagey but spellbinding!I personally found this a spellbinding movie, though I understand why critics would object. The literary origins are retained through the artifice of a structure essential to conceal the twist in the plot. The downside is that the film is somewhat stagey and stylised, though the author conceals shocks brilliantly. You are somehow aware of the artifice throughout, the reasons for which become apparent at the end.
The country house scenes look very chocolate box, and could easily have been the start of a familiar romantic drama of the Camomile Lawn ilk, but all is thrown into disarray in rapid succession by the use of a taboo word, an act of witnessed passion, the violent rape of a young girl and a false accusation.
What follows is the unfolding drama and the story of the atonement, told in several chapters and centred around the character Briony at three ages - 13, 18 and 77. To give each credit, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave each give a sparkling turn and look precisely like an older version of their younger selves. Ronan in particular makes a magical job of competing for screen time with the likes of McAvoy, Knightley, Cumberbatch, Kennedy and Walter - and frankly, wins hands down most of the time!
The finest set piece is however Dunkirk. There is a single, intricate shot weaving in and out of the huge and complex array of activity on the beach as McAvoy's Robbie and his two companions try to find their way around. This is masterly film-making and worth the price of the DVD on its own.
The denouement is left in the hands of Vanessa Redgrave, and what a smashing job she makes of it too. Fragile yet playful, wistful yet leaving no doubt of the sincerity of her regrets, this is a fine performance.
McEwan seems blissfully happy with the translation of his novel, and why not? It seems from what people say to have stuck closely to the script in the capable hands of Christopher Hampton. The story is opened out but remains very true to its historical mores and morality. If anything, this makes it even more claustrophobic. Perhaps Hampton could have listened less to McEwan and followed more closely his own instincts to create a vivid big screen vision of McEwan's novel, it could have achieved the golden 5 stars, but even so - pretty darned good!
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