Atonement
Rated: R
People are already saying that Atonement is a favorite for Oscar nominations. These people are wrong. And if they turn out to be right, then the Oscars are wrong (wouldn't be the first time or even the hundredth time). Atonement may have the pedigree of being an adaptation of Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel of the same name, but it's an adaptation that hits all the major plot points and misses all the character development and themes that McEwan likely spread throughout his novel. I say "likely" because I don't know since I haven't read Atonement but merely the plot synopsis. But since McEwan is an acclaimed author I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn't create two-dimensional characters like Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) who never develop beyond being star-crossed lovers who provide the dramatic weight to the film's real main character, Briony Tallis. At thirteen, Briony's over-active imagination and desire to focus the world through her love of fiction rips apart Cecilia and Robbie through an accusation that Briony knows to be false. The remainder of the film is Briony's "atonement". Wait, actually, before the film gets to the atonin', we see Robbie during the war and walking around for about thirty minutes. Like everything in Atonement, it's beautifully shot but thematically light. While the novel has the space and the breadth to cover issues of authorship and atonement, the script doesn't have the economy of language required to flesh out Cecilia and Robbie or to develop the ideas presented in McEwan's book. By the end, where Vanessa Redgrave explains it all and tries to give the film it's necessary twist and shocking conclusion, the film has already been crushed under the weight of its aspirations. And while the cinematography may be marvelous, other aspects like the distracting Phillip Glass-STOMP hybrid score or the unnecessarily jarring attempts to skew the chronology and character point-of-view, only serve to further undermine the film. Atonement may want to carry itself as a prestige pic of the awards season, but underneath its shiny exterior, McEwan's novel has apparently been turned into an adaptation that is by turns unintentionally hilarious and unbearably melodramatic. Words by
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