I am woefully unprepared for the Oscars this year, having seen next to none of the films/performances that are up for awards. Yesterday I headed over to the local mega mall to see Atonement. When I got back, my Dad asked me what I had seen, and when he heard my reply he asked (in a fairly disgusted voice) if I had liked it. Yes I did. But there was a reason he and my mother weren’t invited along. I think I’m the only member of my nuclear family who likes slow, unfolding British period pieces.
I did like it, but liked the book better and don’t know how people who didn’t read it really get the underpinnings to people’s actions. It’s not a happy story and has left me with a bit of a dull ache on the inside today. Director Joe Wright did an excellent job of translating an intimate, interior book for the screen. It’s beautiful – he does a good job of getting the look and feel of his stories right. The house where the first half of the film is located is gorgeous. Glimpses of its grotto alone are worth the price of the ticket, if you like to daydream about other people's property.
Like his previous film, it is more or less well cast. While I didn’t think she made the perfect Elizabeth Bennett, I think that Keira Knightley was perfect for Cecelia, one of the doomed lovers. Her beauty turns to hardness by the film’s end. She and James McAvoy have excellent chemistry (he’s also superb and complex). The three women playing Briony, the accuser, all look enough alike to seem like the same woman at different stages. Though, while I like Romola Garai, she’s very stiff as the 18 year old version, too stiff. Saoirse Ronan, 13-year-old Briony is wonderful. She has the hardest part, because we can't hear her thoughts, she has to show us through her eyes her misunderstanding of the events that unfold before her.
I’m getting ready to go watch the Oscars at my friend Mary’s. Earlier I made some chocolate chip cookies to bring, while listening to the soundtrack to from The Darjeeling Limited. (Another movie I didn’t see this year. Sigh.) I love the soundtrack – that Wes Anderson. He also knows his medium.
I’m rooting for Juno, Ratatouille and the song from Once. Besides that, I’m a bit lost. Let’s hope the dresses and jokes are good.
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