"Atonement" and such.

Atonement- Already one of the most honored films of the year, Joe Wright's follow-up to "Pride and Prejudice" is precisely the sort of film that Academy and Golden Globe voters alike love to heap awards on. It's a period film about a romance torn apart by deception and war. They eat that stuff up ("Casablanca," "Gone With the Wind," "The English Patient," "Titanic"- no war, but it fits). If it's done right though, I eat it up too. So how good is "Atonement"? Very good as it turns out. But not quite great.
Dario Marianelli's score sets the tone. The furious sounds of clicking accompanied by piano introduce 13 year old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) who has just finished writing her new play. She excitedly and seriously alerts the housekeepers, which include gardener Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), whom she has a crush on. Robbie's eyes however are on the more age appropriate Cecilia (Keira Knightley), Briony's older sister. The early scenes (set in 1935) have a cold intensity. Cecilia is unable to let on that she has feelings for Robbie due to her complete sense of superiority. Once this crumbles however, the two can't keep away from each other, breaking Briony's heart. After a misunderstanding in the dark, Briony accuses Robbie of raping a young girl. He is subsequently arrested and taken from Cecilia.
We meet these characters again in 1939. Robbie is now serving in the British army in the early days of WWII, while the now more grounded Cecilia is working as a nurse. Elsewhere, Briony is older (played by Romola Garai of "Amazing Grace") and struggling with her past actions, which she is only now beginning to understand. Like Cecilia, she is a nurse, doing her part for the British war effort. Robbie and Cecilia do have fleeting moments together, but it's not enough to repair what was taken from them four years before. Briony meanwhile begins to atone the only way she knows how, through writing.
"Atonement" is an amazingly great looking film. The cinematography by Seamus McGarvey is often breathtaking and he and Joe Wright pull off one of the best tracking shots I've ever seen. It's about all we see of the actual war in "Atonement" but it does the job. The performances are quite good. Knightley shows a side she hasn't really shown before, though I still prefer her in "Pride and Prejudice." McAvoy (the real reason "The Last King of Scotland" was so good) is great once again, bringing Robbie's anguish to life. It is Ronan as the young Briony however, who really shines. She plays the role as a girl who is both older than her years and yet completely naive.
What makes "Atonement" fall short of all the acclaim for me is that the emotional impact seemed muted. It often comes across as being just a bit too melodramatic and unlike "Casablanca" or "Gone with the Wind," the emotion doesn't quite match the spectacle. Though I suppose it's hard to fault a film for not being "Casablanca" or "Gone with the Wind," "Atonement" is, in the end, a very good movie that fancies itself a masterpiece. 8/10.

In other news, there was a little TV show I used to write and talk about every chance I could. It was called "Arrested Development," you may have heard of it. Well it turns out I wasn't the only one. This past Friday I was at Silver Platters at Northgate to be interviewed by a couple of other hardcores named Neil and Jeff. Together they are making a documentary about the fans of the show. They're currently touring the country and letting the fans do the talking. I was interviewed for about half an hour, just rambling coherently (and sometimes not) about what it was that made "Arrested Development" so great. Given that they're talking to so many people I figure I might end up in about 10 seconds of the final cut (if I'm being generous) but it's still really cool to be a part of. Apparently they've interviewed some cast members and writers of the show as well, though they're not saying who. If you want to check them out, you can find them right

here

. And with that I leave you with a magician named Gob.