In a world of cyber-crime where the serial killer is virtually untraceable, FBI Agent Jennifer Marsh must crack the code before she becomes the next victim.
Untraceable begins when Marsh is given a tip by an anonymous caller about a sadistic website. On the site, the tech-savvy internet predator uses snuff films to document the murders of his victims online. For the purpose of entertainment and distribution, the killer has deemed the public in control of the murders. The more people who log on to the website killwithme.com (now a Sony Pictures interactive site used to promote the film), the faster his victims die. While the first victim is a cat, the murders begin to escalate and, soon enough, the crimes become personal for Marsh.
With muted colors and aerial shots, Untraceable successfully delivers a home-made movie feel complete with jumpy camera takes. Plenty of long shots throughout the film act as watchful eyes peering through the most intimate parts of the characters’ lives. Subtle at first, this manner of filming becomes most evident during an intimate family dinner. Marsh, her mother and daughter are framed in such a way that her dining room window transforms into a television screen, with Marsh’s family as the prime-time program.
A new twist on a familiar plot, Untraceable takes Silence of the Lambs to the next level. Here Marsh (Diane Lane) is not only after a serial killer, but is up against technology—a technology harboring a society of voyeurs and sadists. However, unlike Jodie Foster’s performance as Agent Starling, Lane’s is not convincing. Best known for her roles as a lonely pre-school teacher in Must Love Dogs or a frustrated writer who finds refuge in Italy in Under the Tuscan Sun, Lane’s portrayal as a crime-buster isn’t light-hearted like her past roles. Perhaps her previous roles have defined her or perhaps she just cannot live up to Foster’s Oscar-winning performance, but Lane is better at the comically lonely, love-hungry, middle-aged woman role.
Compared to other crime thrillers, Untraceable did not live up to its potential. With the only recognizable actor being Lane, the cast was lacking. Not only were the main actors (Peter Lewis, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks and Joseph Cross) unfamiliar, but their weak execution of lines evidenced a lack of experience. At the same time, Untraceable was predictable with every downloaded file, with every click of the mouse.
No suspense, no thrills, just gore. If Untraceable was meant to shock, it only disgusted with images of a victim covered in boils from extreme heat or relinquishing his skin to a tub of battery acid. Wondering what the killer’s next torture method will be is the only suspense that drives the film. The only shocker was how the film managed enough material to make it over an hour and a half.
Not a complete disappointment, but a disappointment none the less. Maybe with a better cast, the film could have fulfilled its goal as a suspenseful crime thriller. It may have a technological twist, but with a plot that has been exhausted by the middle of the movie, there’s no need to stay for the end, which is merely a cop-out. Perhaps director Gregory Hoblit (Fracture) thought the torture had already gone on long enough and decided to put an abrupt end to the misery.
No terror here, just a terrible movie with the underlying message that society has become depraved. Unfazed by virtual murder, cyber-space has made the world disturbingly impersonal. This warning is the only remotely chilling thing about Untraceable.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Horrifyingly "Untraceable"
"Atonement" fails to live up to the hype
Visually stunning. Ultimately disappointing.
Joe Wright’s (Pride & Prejudice) film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2001 best-selling novel, Atonement, left me confused. I really wanted to like it but simply couldn’t. It’s a wonder it was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
A Titanic wanna-be, Atonement, marketed as an epic romance transcending time and war, falls flat. Christopher Hampton’s (Dangerous Liaisons) weak screenplay stifles the film’s strong motifs—love, betrayal and guilt. The film has excellent bones and could have had real potential but the menial script and moderate character interaction hold it back.
Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the housekeeper’s son, has also returned from college, but only attended because of the Tallis’s generosity. Briony has an obvious crush on Robbie. However, the attraction between Robbie and Cecilia is much more subtle. So subtle, in fact, they interact little throughout the film. Their passionate romance has no build-up, no substance. With little dialogue between them, it’s a wonder these two ever get together at all. An awkward encounter between them by a fountain makes it clear that Robbie loves Cecilia and she doesn’t realize his existence. Cecilia discovers her true feelings only after receiving a letter Robbie wrote, but the little amount of background information given about their relationship is unsatisfying. After Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for one another, Briony tells a vengeful lie against Robbie. Unable to foresee the implications of her actions, Briony’s jealous rage rips the couple apart and destroys the lives of others.Robbie goes to prison for his alleged crime eventually entering World War II around 1939. In time, Cecilia becomes a nurse awaiting Robbie’s return. They see each other once in five years time. A simple touch of the hand expresses their passion but little development about their relationship makes the romance unbelievable.
Throughout most of the film, there are vignettes of lovesick Robbie traversing Dunkirk trying to find his company with two other soldiers. Cecilia hardly gets any screen time and the end of the film follows Briony as she too becomes a nurse attempting to atone for the sins of her past.
Thank goodness for Seamus McGarvey and his mesmerizing cinematography. He brilliantly created captivating portraits on screen. Images of Cecilia in an emerald gown gazing at a mirror with cigarette smoke wafting around her face mark the time period while scenes of young Briony surrounded by patches of yellow and white wildflowers personify her untamed yet innocent nature. Every scene looks like a photograph carefully painted on the screen—particularly, that of the soldiers on the beaches at Dunkirk. The attention to detail makes the landscape look as if it came straight out of an oil painting. It’s difficult to pull away from the vibrant compositions. Alas, the lackluster interaction between the characters helps remedy that urge.Unfortunately, Atonement has no driving force. The timing and pacing are off. Nothing terribly exciting or surprising happens though the ending is slightly unexpected. And when Cecilia utters, “Come back” to Robbie (the film’s one memorable line) it is strangely reminiscent of the days of Rose and Jack on that ill-fated ship. This is definitely not an “I’m on the edge of my seat” kind of film. The people snoring and chatting in the theater were a sign of that.
Whoever said looks can be deceiving wasn’t kidding. It’s as if everyone but the art department took a back seat. The absence of dialogue and character development made the movie heart-wrenching, but not in a good way. By the end of the film, knowing who Cecilia and Robbie are seems very unimportant. Plus, staring at pretty pictures for over two hours only goes so far. It appears that Atonement’s filmmakers have a few things to atone for themselves.
Smart, witty: "Juno" cleverly depicts real life
The characters in the new American comedy Juno feel like people that you and I know. That is the greatest tribute I can give a film about the happenings of everyday people.
Most recent teenage coming-of-age films have depicted teenage characters as sex-crazed and far too mature for their actual age. Even the much-beloved 2007 comedy Superbad was a movie in which the three main characters knew nothing about real love, but a great deal about sex.
This is what makes Juno so unique in modern film. Though the title character, played by the remarkable Ellen Page, speaks in sarcastic, advanced phrases for a 16-year-old, her actions indicate she knows little about the ways of the world, a fact repeated by her stepmother early in the movie.
Juno’s smart dialogue is not another example of a teenager who knows too much for her age, but rather the result of an intelligent script by Diablo Cody, who is making her screenwriting debut.
The movie opens with 16-year-old Juno having to come to terms with the consequences of an awkward true-to-life, initial sexual encounter in a recliner with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). After finding out that “fetuses have fingernails,” Juno decides not to have an abortion. Instead, she finds a couple looking to adopt in the Pennysaver sales newspaper. Juno meets the couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) and decides that she wants them to adopt the baby.
As the plot twists and turns, Juno learns more than she bargains for about life, as she experiences feelings of love and regret through the pregnancy. Will Juno actually surrender the child to the adoptive parents? Will Juno tell Paulie Bleeker she has real feelings for him? Will another man intervene in Juno’s life first?
Juno is only director Jason Reitman’s second feature film, following the successful 2006 film Thank You for Smoking. In Juno, Reitman focuses extensively on facial camera close-ups to convey the characters’ mixed emotions. Rarely does the sophisticated dialogue reflect the exact feelings of each character, with the exception of the uninhibited Juno. Therefore, the actors and the director must convey the emotion through their expressions for the movie to succeed. This impressive camerawork enables the viewer to know that everything is complicated below the surface.
The acting in Juno is fantastic as well. Page’s sharp wit could win her an Academy Award. She is particularly great in her interaction with her father (J.K. Simmons) and her stepmother (Allison Janney), who Juno clearly loves but seldom respects. For example, she sarcastically tells her stepmother to “Dream big!” after her stepmother tells her that her goal is to get two dogs when Juno moves out of the house. Cera also excels as the awkward father-to-be, in a role similar to the one he cultivated on Arrested Development and in Superbad. Bateman and Garner are just as good in parts that are considerably more difficult to play. Neither character is able to rant like Juno or bumble like Paulie. They have to seem like a happy married couple dealing with their own private issues, much like many American couples do everyday. If Mark and Vanessa do not seem real, the movie fails, regardless of Page and Cera’s excellence.
However, it is Juno’s relationship with Paulie that makes the movie much more than merely effective. Neither character understands feelings or sex, but they know they feel something, and they know they did something. While Juno is able to form coherent thoughts about virtually any topic, including punk music, she is unable to tell Paulie, the one person she can usually tell anything to, exactly how she feels about him. The complicated relationship between Mark and Vanessa shows that the inability to express love does not necessarily dissipate even as people grow older.
This is why Juno is a special film. While almost anyone can pontificate on something, such as baseball or politics, few people can truly talk about love. It is something that can only be expressed through actions. Fortunately for the viewer, the actions of Juno and the other characters are a thrill to experience. How Juno handles problems in the film is how real 16-year-olds would handle their problems. Because of this everyday realism, Juno is a phenomenal film.
"Charlie Bartlett": the cure to teen comedy
Charlie Bartlett, like Juno, proves that the next generation of teen comedies is intelligent, witty and sophisticated—something the Freddie Prinze Jr. movies of the ‘90s were lacking. Perhaps the movie industry finally wised up by delivering a film that suits the intelligence level of teens because, let’s face it: they’re smarter than they look.
The movie is somewhat predictable and all of the loose ends tie up rather conveniently, but it is the dialogue between Yelchin and Davis that makes this teen comedy into a unique movie-going experience. Yelchin’s (Alpha Dog) performance as Charlie Bartlett will open doors for this young actor whose monologue from “The Misadventures of a Teenage Renegade” early on in the film had the audience laughing until the point of tears. Davis’s performance as a drugged up WASP of a mother who acts more as a friend than a responsible guardian will have the audience cringing in their seats when she breaks into song and dance, giving an impromptu performance for Charlie and his love interest, played by Kat Dennings (The 40 Year Old Virgin). It is the unhealthy mother-son relationship, as well as the ongoing theme of hope that make this film a realistic look at the life of teens today.
The vivid personality of each character, as well as the intelligent script, make the teen comedies of yesteryear look more suitable for ABC Family, rather than Regal Cinemas. Charlie Bartlett will have the audience cheering throughout the movie. If you want to stand up to the bullies, fall for the girl of your dreams or revisit the days of just wanting to fit in, then this movie will fulfill all of those desires. Charlie Bartlett is playing with the big boys of the sophisticated comedies and proves that catering to the intelligence of the target audience not only will satisfy teens, but it’ll also satisfy the parents sitting in the back corner of the theatre, spying on their kids’ first dates.
"Atonement": a haphazard must-see
One would think that Atonement, the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel, is the product of a long established, Academy Award-winning director. It’s not. This breathtaking 2007 film is only the second feature of director Joe Wright. His work results in haphazard perfection.
The film grabs its audience with a heart wrenching love story and tumbles through every sentiment possible leaving viewers pleasantly traumatized. It is a collision between Wright’s first feature, 2005’s Pride and Prejudice, and the tragic last half of a much better, more mature Titanic. Surprisingly, it is not the plot that makes Atonement so intriguing; it is the way that the plot is revealed. It sucks the audience in with a shallow scene and reveals the meaning in the next. You think you know what is happening only to find out five minutes later that you didn’t. This method creates a sense of captivating confusion.
This epic story spans decades, beginning on the wealthy British estate of the Tallis family, moving to London hospitals and World War II’s Dunkirk battlefields — displayed in a heart-stirring 5 ½-minute tracking shot — and finishing with a heartbreaking yet eloquent present-day monologue. The story is about two sisters, Briony (Saoirse Ronan) and Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightly), both in love with the same servant boy, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). Young Briony’s reaction to a toxic mix of feelings toward Robbie and Cecilia’s heated romance serves as the movies center.
The movie is quick once it reels you in and doesn’t ease up until the closing scene, where Vanessa Redgrave gives a moving performance as a dying Briony. The actors deliver award-worthy performances. James McAvoy, the true star of the movie, lends soul to the film through poignant scenes and an understated presence. His emotion is unmatched by the other actors and his actions portray what words cannot. His creation of Robbie Turner is spot on and he, along with Saoirse Ronan, playing young Briony, make the movie. Ronan is quiet but effective, and her expressions and composure make her a success in this film. Even with no dialogue these stars would have glistened.
At the Academ Awards, only one of the actors received a nomination (Ronan for actress in a supporting role). McAvoy was sadly overlooked without so much as a nod for the Academy. The film itself, however, was up for several Oscars, including best picture, writing for an adapted screenplay, art direction, cinematography, costume design and score.
Wright wows the audience, intensifying scenes with dramatic zooms and rapid shifts of perspective. He sets a steady pace for the film in the opening seconds with a strategically clicking typewriter that is woven in throughout the movie. The cinematography peaks at Dunkirk; however, all of the French war shots are incredible. Robbie’s entire journey, from the shelter where he is first seen as a soldier to the beach where over 300,000 troops were rescued, is shot masterfully. It is a film that had great opportunity for failure, but the perfect mix of professionals created something worthwhile for viewers. The team came together to form a magical mix that resulted in a film with morsels of excellence throughout.
Atonement is modern through direction and cinematography, yet timeless in screenplay and score. Unfamiliar perfection is made as every element clashes together haphazardly, all through disorder, trauma and timeless love. It is a divine piece of art while still being entertainment at its finest. Full of history, passion and anguish, this movie will leave the audience flooded with every emotion and in thought for hours if not days.
You'll find more adventure in your X-box
I felt like I was in the midst of a third rate video game slaying giant woolly mammoths, escaping flying ostriches and braving saber-tooth tigers in a pre-historic era all to be hero for a day.
Set in a computer-enhanced world where icy tundra abruptly turns into tropical jungle and then dry desert, I couldn't help but question the historical accuracy of 10,000 B.C. I mean, really, what tribe in 10,000 B.C. spoke English and why doesn't anyone from the same clan look alike? Aren't they supposed to have the same ethnic background? Just because writer and director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day) chose to have a diverse cast (actors hailed from Asia, Latin America, India and Africa) doesn't mean his film would be innovative - rather, it came out disjointed and distractingly illogical.
Driven by an oversimplified, cliché plot of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy undertakes heroic adventure to regain girl, 10,000 B.C. tells the story of young hunter, D'Leh (Steven Strait), who treks across the globe, defeats four-legged beasts and confronts gods to save the blue-eyed beauty, Evolet (Camilla Belle).
On his journey, D'Leh discovers that the world is far more vast than he once believed - including the shocking realization that people other than his tribe are inhabiting the Earth. He also discovers that he is destined to save civilization, and his already simplified character expands into an unbelievable world savior.
Emmerich tried to pull off the fantastic, but this time, I think he might have gone too far. Watching D'Leh's journey, I wondered how he could conquer such a vast wilderness on foot in what seemed to be such a short period of time without showing the signs of aging. Sure, for Emmerich it was easy - he just hopped on a plane for his shots of New Zealand, Cape Town, South Africa and Namibia, but D'Leh didn't have that luxury.
More than the logistics, the writing is oversimplified and ends up sounding cheesy. Unlike Emmerich's other films, 10,000 B.C. is merely a collection of legends and myths thrown together to create a plot. Trying to cover too many things at once, the director ends up sacrificing the storyline.
Not even the softest softie would find this film's cliché lines sentimental or pleasing. I plead with Emmerich, just satisfy the video game feel and cut the cheese already.
With nothing to draw me in to the wannabe adventure, my mind started to wander. Planning what I would have for dinner and distracted by the glow of cell phones as the audience began to check the time, I wanted D'Leh to hurry up and rescue Evolet.
Whether they lived happily ever after or not didn't really matter. By the time the final credits rolled, I too had realized my destiny. D'Leh might have been destined to save civilization, but I had a much more important inclination: I was destined to see this rotten movie and warn my peers to save their $8.50.
"Definitely, Maybe" a cliché, must-see
Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) thinks it's just another day - another Tuesday or Friday that he'll leave work early to pick up his 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) from school.
However, avoiding an oncoming school bus on his walk through Manhattan or being in the midst of a divorce is the least of his problems. Today, unlike any other, Maya's elementary class has sex-ed and the first thing out of her mouth when she sees her dad in the hallway crowded with angry parents, is the precocious and enigmatic declaration, "we need to talk."
Worried she was a mistake, Maya demands her dad tell her the story about how he and her mom met and fell in love. After much debate, the young political consultant divulges his past love life to his daughter. However, in an effort to protect the innocent and to keep the ever-curious Maya guessing, Will changes a few details along with the names of his past love interests.
Tucked in bed with her princess pillow in place, Maya is ready for what turns into an involved bedtime story of life and love in the early '90s. At the beginning of the story, the only thing Maya is definite about is that her dad smoked, drank and, according to her, was a slut. With the players from Will's past - his college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Emily's old friend turned ruthless journalist, Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz) and April (Isla Fisher), Will's co-worker during the Clinton campaign - Maya's task of revealing the truth about her parent's relationship is daunting. Clip board and crayons in hand, Maya relentlessly weeds through the details and discovers the truth, and, in the end, helps her dad cross the Brooklyn Bridge to make an old memory his future.
Director and writer Adam Brooks, who also wrote Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon, and French Kiss, envisioned a romantic comedy that would span generations.
He was quite successful in his aspiration, thanks to creative filming and keen actors. Using flashbacks, split-screen shots and re-winded scenes, Brooks lets the audience live the story. Definitely, Maybe is seen through Will's eyes, but anticipated through Maya's curiosity. While it may seem predictable, that is only a trick. With old relationships constantly resurfacing, the storyline keeps audiences guessing for the complete 105 minutes while they try to solve the equation of Will's mysterious love triangle.
No one could have been better cast for the role of Maya than Breslin. As in Little Miss Sunshine, her charisma shines through playing the young but mature Maya. Holding on to her childlike charm and innocence, Breslin is genuine and her acting touching. Together, Breslin and Reynolds deliver a tender authenticity to a delicate father-daughter relationship.
The most endearing thing about this Valentine's Day release is the unselfish love of a daughter for her lonely father. Maya believes in a happy ending to her dad's bedtime tale even if it means her parents won't end up together.
An old favorite: check out "The Fountain" on DVD
An atypical transcendent love story, Aronofsky’s sci-fi The Fountain attempts to shed some light on the bigger questions of life and death: why we are here and what it would be like to live forever.
Spanning over a millennia, with three connecting story lines, the easiest way to tell what time period you are in is by how much hair Hugh Jackman has on his head.
The film opens with Jackman as 16th century Spanish conquistador, Tomas, searching for a hidden Mayan temple, which holds the Tree of Life, in order to save Spain and Queen Isabel, played by Rachel Weisz, from the Inquisitor.
In an abrupt shift, a now bald Jackman (Tom Creo) appears to be a 26th century bubble boy recalling memories and floating in space with a tree as his only companion.
Switching to present day, Jackman, slightly hairier, plays determined researcher Dr. Tommy Creo performing tests on monkeys in order to help save his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi (Weisz).
In a daring attempt to save Donovan, the research monkey, Tommy uses the bark from a tree in Guatemala during surgery and later discovers that the monkey almost immediately improves its cognitive skills. Undoubtedly this is the same tree in both the 16th and 26th century eras.
The audience also learns that Izzi is writing a book entitled “The Fountain” about 16th century Spain and its search for the Tree of Life in the Mayan jungles, which suddenly makes the start of the movie a bit clearer.
Izzi also tells Tommy about the nebula Xibalba believed to be the Mayan underworld where the dead find new life. This belief somewhat explains lotus-sitting Jackman floating in a giant, golden orb.
After much confusion as to what is going on, the pieces of the plot seem to come together; however, they are never fully culminated into one final “Voila!” moment, which does not seem accidental.
The visuals and filming, inspired by David Bowie and 2001: A Space Odyssey, are beautiful and the muted yet slightly golden hue to everything is soothing to the eye.
The emotionally driven performances by Weisz and especially Jackman are extremely poignant and heart-felt.
The Fountain with its non-linear format seems to purposefully have the audience’s mind wander in an attempt to make the viewer think, which may not sit well with some folks.
Its messages to love and live because life is finite are apparent after some time. It tries to make you think about the spiritual instead of the physical and that death is inevitable.
Though the film is a bit odd, it is a nice deviation from the Old School’s of our time.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Quality oozes from "There Will Be Blood"
Director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson's stark masterpiece, There Will Be Blood, is the story of Daniel Plainview (as played by Daniel Day-Lewis), a heartless man whose unbridled ambition turns him into a ruthless oil tycoon at the beginning of the 20th century. Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel, Oil!, the film chronicles Plainview's vicious rise to power, through both blood and oil. Today, as the world finds its oil supplies dwindling away, the story is more relevant than ever because it shows the true price of a natural resource we take for granted.
Daniel Day-Lewis not only delivers the finest performance of his career, but one of the finest performances in recent memory. He brings the character of Daniel Plainview to life with an incredibly well-nuanced performance. Everything is spot-on, from his facial expressions to his savage limp. His performance alone will make you sit through the film. For the most part, Plainview is a calm, composed man whose very smile, which seems sincere enough, can send chills down your spine. When he becomes enraged, he invokes the fear of God, not only on his victims, but in members of the audience. Day-Lewis's performance is so convincing, so believable, that you will forget you are watching a film, and instead think you are watching someone's life. The life of someone you would never want to cross, and preferably, never meet.
"What sin are you referring to?" Plainview nervously asks a man who tells him that he must repent for his sins in order to get the black gold buried beneath his land. Plainview wears a look of serious concern because his sins are far too grand and are so embedded into his life that he has forgotten what they are. Plainview is every bit as evil as the devil himself, and at times looks to be even more malicious and inhuman. In the opening scene, we are introduced to him and shown just how far he is willing to go to get ahead. And in the spell-binding finale, all his fury and hatred culminate in a brilliant, brutal scene that will leave you stunned, but not surprised.
At the center of the movie are Plainview's relationships with other people. The most important one is with his young son, who he sees as a business partner. The young boy makes a great partner because he has a cute face that people can't say no to.
Plainview's relationship with another con-artist, Eli Sunday (played by Paul Dano, whose career will certainly take off after this performance), is at the heart of the film. Eli is another power-hungry, manipulative man, filled with that same unbridled ambition. As Plainview admits, "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people." And probably none more than Eli, who is a fire and brimstone pastor with some control over the minds of the people Plainview exploits. Eli tries to stand up to the tycoon, ineffectively, and their interactions are some of the most intense moments in the film.
Something that often gets overlooked in film is sound. There Will Be Blood has one of the greatest scores I have ever heard. It is provided by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, and you would never know that by listening to it. The delicate timbre of the strings and cascading classical arrangements add to the film's already intense atmosphere. Much of the story takes place in the desolate countryside, which is beautifully, painfully, perfectly captured on film. The film's world is filled with sand and silence, so the score is crucial in keeping the viewer engaged, and ultimately, it is what holds the film together. The music pulls you in, toying with you, keeping you on the edge of your seat. It pumps intensity into moments that would otherwise seem lacking. At times, the music is as foreboding as the film's brilliant title, which promises that blood will be spilled in the pursuit of oil, in the name of greed.
If the film has a flaw, it may be its length. Clocking in at 158 minutes, some viewers will undoubtedly find the movie slow, but this thought never occurred to me while watching because I was so engrossed in what was happening on screen.
Quality oozes out of the film at every seam. It certainly deserves every one of the eight Oscars it was nominated for, including best picture, best director, best actor, best cinematography, and best sound-editing. Only time will tell how many it will win, but frankly, I don't see the academy doing anything other than honoring Daniel Plainview with the highest praise. They should be scared not to.
"Atonement" clinks and clanks its way to being a clunker of a film
Follow your high school English teacher’s advice, and read Atonement; don’t just watch the movie. We all know that director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) can successfully adapt novels into films, but his most recent film, Atonement, falls short.
Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, the film begins on a sunny day in 1935 at the Tallis’ summer estate in the British countryside. Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), an uptight thirteen year old who feverishly types away fantasy stage plays on her typewriter in her spare time, witnesses several heated encounters between her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and the housekeeper’s educated son, Robbie (James McAvoy). Robbie and Cecilia both share a fondness for each other that they keep hidden to the world. By mistake, Robbie exposes his intimate feelings for Cecilia through a typed letter, igniting a smoldering love. Just when it seems that they can be together forever, a chain of misconceptions and a juvenile accusation by Briony forever changes their lives. As Briony grows up, she is able to realize the weight of her accusation and the scarring effects that it has had on other people’s lives. Briony’s life becomes defined by her guilt and endless quest for atonement from Cecilia and Robbie.
Briony, at all ages, uses writing and more importantly the typewriter in her quest for forgiveness. As she types away, she begins to learn valuable lessons of how momentous words can be. The typewriter becomes an integral part of the plot. The easily identifiable sound of the typewriter creates positive tension through its natural clank, clank beat. The blunt sound of the typewriter becomes the heartbeat of the film, pacing the story and reiterating the importance of what words have the power to do. Dario Marianelli, the musical composer, pairs the clanking of typing with the urgency of the piano notes to add excitement to the film’s musical score. The unusual beat is evident in the beginning of the film, heightening the climax.
Perhaps director Wright and screenplay writer Christopher Hampton’s best achievement is the unbearable sexual tension that is prevalent in the first third of the film. And just like the product of a typewriter, the first third of the film is clean, structured, and well-paced.
Clank. Clank. Marvelous. Clank. Clank.
The passionate love story that unravels in the course of just one night, seen in the first third of the film, is not convincing enough to captivate audiences for the entire film. Sadly enough, as with all good things, the first third of the film comes to an end. In a bittersweet transition, the sexually charged subtle hand grazes and passionate library love-making are traded in for brilliant yet boring cinematography with a mediocre plot.
Don’t get me wrong, the film’s cinematography is beautiful. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey packs the film with breathtaking depictions of war; for example the British soldiers aimlessly waiting on the beaches of Dunkirk or Robbie cautiously walking through a field of lush reddish-orange poppy flowers. But scenes like these do more for the epic appeal of the movie than they do for the development of the story. The emphasis on cinematography causes the film to drag heavily in the middle, differing greatly from the typewriter rhythm that is created early on.
Claaaaaaaaaaaank. Claaaaaaaaaaaank. Yawn. Claaaaaaaaank.
The longer the film runs, the more you hate Briony Tallis. Her character is seen at three different ages and is perfectly cast in all of them. The young Briony, as played by newcomer Ronan, gives the exact amount of emotion and maturity needed to explain the character as a child. Romola Garai gives a strong screen performance as Briony as a young adult. Garai shows a lost soul seeking for forgiveness and identity at the same time. Although she gets little screen time, the elder Briony, played by Vanessa Redgrave, successfully shows that sometimes wounds never heal.
Some books were never meant to be adapted for the big screen. Watch the film on mute for the cinematography, but leave the plot and characters up to your imagination. Atonement should be read, not watched.
The End.
Clank, Clank, Clank, DING!
