Atonement

Sunday, January 6, 2008

With my girlfriend gone back to school, I wanted to do something yesterday to occupy myself and keep my mind off the fact that I was feeling lonely and down in the dumps. So, I took my mom to see Atonement, which Shenan had already seen without me.

I was worried briefly that seeing a sad movie would put me in a worse mood, but it actually had the opposite effect. You know when something is on your mind, and then you watch a sad movie, and you feel moved and maybe even choke up a bit, and then the movie ends and that passes and you feel better? Well, that's what transpired.

Um, not that I cried or nothin'. Men don't cry. I love titties. Etc.

Well, this isn't quite my favorite of the year, but it might make my list. It probably ties with The Lives of Others for most moving film of the year, but that's not necessarily something I revere above all else, like I think some people do when they talk "great movies."

Actually, although I appreciate the emotional payoff, what I really enjoyed was the over-the-top splendor and melodrama of the style of the film. Especially the absurdly ornate visuals. Everything seems to have a soft glow to it. There is a completely unnecessary (and completely fucking awesome) 5 minute unbroken shot of some dudes walking around a beach and destroyed town full of soldiers during WWII. Every shot seems jam-packed with details, and are staged as elaborately as possible. Like, at one part some characters see planes flying over head, and instead of showing the sky, we see the reflections of the planes in the stream next to them. When a character is shocked to see the word "cunt" written in a message, the giant letters CUNT flash across the screen, 20 feet tall. (OK, actually I could have done without that moment... was it supposed to be funny? not sure what they were going for.)

I love all that kind of shit. That's why I go to the movies. The power of images, man.

The story and the acting, too, is all melodrama. I mean, this is some pretty absurd, complicated, soap-opera type nonsense, but sooooo skillfully done. I kind of thought this movie might be some classy, elegant, subtle type of english drama. But instead it's like it wants to overpower you with melodrama and class and elegance, etc. Like someone gave steroids to a Jane Austen novel, and it grew to be 100 feet tall, and then it fell on top of you and squished you. In a good way.

Everything is underlined, it's not subtle at all, but it's so stylish and well done that I went along for the ride. I have a weakness for big and broad, when it's done well. And that's the key: execution. When I was younger and (if you can believe this) even more insufferably pretentious than I am now, I used to deridingly snort at serious movies that failed to be subtle. But over the last few years, I think I've come to realize that big, loud and capitalized can be just as effective as small, quiet and intimate. It just depends on the execution.