Atonement

Oh my goodness. My constant search for the period piece magic has brought me to Joe Wright’s Atonement, I’ve been wanting to see Wright’s other more iconic period piece Pride and Prejudice for a while but since it feels like a disservice to Jane Austen to first take in her stories through film I’m putting it off, for some reason though I also thought Atonement was one of her stories so when I found out it wasn’t I knew I’d be here very soon. And even though I’ve developed my love for the period piece so much these past few years and fully expected to love this it I’m absolutely blown away, every beat of this story and script had me immersed completely and the flawless technical work added a level of power to that immersion that I’ve rarely experienced in film. I just have to start with Seamus McGarvey’s all-time camera work, I could talk about basically any shot here for hours but I’ll focus on that amazing one-shot through Dunkirk because that tells the brilliance of this cinematography better than I ever could. Another huge bonus was the work from Dario Marianelli on the score, the way he incorporated the typewriter into the orchestral score was so cool and all throughout I thought he did very well to bring out the emotions of the story. As usual with a period piece I also feel the need to praise the art design, this one had the especially beautiful sets and costumes I was hoping for and Seamus McGarvey’s brilliant work behind the camera only gave that great work an even greater impact. The cast is also really good with all 3 actresses who played Briony being amazing and the chemistry between Knightley and McAvoy making for a romantic duo that’s up there with my all-time favorites, names like Juno Temple and Benedict Cumberbatch also added a nice touch in their supporting roles even if I could’ve done with more screen-time for them (the fact that’s my biggest issue is very telling of how much i adored this). I mentioned the script and story working for me and I can’t emphasize enough how much they really did, the story kicks off with a lovely exposition and it never loses an ounce of steam through the whole movie and the ending only made me love everything before it even more. I’d understand it not working for some if they’re just not a fan of the period piece drama but if you are I don’t think I could come up with a better recommendation, the story and technical filmmaking are truly some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and with the fantastic script and great acting from the cast only making that experience better the result is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year.