Atonement

Every year there is that one film that gets so much Oscar buzz I can't help but reject it before I even see it. I call it the "too good to be any good" movie of the year. Most of the time, I'm right and the film just doesn't deserve the amount of praise it gets. But every so often, the "too good to be any good" movie of choice is actually really fucking good and I end up eating my words.

When I first started seeing ads for Atonement and learned it was another costume drama collaboration between director Joe Wright and actress Keira Knightley, I didn't get too excited right away. Sure, I loved Pride and Prejudice. However, I don't usually enjoy period pictures because they tend to have this kind of 'tough times with a candy center' thing about them that I really can't relate to. In other words, life is difficult for the characters for awhile but by the end, everything turns out peachy. While some may enjoy these romantic, Austenesque worlds, I prefer the cynical and gritty realism you're more likely to find in a Dennis Lehane or Jay McInerney novel.

That's exactly why Atonement threw me for such a loop. Here is a film that suggests it's going to keep you comfortable and safe within the confines of a wealthy 1930s English countryside estate, but it only takes a few minutes to realize that the backdrop is completely irrelevant. I mean, it might as well have been 21st century Las Vegas. People are selfish, foulmouthed, lustful, and unforgiving, and by the end it's nearly impossible to find a silver lining in the whole, sordid mess. And that's what is so great about the film. It was refreshing to see the way Atonement totally flipped the period picture on its head.

So maybe I'm not doing such a great job of selling this film to all of you hopeless romantics and eternal optimists. But to those of you out there let me assure you, the film transcends its pessimistic material. Atonement is a fantastic cinematic experience because while it is brutal and hard on the psyche, it is also very intoxicating and pleasurable for the senses.

So, unabashedly morose films may not be everyone's cup of tea. However, when these films have stunning cinematography, unconventional editing, and haunting soundtracks, how can you not be completely smitten with them? Yes, we live in a cruel world but we also don't live in a world as bewitching as the one in Atonement and that's why I am recommending it to cynics AND romantics alike.

I suspect the film will continue steamrolling its way through awards season but now I don't have to shudder and think, here's yet another costume drama getting acclaim simply because it's a costume drama. Perhaps I thought that way at one point, but now that I've seen the film, I know its secret. Atonement is not 'too good to be any good'. It's better.