Lord love a double feature. I've been prone to pay for one film wait until its over and sneak in another screen in my local multiplex for awhile now. I can't afford movie tickets (the matinee was $7) so whenever possible I try and double my money. The ironic thing is that nearly every time I do this it is the second film, the one I didn't pay for, that's the better. Atonement was the second feature on this day, which directly followed Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. There was a great deal to commend about the film. I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice immensely so my expectations were certainly high for this one. James McAvoy's performance was certainly a highlight of the film and I can certainly see him emerging as an immense talent in the coming years, especially after an equally impressive turn in last year's Last King of Scotland. As a film I'd say this is a remarkably complete work. I loved how the film showed things from repeating sides, and although not entirely original, is still fairly uncommon. We see things as Briony sees them, and then as they really happened, but this is done only a few times. The narrative does jumble a bit during the war, but never to a point where we can't follow what's going on. The music and soundtrack which makes great use of the percussive sound of typewriters is also top notch. I expected great cinematography considering how well photographed Wright's last film was. For a brief moment while at Dunkirk I thought I had stepped into Children of Men with that insanely elaborate tracking shot. As much as I may have appreciated it, somehow a long steadicam tracking shot amidst war is becoming a minor cliche. Certainly the most impressive cliche in film, but a cliche none the less. I'm not sure about the dialogue. Briony may be a writer but she talks like few 13 year olds I ever met, even the smart ones. The film good as it is never ceases to feel like a literary adaptation. Somehow in Pride and Prejudice I was able to look beyond the world of the book and feel that this could be a contemporary story. Here however the dialogue and structure consistently call attention to the fact that this was based on a book. Based on how few films I've seen from the past year, I'm not qualified to list this as one of the very best, but it will be in my mind whenever I do get around to making my best of '07 list. 

*This film was shown in one of the smaller screens in the multiplex and as such I think they did absolutely nothing to adjust the aspect ratio. Not only did the projection bleed into the sides of the frame, but also the top, unfortunately the high schoolers running the projectors really don't pay too much attention to aspect ratios.