Page 1 of 10
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:36 pm
by Akash
Nicole Kidman and her kind made bones "sexy."
But then you don't really care for her either.
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:33 pm
by Uri
HarryGoldfarb wrote:P.S. Don't know who mention this, but of course he's right. The green dress of course is amazing to look at!
With all due respect to this green dress, all I could do during that scene was counting each and every bone on Keira Knightley's back. I guess that once she knew she was going to do Atonement, being the serious methodical actress she is, Knightley prepared for the part, only to find out too late that it was indeed a World War II movie, but not a concentration camp saga after all.
Edited By Uri on 1203802429
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:56 pm
by Akash
HarryGoldfarb wrote:I think, and is a personal, very personal opinion, that McAvoy SHOULD have been nominated over Depp.
Of course! Or Emile Hirsch, or Josh Brolin, or Gordon Pinsent...there were any number of actors more deserving than Depp!
Oh and I was the one who recently praised the green dress.
Edited By Akash on 1203802896
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:44 am
by HarryGoldfarb
Just saw it yesterday... and what I don't understand is how this film has become such a hated one?
It ain't perfect of course, I don't think it was pretending reaching greatness or something... I find Wright a very competent director; considering his previous film he's absolutely doing films he likes to do so in that way he has a very personal approach to cinema. I guess the fault is on the campaigning process. I guess the minute the producers and the studio actually knew "something" about the film (the cast, the sets, the "adaptation thing", and that it was a period drama/love story) they started to push it very early as a heavy contender for awards season, and of course that didn't help once it was premiered. Had it come to theaters without any previous noise, it would have been received as a more effective film...
It have a serious problem of pacing, the three-acts structure didn't feel well handled as the film seems quite, I don't know, broken? I mean, the continuity isn't as fluid as it should have been... The middle section goes on too long and the ending, though effective at some levels, doesn't feel like a part of the same film, thay way it was filmed makes it looks way unconnected...
But as whole, I liked it. In any other year, it would have been a SERIOUS contender, but right now, period films aren't the cream on the pie. We are on a time when Juno is the possible spoiler between two "dark tone" films (both of which I'm going to see today). I think, and is a personal, very personal opinion, that McAvoy SHOULD have been nominated over Depp. And if we needed a veteran with a short performance, I guess I would have voted for Redgrave instead of Dee for the 5th spot.
I like how the film is sexual but not in an "in your face" way... the letter-writing scene when we see them in separate sets(when she's in front of the mirror and he's writing) is kind of intoxicating. Loved the atmosphere, the smoke, the lightning, the camera, the close-ups, etc... The music DOES IS an in your face thing, but in the end I liked it, and I came home humming the Briony's theme...
Hope it gets some recognition. I give it ***
P.S. Don't know who mention this, but of course he's right. The green dress of course is amazing to look at!
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:15 am
by Damien
Finally caught up with this. Didn't much like it, but didn't strongly dislike it either. Joe Wright's not an adventurous or interesting enough director to elicit a strong response from me. Ultimately -- and unfortunately -- the movie doesn't have the devastating sorrow of the book. This is for a number of reasons, particularly because at no time in the movie do the McAvoy and Knightley characters ever seem destined for happiness (the scenes in which they're together in the middle section are so sour) and also because a foundation i never laid in the film for the twist ending (a literary conceit for which Wright and Christopher Hampton did not find corresponding visual terms).
There IS one great, hugely expressive and affecting moment (no not the tracking shot) – It's when McAvoy is standing in front of the movie screen, a love scene projected behind him, for this wordless scene so economically and movingly conveys what Robbie so yearns for and which has been unjustly taken away from him. If only the rest of the film had such resonance.
I think they nominated the wrong Briony. Saoirse Ronanm is fine, but Romola Garai has much greater depth and complexity, as she fuses guilt, steely determination and wistfulness into an utterly believable whole.
HATED the cinematography. I can't believe any filmmaker in this day and age would revert to using gauzy soft focus photography to try to convey a bygone era. And the clackety clack score (we get it -- type type type) is probably the year's most obnooxious movie music.
Tee, excellent point about Robbie's return with the twins. That scene was sooo off!
Edited By Damien on 1202232652
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:30 pm
by Hustler
ITALIANO wrote:Really? Not even To Forget Venice? This was a big hit in the late 70s, and was even nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. It's probably a bit dated by today's standards, but its portrayal of the torment of growing up (well, in this case of growing up gay actually - the four main characters, two men and two women - are all homosexual) is very honest, very deeply-felt.
But of course Wild Reeds is a must-see.
No, not even Dimenticare Venezia. Anyway, I´ll look for them in DVD.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:16 pm
by ITALIANO
Really? Not even To Forget Venice? This was a big hit in the late 70s, and was even nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. It's probably a bit dated by today's standards, but its portrayal of the torment of growing up (well, in this case of growing up gay actually - the four main characters, two men and two women - are all homosexual) is very honest, very deeply-felt.
But of course Wild Reeds is a must-see.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:07 pm
by Hustler
Sabin wrote:There have been few movies this decade equivalent in poignancy and outright glorious Frenchiness as 'Wild Reeds'. I urge everybody on this board to watch that glorious movie AND tell me of any films its equal. Elodie Bouchez is summer love incarnate.
Thanks fot the advice. As for the italian movies, Italiano, unfortunately, neither of them was released here.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:01 pm
by Sabin
There have been few movies this decade equivalent in poignancy and outright glorious Frenchiness as 'Wild Reeds'. I urge everybody on this board to watch that glorious movie AND tell me of any films its equal. Elodie Bouchez is summer love incarnate.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:55 am
by ITALIANO
Sabin wrote:The more I think about it, the single greatest film I've ever seen about adolescence is 'Wild Reeds'
This is, of course, one of the best examples in recent memory.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
by Sabin
The more I think about it, the single greatest film I've ever seen about adolescence is 'Wild Reeds', perhaps my favorite French movie of the 90's. I urge anybody who hasn't seen it to rent it immediately. It's directed by André Téchiné. I regret to say that it's the only film by Téchiné but on the basis of that film's deft skill with character, it cannot be a fluke and the man is a master. Teens coming of age during the French-Algerian war, struggling with their sexuality.
Also, I realize that the biggest problem with 'Atonement' is that the entire movie isn't focused on the first half. If 'Atonement' was a looser adaptation and decided to create an entire film taking place in the house, I think we'd be talking about a masterpiece.
Edited By Sabin on 1201962624
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:14 am
by ITALIANO
Oh many... In French movies especially - too many to mention. But Italian cinema has often dealt with this subject, too - I remember Rossi's Amici per la pelle, Damiani's Il rossetto, Brusati's To Forget Venice - just to name three.
I'm not even sure that it's this young actress's fault - I think the first half of the movie is too worried about being narratively efficient that it forgets to focus on what, in different circumstances, could have been an interesting character.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:57 am
by Hustler
ITALIANO wrote:Yes, but I've seen more memorable portrayals of adolescent (sexual) confusion in movies-
Which ones?
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:19 am
by ITALIANO
Yes, but I've seen more memorable portrayals of adolescent (sexual) confusion in movies... It's a correct, predictable performance, but never very affecting. I think she was the worst of the three Brionys.
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:56 am
by Hustler
Which means that you don´t agree with her nomination. By the way I invite you to see again the scene at the window with the bee when she looks at her sister Ceci wet.