atonement

After writing about it a couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to seeing Atonement in the theater yesterday as a reward to myself for my Physiology essay that was due last Friday. When this film comes out in December in the U.S. I would really recommend seeing it. It was a sad and depressing film, but I knew that walking into the film. There is an amazing 5min panning shot of a scene in Dunkirk when the British were retreating. It is really as amazing as the critics have been saying. I am normally not a person that cries during films, but I definitely teared up for this one. I probably would have cried more if I hadn't read the book before hand and knew what was going to happen, but it was still moving in a different way. When I finished the book, I felt really sad and depressed, but after the film it was worse. Having the visuals presented to you is different from what you see in your head while reading a book. To me a great film adaptation from a book like this portrays what you see in your mind while reading the book, but brings a physical realness to it. Some people like the worlds that they can create in their imagination, but to me seeing something physical can be more moving. I don't know if that makes any sense, but the love between Cecila Tallis and Robbie Turner broke my heart and I think Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are deserving of the compliments they have been given for this film. Yes, I am a romantic at heart, despite some of your thoughts that I may be asexual...

For people that don't recognize James McAvoy, he's a wonderful Scottish actor that is probably most well-known right now in the U.S. as the actor that played Doctor Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland and Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also did Starter for Ten, which was great fun. I hope that he does more great work in the future.