Atonement just blew my mind...

I just watched Atonement and it was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking. It made me literally say out loud “that is so beautiful.” The cinematography in this film is staggering. I cannot believe that they could get that many stunning shots in one film. Right from the beginning when Briony is wandering around the house with her prized play, the way the shots move and are framed blew my mind. I am so impressed.

And I thought the acting was top notch, too. I just cannot say enough for this movie. I loved it. I read the book previously and knew everything that was going to happen; yet I could not unglue myself from this movie. And even now I don’t know why I’m still awake but I had to write down quickly my initial reaction to the beauty of it. And the costumes were great too.

The last scene where we look into Briony’s blue eyes so full of regret, of sorrow, it just connected with me so much more than the book.


And as I learned about in screenwriting class today – set up a world, a character, something happens, a rise to climax, then we see this character again in the same world, yet changed somehow from what’s happened. Watch this movie and you’ll see a transformation in each of these main characters. And this especially rings true with Briony, it’s quite obvious in her case actually.

Anyway, the images were amazing. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. This definitely deserves the nominations and awards (Golden Globe so far…) that it is receiving. Breathtaking.