Atonement

Steve Shovlar

Steve Shovlar

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I have just watched a brilliant movie. Atonement, starring Kneightley and McAvoy.

Has anyone else seen this masterpiece? Rarely does a film bring me to tears but I found this one devastating.

But the reason I bring this movie up on here is because of the stupendous scene in the middle of the movie on Dunkirk beach where the allied forces are waiting to be picked up.

If you haven't seen it, its a 5 mnute continuous steadican shot featuring thousands of extras, the main actors and a steadicam operator that did a stunning job. The scene is on youtube.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8D9gNwXjW4Y

Any CGI involved? I can't see a join if there was.

Best movie I have seen in the last year. Top notch acting from all the leads and I hope it gets an Oscar nomination.

Thoughts?
 
I haven't seen it, but I was reading that indeed, that is a one-take shot, no tricks involved. And it wasn't planned as such, it had to be a one-take shot because of logistics with extras and other factors.

Can't wait to see this film. It's on just about every top ten list from 2007.

--SM
 
Having done a little bit more research since making the first post, you are right it was a one take shot, and they used the third take of four they did on that day. The Steadicam operator is called Peter Robinson, and he is doing a Steadicam course in London next week! And there are places available. Gutted I only just found out as I use a Seadicam Fllyer and would love to get my hands on the big beasts. Course is £1000 ( $2000) for 5 full days. Oh well perhaps next time.

Iagine the pressure though, just on the Steadicam op. The day cost £2.5 million to shoot. He said he was too tired after the 4th attempt and the light was going.

Can't get better than learn from someone like this. The film is magnificient.
 
Absolute masterpiece... in every way.

Knightley and McAvoy are brilliant. The movie is shot beautifully and the Dunkirk shot is amazing!

But beware, because it's a very, very sad movie. I mean - it's almost painful, especially the ending.

When I watched it... I don't know how to describe it, but I felt torn apart.

If I have to be honest, until the very end, I was wondering WTF is this movie actually all about, but then it all becomes clear... and very painful.

Very well plotted and the ending explains why I couldn't understand the movie till that point.

I won't say more, cause that would be SPOILERS.

And yes, I cried too...

Life really is a ***** sometimes...

And the movie is probably based on a true event, cause there was a speculation about the novel being plagiarized from another autobiographical source.
 
Haven't seen the film yet. Want to though. But my god, that shot was amazing. The sheer ORCHESTRATION of it is intimidating to say the very least.
 
Just found out that this movie was only shown on 32 screens in the USA. How the hell did that happen to such a brilliant movie?

It makes no sense at all. If it is Oscar nominated does it get a wider release, or does it need to win best picture ( which it has a very very good chance if nominated) for that to happen?
 
Steve Shovlar said:
Just found out that this movie was only shown on 32 screens in the USA. How the hell did that happen to such a brilliant movie?

It makes no sense at all. If it is Oscar nominated does it get a wider release, or does it need to win best picture ( which it has a very very good chance if nominated) for that to happen?
Click to expand...
Most movies like this get limited releases early on to build up excitement and to get it screened for award season. This will get a wide release I believe.
 
I think I will go for this one this week-end, but here, it is the same, ("Just found out that this movie was only shown on 32 screens in the USA") it only play in 2 theaters here in Montreal.
 
Best Drama on the Golden Globes - yeah!

What happened, I thought these were cancelled during the writers' strike.
 
Only the awards show was canceled. But they still announce the winners.

Atonement was a great film and is worthy of best picture. Heck, that one steadicam shot alone is worthy of best picture!

:)
 
Steve Shovlar said:
Just found out that this movie was only shown on 32 screens in the USA. How the hell did that happen to such a brilliant movie?

It makes no sense at all. If it is Oscar nominated does it get a wider release, or does it need to win best picture ( which it has a very very good chance if nominated) for that to happen?
Click to expand...

Guess it doesn't matter if it's nominated for an Oscar to get a wider release. You need 3 chipmunks that sing to get do that.

Sigh...
 
VERY well made movie. I usually don't go for period pieces and i was surprised by the pace and the jokes. i thought the steadi shot was a bit gratuitous and the story dragged between that shot and the point where we pick up briney again but overall i was Sucked In. Amazing sound design too.

awesome movie and not one i expected to like.
 
I didn't really like this film too much. I enjoyed it and I should probably see it again. It was shot beautifully but the story didn't work for me.

---SPOILERS---


The beginning part is pretty cool and I liked the theme of "what really happened vs. interepretation" that took place throughout. Cinematography was great and visually it was quite entertaining.

I didn't, however, care for the story too much. None of the characters are likable (I am usually fine with films like this), and I didn't find myself hoping for the romance to work. I believe that we are supposed to feel pity for the younger girl, but I never cared for her at all. I didn't like the flash-forward because it felt like an excuse to use narration to explain a story. I also hate the line (it's also in the trailer), "It's about a girl who sees something she thinks she understands, but doesn't," or something similar to that.

The film attempted to tackle mature themes like war and death, but I didn't hear a strong message of anti-war or the opposite. I realize it wasn't about the war at all, and this wasn't a war movie, but none of the themes made bold statements (to me).
 
Looked great, but god it got boring by the end of it, especially the ending.

My friend who I watched it with said that he thought it stayed too close to the novel for it to have become a good movie.
 
I watched it in the theater... my personal Best Picture of the year.

Movies like this bring back the faith in filmmaking.

It's strange how movies based in the Wars seem... more real somehow.

And our contemporary stories usually feel... fake, more or less....

Maybe our whole lives are fake and it takes the horror of war to remind us what really matters...

... How sad...

I hope I'm wrong...
 
My Mrs read the book, and she was hanging to see it.
She dragged me along for the ride.
I t was one of the best films i had seen in years.
Having done a steadicam course ...I was well impressed.
The story was great, the twists..wow.
Nearly cried also.

Great Movie..i would recommend it.
 
I saw this movie without knowing ANYTHING about it. Purposefully avoided book, trailer, message boards. I wanted to go in completely virgin. And let me say, for almost the entire movie, I thought this movie was a complete disaster. I will include SPOILERS now.

The movie starts off with a device. That device is what Brianny sees versus what really happened. This is the kind of device that is unique enough that once you start it, it's assumed you will continue it. But it only lasts through the first act. Uhh, HUH?? Not only that, but the device doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The movie seems to hinge on the idea that when Brianny sees the rape the *incorrect* way, it leads to the consequences that dictate the rest of the story. It seems like the previous two times using that device were supposed to establish that. But in the first one (by the fountain) she was wrong in what she thought happened. And in the second one (in the study) she was right in what she thought happened. So it doesn't really set up the moment where she "incorrectly* observes the rape. Strange.

Then, McAvoy is supposed to go to prison. But the next thing we know it's 4 years later and he's some straggler in the army (yes, I know, he was given that choice - but still. If we're supposed to see this guy suffer - we should see him suffer). I guess he's supposed to be suffering because of Brianny's injustice - but let's be realistic here. Pretty much any able-bodied man in World War 2 was called upon to serve. So he probably would've been in the army even if he hadn't been incorrectly accused. This is the whole movie here.

This is when the film completely falls of the rails. McAvoy and two other guys just start wandering around. Literally. They just wander around. And yes, they do eventually find an amazing 5 minute continuous steadicam shot that was beautiful. Only it had one problem. WHAT THE HELL WAS THE POINT??? I mean I guess he needed water or something and maybe it was to show how miserable he was. But using a completely gratuitous 5 minute steadicam shot to show that seemed a lot more showy than purposeful. Also, I kept thinking, "is this in response to Children Of Men. Like 'Anything you can do, I can do better'? Cause if it is, they failed. As the continuous shots in that movie were much better".

Then we go back to Brianny who's all grown up now and she's having absolutely pointless conversations with other women and some guy with part of his head blown off and I'm just thinking... what the HELL is this movie about?? I mean it was so all over the place. I was actually getting physically angry.

Then we show Brianny having the "big revelation" that it really wasn't Robbie that raped the red-haired girl. The only problem was we already knew that. And SHE already knew that. So why was it such a big revelation? For her or us?? It was so bizarre! Adding to the bizarreness is that she sees them on a movie screen one second and then walks into the next room and they're getting married. Huh?? That was another problem with the movie. It never established a clear enough pattern to let us know what was in someone's mind and what was real.

BUT! BUT!! Somehow, someway, the movie pulled it all together in the end. When we jump forward so jarringly in time to the present day, I was shocked. I was not expecting that at all. My attention went from 10% to 110%. And when Old Brianny reveals what really happened, it just hit me. It all made sense and for some odd reason I was extremely attached to these characters who I didn't really care about over the course of the movie. Weird and bizarre. That's all I can say. I've never seen a movie quite like it before.

NOW, I will say that I WANT TO SEE THE DIRECTOR'S CUT of this movie. This movie had "epic" written all over it. Yet it hovered around 2 hours. Epics last somewhere over 2 and a half hours. So I have a feeling this movie was a lot longer and a lot of my problems with the film were addressed in that longer cut. I will hope that that cut comes out. Until then, that's all I have to say.
 
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