starring Saoirse Ronan, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave
written by Christopher Hampton and directed by Joe Wright
rated R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality.
97%

Briony Tallis (Ronan) lives a happy but sheltered life with her parents and older sister, Cecilia (Knightley), on a large country estate in the mid-1930s. At 13, she is an aspiring writer with a mild crush on Robbie (McAvoy), the housekeeper’s son. On an unusually hot and boring afternoon, the buzzing of a trapped bee draws Briony to the window where she witnesses an exchange between Robbie and her sister that she doesn’t understand. Her misunderstanding is compounded by further confusions throughout the afternoon and evening, and Briony forms a very distorted picture of what is going on. When a horrible crime is committed that night, Briony confidently points to Robbie as the perpetrator. This is, of course, a mistake, but Briony has a lot of growing up to do before she can understand exactly what happened that day.

Four years later, Europe is at war and the British army is in full retreat across France towards Dunkirk. Robbie is with them. Back home, Cecilia and her family have disowned each other and she waits anxiously in London for Robbie’s return, working as a nurse. Though Cecilia doesn’t know it, Briony has also come to London and begun her nurse’s training as a sort of penance for her childish mistake (the enormity of which she is only just beginning to comprehend).

Atonement deals profoundly with some fascinating themes by wrapping them in an absorbing story populated with compelling, passionate characters at an important moment in history. It is a tried and true method carried off very well here. The illusion of objective observation that the movie demolishes is neatly mocked in the double entendre of its tagline: “You can only imagine the truth.” Really, though, Atonement is about a quest for redemption which cannot be achieved. How can anyone atone for an unforgivable sin? What hope is there in even trying?

In some ways, this film feels both too long and too short, and the editing is needlessly obscure in spots. There were a few points during the second act that left me confused, and some scenes that jumped in as flashbacks would have been better left in chronological order. The final scenes felt slightly rushed and rather unsatisfying, but some of the latter is a perfectly natural outgrowth of the nature of the denouement. This is definitely a story that could only improve upon repeated viewings. I hope to see it again, and I expect to be even more impressed when I do.

There was certainly plenty to be impressed by on a first viewing. Every aspect of the production is excellent. Costumes, sets and locations are sumptuous and detailed, filling the larger-than-life screen in a way that still feels genuine. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, delightful to watch even when the camera is focused on something less than pleasant. There is an amazing long shot at one point which tracks for several unbroken minutes through the chaos, madness and sheer enormity of the situation faced by the British troops trapped on the beach at Dunkirk. The scene highlights the skill of the filmmakers and brings this historical event to life without pulling you out of the ongoing story.

The score is haunting and brilliant, frequently weaving itself into the very fabric of whatever is on the screen: A character idly mashing keys on the piano, for instance. The soundtrack also does some very clever percussion work with a typewriter which, on top of adding a great and distinctive sound, underscores Briony’s ongoing need to exorcise her guilt by putting her story down on paper.

Atonement feels very much like authentic British drama of the 1940s, a costume piece with an even mix of both large and small-scale tragedy. However, this movie substitutes deep emotion for melodrama and doesn’t settle for an easy ending. It sets up its scenario with a great deal of care and finesse and the boldness of the finale took my breath away. The whole may or may not be better than the sum of its parts; only time and a few more viewings will tell. I’m not convinced that every aspect of Atonement lives up to the magnificence of its technical artistry (Memoirs of a Geisha offers a reasonable comparison in almost every way), but it’s still a film that is well-worth seeing.

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starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall
written by John Logan and directed by Tim Burton
rated R for graphic bloody violence.
95%

Based on the stage musical by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd is a dark, bloody story of revenge and cannibalism; kind of a cross between The Count of Monte Cristo and Titus Andronicus. Innocent young barber Benjamin Barker (Depp) is arrested and imprisoned on false charges by the evil Judge Turpin (Rickman). Fifteen years later, Barker returns hiding behind a new name, Sweeney Todd, and returns to his former home, a ratty flat located above Mrs. Lovett’s (Bonham Carter) bake shop, home of the worst pies in London.

Once there, he discovers that the judge took advantage of his wife (who poisoned herself) and then adopted his daughter (Jayne Wisener). Vowing revenge, he takes up his razors once more and commences to plot. Meanwhile, Turpin plans to marry his young ward and a fresh-faced sailor (Jamie Bower) that returned to London with Todd, becomes infatuated with her and decides to steal her away. Before long, Sweeney has discovered what every good Calvinist already knows, that everyone deserves to die (“the lives of the wicked should be made brief/for the rest of us death will be a relief”), and Mrs. Lovett has risen to the occasion with a novel way to dispose of the corpses.

It goes without saying that nothing good can come of all this, despite the beauty of the musical numbers that move the plot forward. However, a casual moviegoer might well be shocked by just how dark things can get when left to fester for two hours in the iniquity of Victorian London. Be forewarned, while Sweeney Todd is not relentlessly violent by any means, when things cut loose they really cut loose. I am not aware of a more graphic portrayal of throat-slitting in mainstream film, and the movie is determined that you should comprehend the sheer volume of blood contained in the human body (hint: a lot). Furthermore, the final half-hour or so is unrelentingly bleak.

These are appropriate trappings for a story that is ultimately about the grim harvest of sin and revenge. It brings to mind the words of a character from No Country for Old Men, another of the great films from this year: “All the time you spend trying to get back what’s been took from you, there’s more going out the door. After a while, you just got to try and get a tourniquet on it.” The implied comparison between the impact of revenge on the soul and blood gushing from an open wound is especially appropriate in this context.

Those caveats aside, if you can stomach the occasional gore (you have eyelids, don’t you? use them) and a story which is ultimately almost completely devoid of happiness, Sweeney Todd is a thrilling spectacle on several levels. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are magnificent performers, and their eyes and voices infuse the lyrics of the songs with a crucial extra layer of meaning. They make it possible to appreciate the emotional anguish, fury and despair of their characters in ways that simply aren’t possible for an audience member in the balcony section of a live stage performance.

The entire cast, in fact, is well-chosen. Rickman channels a blood-curdling creepiness in Turpin’s sleazy, predatory sexuality, and Spall is appropriately fawning and sinister as his toady. I was especially impressed, though, by the younger cast members, all of whom are pretty much unknowns (for two of them, Sweeney Todd is their first feature film). Wisener has a beautiful voice and a palpable innocence and sadness that is perfect for Joanna. Bower has the requisite fresh-faced naivete, but with a serious, determined edge. As a young man infatuated, he is easy to root for and care about (significant, as I often find that this is not the case, cf. Marius in most adaptations of Les Miserables). Best of all, perhaps, is Ed Sanders as Toby, the cheeky waif Mrs. Lovett rescues from the abusive clutches of rival barber Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen, in a surprisingly tolerable turn). His character grows the most throughout the movie, and Sanders really sells it.

Tim Burton was indeed the perfect choice to bring this story to the screen, pulling no punches in his portrayal of the grime and wickedness in the hearts of London and her citizens. The environments are deliciously grim and gray, and there is some notably great work from the costume and make-up departments as well. The songs are cleverly staged and shot in a way that takes full advantage of the camera’s freedom, but above all (as I mentioned) they are a real pleasure to listen to. It might almost be worth it to buy a ticket, close your eyes, and just listen. I’m not entirely certain that I want to see Sweeney Todd again (although I’m beginning to suspect that I do), but I know I want to hear it again. It’s an excellent production and a great tragedy that generates some genuine food for thought and more than a few catching ditties.

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starring Will Smith
written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman and directed by Francis Lawrence
rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.
72%

Sometime in the very near future, science will discover what at first appears to be a medical miracle: a genetically-altered form of the measles that cures cancer. Unfortunately, within three years it will have morphed into a ridiculously deadly super-virus that kills 96% of the earth’s population and turns almost everyone else into a hyper-aggressive flesh-eating monster whose one major weakness is sunlight. Military scientist Robert Neville (Smith) and his German shepherd Sam are the only survivors left in New York City, perhaps in the whole world, and they spend their days hunting deer in Times Square and their nights sleeping fitfully through the din of howling vampires just outside. In addition to the day-to-day struggle to stay alive and stay sane, Neville has another objective: find a way to reverse the effects of the virus and save the remnants of humanity.

Will Smith is really great. I can’t recall an actor having to carry a movie like this (and succeeding) since Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Wherever this movie fails to deliver, it certainly isn’t his fault. Unfortunately, like Cast Away, I Am Legend is mediocre at best whenever its focus is not on the plight of the lonely survivor. Cast Away isn’t the only movie it reminded me of, either. While I watched, I couldn’t help but think, “I liked this movie better when it was called 28 Days Later.” The ending is underwhelming and artificial (and borrowed from M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs). In fact, so many little elements of I Am Legend brought other movies to mind, that I felt constrained to conclude it was nothing more than a hash of things that had been done before, and done better, elsewhere.

As intriguing and enthralling as parts of this movie are, there are just too many things that pull it to pieces. Enormous plot holes and dangling storylines abound, hinting at an extremely lazy drafting process. However, another thing they really got right is the abandoned, overgrown New York City. The environments are perfectly realized on an enormous scale that one struggles to take in. These stunning vistas of nature reclaiming one of man’s ultimate bastions of civilization are top-notch, which makes the shoddy realization of Smith’s computer-generated opponents all the more surprising and disappointing.

There was not a moment of the monsters’ time on screen when I was convinced of their physical presence. Quite the contrary, their glaring artificiality was distracting, removing any possibility of genuine terror or even suspense. When your monsters are obviously cartoons, don’t expect them to scare anyone. And, that aside, why should even virally-enhanced human beings be able to scale vertical brick walls like Spiderman, leap several feet in the air, or open their mouths so ridiculously wide?

I Am Legend is actually the 3rd screen version of a ’50s sci-fi novel bearing the same title. Previous versions, starring Vincent Price and Charleton Heston (the king of grim, post-apocalyptic futures), were renamed The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man. The filmmakers would have done well to change the title this time, too, as their changes to the story’s ending make the title incongruous and nonsensical (despite a lame attempt to make it fit in the final line). However, they’d have done still better to keep the original ending, which rivals that of the original Planet of the Apes with its bleak power. Ah, the film that might have been . . .

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starring Eduardo Verástegui, Tammy Blanchard and Manny Perez
written by Patrick Million and Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde
rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief disturbing images.
70%

Nina (Blanchard), a waitress at a small Mexican restaurant in New York City, has been late for work a lot lately, and her boss Manny has had enough. When she finally arrives on this particular day, he fires her on the spot, not knowing she’s just discovered that she is pregnant. He also doesn’t expect his brother Jose (Verástegui), the restaurant’s star chef, to walk out after her. At first merely concerned for her well-being and sorry for his brother’s reaction, Jose soon decides to spend the day with Nina after she tells him her news. And when he finds out Nina doesn’t plan to keep the baby, he hopes he can talk her out of it, even if it means dredging up painful memories from his own past and changing the course of his future.

Bella is a very simple story of two people together on a day that may change both of their lives, or not. It’s so simple and straightforward, in fact, that I was caught off-guard by the lack of any sort of twist or climax. There is only this relationship, quietly and carefully played to it’s natural conclusion. One might almost be tempted to say there isn’t anything to the movie at all. The final scene (which jumps forward several years) is almost anti-climactic. It answered questions I hadn’t asked and raised new ones that left me dissatisfied and unsure.

This movie is not unwatchable. The performances are open and genuine. The people on the screen felt very real to me (so much so, actually, that I kind of wanted to leave them to themselves and go find something else to watch). However that may be, I did admire the acting. Indeed, the entire production was very solid in its efforts to project the story onto the screen, despite being noticeably unprofessional. Bella is a small-scale production, and it shows, but (to me at least) this served to reinforce the intimate setting it created. In short, there is good technical work serving what I felt was an extremely mediocre story. However, I am a bit constrained in trying to describe why I felt that way. There is so little here that very small revelations could give away 91 minutes of screentime in a flash.

Suffice to say that I rather enjoyed the first half (give or take) before Bella had revealed how weak its hand actually was. Eventually, though, there comes a moment which both the ongoing story and various intermittent flashbacks have been building deliberately and inexorably up to. I give nothing away when I say that it involves the death of a little girl in what should be a very meaningful and emotionally powerful scene, the turning point of the movie in every possible sense. For me, it just wasn’t. It was (in retrospect) set up clumsily, and handled mawkishly. Moreover, it didn’t have any noticeable impact on what followed. I got off the ride, emotionally, at that point and watched, largely unmoved, as it continued to its destination. I wasn’t forcibly caught up by anything that transpired. I felt that the film was trying to exploit its audience’s sentimentality in a very transparent way, and I didn’t like it. The movie’s title, when you eventually discover what it means, turns out to have been poorly chosen, though I certainly don’t envy anyone the task of titling a film so devoid of any real unity or purpose.

I will admit that I admired Bella for it’s values, which were at least superficially pro-life without being anti-choice (to borrow a distinction emphasized by Peter Chattaway in his recent review of Juno). Having won various audience awards at film festivals, it is being touted by a variety of Christian groups as something of a cinematic coup d’etat for life-affirming values. Quite honestly, 2007 has been full of such themes, and we can do better. There is no convincing and reasonable philosophy of life present here, only an argument from pure emotion based on artificially-induced tragedy. The most interesting questions it raised came from my own half-bored ruminations, and were tangential at best. This is not a movie that is particularly memorable or meaningful, and it does not possess nearly enough entertainment value to make up for that lack.

Posted in Reviews