Jimmy and Some Other People: The Official Blog

Atonement is not a bad movie, it’s actually fairly good.  I just don’t know why it was nominated for Best Picture at this Oscars earlier this spring.  The fault of the movie is that it suffers from what many dramas suffer from: stoic, impassionate characters.  There was not a single character I cared about in this movie, because they’re all too busy being British to actually develop unique personalities.  I know that Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are in love because they kiss and whisper sweet nothings to each other, but I don’t really care about their love.  And this applies to an assortment of characters in the film.  So the movie functions on the level of television drama, or perhaps one of those Masterpiece Theatre presentations, but not as an Oscar caliber picture.

So yes, some of you will actually enjoy this movie.  But not those of you with standards.

Perhaps if Atonement hadn’t been nominated, a better picture, Zodiac, could have been nominated in its place.  Oh well…

Oh, there is one redeeming scene, that almost made me give the film 3 stars over 2 at Netflix.  It’s a continuous tracking shot of a make-shift military encampment in war-torn France that lasts over 5 minutes.  It is an incredible piece of cinema, and very emotionally affecting.  I’d almost recommend the film just for that five minutes.  Incredible stuff.