I can’t remember the last time I posted three times in something like 12 hours. I suppose I’m in a blogging mood. Maybe I’m making up for the three weeks wherein I basically checked myself out of the living world. Who knows.
Anyway. There are some movies and books that I love dearly, but once I’m done with them, they go back on their shelves and stay there until the next time I get a whim to watch/read.
Then there is Atonement. I really had no clue it would impact me as much as it has when I first saw the trailer. In fact, the trailer that aired — the one of Robbie and Cecilia and the whispered “I’ll come back to you”s — was fairly misleading. The protagonist is actually a lonely little wisp of a girl who is more at home hidden in the depths of her imagination than in the real world.
From the opening clatter of the typewriter till the screen had faded to black amidst the final strains of Dario Marianelli’s haunting, Oscar-winning score, I was spellbound.
I’m reading the book. I’ve been reading it since just after I saw the movie, and I still haven’t finished. It’s hard to read because I know what happens. I usually prefer reading the book first, but in this respect, seeing the movie first hasn’t had a negative effect on my opinion of Ian McEwan’s novel. Instead of being shocked by the dips and turns of the plot, I find that I’m reading with a tragic sort of dramatic irony, and it’s actually been quite satisfying. It’s that well-written.
I had uploaded this video a while back but didn’t incorporate it into a post because it’s rather spoiler-y. But I’ve decided to include it now because it is so fantastic that I can’t help myself. I enjoy watching it because it brings the experience of the movie back all over again.
Atonement may not have won Best Picture, but it is still outstanding, and it is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.
