If director Joe Wright continues making films as good as “Atonement,” the Academy will have to start engraving his name into an Oscar.
Although you may not recognize his name yet, you may remember his critically-acclaimed directorial debut: the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
And now with his second film, “Atonement,” Wright was honored to not only have the film open the Venice International Film Festival, but then also get seven Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.
Clearly he’s done something right.
But “Atonement” isn’t all about Wright. After all, it is, like his first film, an adaptation, this time of a novel by Ian McEwan. “Atonement” tells the 1940s story of a young girl named Briony who has an imagination a bit too large for her small brain. Briony, an aspiring writer, accuses her sister’s lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit, yet she thinks she saw him do it. The crime? Raping her friend (not the kind of crime you want to mistakenly accuse someone of committing).
The effect of Briony’s oversized imagination? Her sister (Keira Knightley) and McAvoy are separated when he’s sent to prison and later sent to kill Germans. The fairytale ending the couple had hoped for is threatened over several years as they wait to be reunited. As Briony grows older and realizes what she has done, she begins seeking atonement for her actions.
And it’s finding that atonement, feeling some kind of forgiveness from her sister and ultimately finding whether she can forgive herself, that makes the film so powerful and memorable, despite the depressing turns the story takes.
But Wright didn’t only have a grand story of love, forgiveness and separation in his arsenal. As he did in “Pride and Prejudice,” Wright used a cast that he knew consisted of extraordinary actors, not extraordinary celebrities.
Although you may not know him yet, McAvoy is one of the most lovable young actors from Scotland who is more versatile than most young American actors. As always, he delivers a strong performance in “Atonement,” but it sadly wasn’t the kind of role to improve upon his prior brilliant performance in “The Last King of Scotland.”
And although Keira Knightley, who plays Briony’s sister, is a big-name celebrity for Wright to use, there’s no denying that she’s an amazing actress who has been cast endlessly in British films like “Atonement” and continues to inch toward her first Oscar.
Knightley and McAvoy, although not given much time together in the story, develop an immediate chemistry that the audience holds on to the rest of the film (as do the characters themselves once separated).
And as it’s becoming a trademark for Wright – he teamed with Dario Marianelli to compose what is by far the best soundtrack of the year (the Golden Globes agree as well). It not only sounds as beautiful and emotional as the cinematography that it’s set to, but it actually enhances the storytelling by incorporating sound effects that coincide with the film. And who doesn’t love intense strings playing alongside a delicate piano melody?
When all of this comes together – the cast, story and soundtrack – Wright steps in and adds his own flare that makes the story work better than the book ever could.
Using his style of long, extended shots that require an unbelievable amount of preparation and vision, Wright invites the audience into scenes, allowing them to look around and simply explore the whole setting. When the film starts playing around with the timeline like a TiVo remote, it’s obvious that each shot was envisioned, shot and edited with precision; otherwise it would have made no sense. Bravo.
But the flow from the first act to the second is a bit awkward, and it takes a running start to get into the second half of the film due to some editing issues. And although the script is daring in the way it plays with the timeline throughout the film, the audience is, for the most part, kept onboard.
As lovely as each Golden Globe nomination and subsequent Oscar nominations are and will be for Wright and his cast and crew, it’s hard to say whether this young, ambitious director will come away with anything other than a great film.
But it’s that ambition, that ability to make fresh, innovative films that are powerful from all angles, that make him vulnerable to losing his touch. Take the young, ambitious directors M. Night Shyamalan, Darren Aronofsky, Kevin Smith and Chris Nolan. Is he to follow the same path, one in which his first few breakout films will remain his best?
And even though “Atonement” was crafted with such care and attention to detail, the Magic 8 Ball still says, “Ask again later.”