Atonement

Rarely a movie based on a book can shine above its source material, make you feel fully satisfied and maybe even open your eyes to one or two things you have not thought about reading the book. Atonement is one of such rarity. It is based on the same name novel by British author Ian McEwan. McEwan is a giant in contemporary British literature. His 1998 novel Amsterdam was awarded the British Booker Prize, sort of the equivalent of Pulitzer Prize for fiction in our country. Atonement was published a few years later and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Time Magazine named it the best novel of 2002. His subsequent two novels have all been highly regarded by critics and the later one, On Chesil Beach, was once again shortlisted for Book Prize. McEwan has become a perennial Booker favorite whenever he finishes a novel.

In movie history, there are plenty of incidents in which good books are ruined on screen. For this movie, I had the same kind of doubt before walking into the theater. I was really persuaded by the director’s name, Joe Wright, to give this movie a try. Before Atonement, Wright had only made one other feature-length movie, Pride & Prejudice. The classic Jane Austen novel has been turned into countless films and TV series. Many of them are mediocre and some are excellent. It seemed foolhardy to try another remake, but what a remake it was. Wright completely made Pride & Prejudice feel fresh and new by using most young unknown actors who were close to age of Austen’s characters. He also conveyed the 1800 English life and countryside scenery beautifully on screen and made that movie artful and pretty to watch.

Now once again, working with a different screenwriter, Christopher Hampton, he captures the heart and soul of a great book that, at first glance, seems impossible to be adapted on screen. There are four parts in the book. Part one happens on a hot summer day of 1935 at a sprawling country estate. This is the fateful day that sets the wheels in motion for all later events. Briony is a precocious 13-year old. From her room window, she witnesses an incident involving her older sister Cecelia (played by Keira Knightly) and gardener Robbie (played by James McAvoy) near the fountain in her family estate. Robbie is the son of the family’s cook. Because of his brilliance, Briony’s father has supported his education all the way through Cambridge and now plans to support him through medical school. He works for the family during the summer. Later, Briony opens a letter written by Robbie to Cecelia which accidentally contains a page that shows explicitly his feelings toward Cecelia. Right before dinner, Briony also sees Robbie and Cecelia in compromised positions in the family library. All these events prompt Briony to make a mistake of her lifetime and wrongly accuse Robbie of a crime he does not commit. It exposes the hypocrisy of aristocratic British upper class – they feel generous and liberal of themselves to support a lower class member for their education, but deep down, they still consider them far below themselves and therefore capable of hideous crimes. Because of Briony’s accusation, Robbie is put in jail and Cecelia is alienated from her family. Part two fast forwards to 1940. It is Robbie’s journey in France as a British army private during the Dunkirk evacuation. It interweaves with Robbie’s flashback to the past. Part three is about Briony as a nurse trainee in London right around the same time. She lives under a heavy guilt and gets to experience firsthand the horror of the war. Part four is contemporary London and ties up all the loose ends in the book.

Hampton stays fairly faithful to the first three parts of the book, but differs dramatically in the last part in order to deliver the surprising twist on screen. There are no dramatic actions in the book, so the pacing of the movie may be too slow for American audience used to fast moving plot lines.

Once again, Wright gets it just right with that upper-class stuffy and self-absolving atmosphere at the beginning of the movie. Briony herself is a product of that upper-class upbringing. She is educated to be far more knowledgeable than she can handle with her meager real-life experiences. A tragedy is bound to happen when a precocious kid knows no boundaries about imagination and reality. Hampton shrewdly cuts off the father figure from the film version and the mother only shows up for a few very short scenes, but we get a good sense about what kind of household Briony lives in.

In the 1935 part of the movie, perspective is everything, so Hampton and Wright designs a clever way to visualize different perspectives. We frequently see one event first from Briony’s point of view and then quickly Wright cuts to the same event again, but this time we are seeing it from the perspective of people really involved. When Robbie is agonizing over his apology letter, Wright puts Cecelia in an equally unsure state. The editing goes back and forth between these two characters: Robbie working furiously at his typewriter and Cecelia trying to choose what dress to wear for the party. Their emotions are subtly in sync. Later when Robbie was in France, he accidentally walks into a movie room where soldiers are watching a French film starring great actors Jean Gabin and Michele Morgan. Their sensuous kiss reminds the audiences of Robbie and Cecelia’s kiss years ago as well forms a sharp contrast with Robbie’s current lonely figure.

Jacqueline Durran’s costume design is breathtaking. It reflects that time period in London and the exquisiteness may well start a new fashion nostalgia trend. The green dress Knightly wears to the party recalls old Holly wood glamour and is a simple elegance that can stand side by side with Audrey Hepburn’s famous dress in Sabrina.

It is also quite a treat to have many quiet moments in this movie without the constant intrusion of music. The sound designers and mixers selectively amplify certain nature sound such as bees, typewriter, etc. When Briony sits in a London train on her way back from her cousin’s wedding, the clacking sounds of the train is almost synonymous to the striking typewriter key. We can imagine that in Briony’s mind, she may be furiously writing the next chapter of her book or the exonerating letter to the authority. The music only slowly creeps in when necessary and never feels overwhelming here.

The cinematography is also quite spectacular in this film. In the first half of the movie, it is bright and has all the hopefulness in that lighting. Of course, British countryside always looks beautiful. Later during the Dunkirk evacuation, it becomes gloomy and dark. There have been many talks about the famous almost 5-minute long shot through the Dunkirk beach. Because of the budget limit, Wright had to shoot that scene in one day and he did a good job recreating the despair on that beach. However, I think all the talk about that shot has spoiled it for me because it simply doesn’t live up to my extremely high expectations. Also I guess because of the limited budget, there are no German airplanes seen in the evacuation except the shadows of three planes in shallow water when Bobby and his two buddies walk toward the beach. The treacherous German plane is one of the greatest menaces mentioned in the book during the evacuation. By cutting them out of the picture, it reduces the dire situation British soldiers are facing at the time. McEwan’s book is not only a great romance, but also an interesting historical read. For us Americans, Normandy may be our chief knowledge about the European theater in World War II; but to British, Dunkirk evacuation is an important historical event. It was a major retreat on a large scale and may have saved the war by preserving as many British military resources as possible.

I have also experienced some new enlightenment while watching this movie. When Briony talks to a delirious French soldier at his death bed, he thinks she is his lover and dies knowing that she loves him. Of course, it shows the horror of war, but this little incident may also serve to deepen Briony’s guilt. Her action of years earlier has denied the happiness between Cecelia and Robbie, but during the war it has further damage and complications.

There are some minor flaws in the movie such as revealing the face of true perpetrator of the crime, to me, seems to be quite unnecessary. I think most adult audiences pretty early on already know who may be the guilty party. Still those flaws are few and minor.

The dramatic change in last part of the book is a clever solution to revealing the twist in the movie. The final sequence of the movie, in fact, is a far more superior ending than the one in the book. Seeing Robbie and Cecelia frolic near the cabin that they never get to use during the war is the most romantic way for this sweeping love story.

The acting in this movie is first-rate and frankly surprised me. Knightly won an Oscan nomination for her performance in Wright’s last movie Pride & Prejudice. It was a solid performance, but still I considered it as a lark. I guess I have been an art house snob against her because of her involvement in such blatant blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean, but I have underestimated her acting ability. She is good, super good. At a tender young age of 22, she exudes such emotion that shines through on screen. Both she and McAvoy are way too good looking for the roles they play, but good looks are not crime in movie business, lack of acting ability is. In this movie, no crime is committed by these two stars. Their scenes together are electrified and full of chemistry in the beginning; sad and full of tenderness in the second half. McAvoy strikes me as an arrogant hotshot in The Last King of Scotland, so I was truly touched by his vulnerability shown in this movie. When he and Knightly meet in the café years later, his hand seems to slightly tremble under her gentle touch and tears well up right away in his eyes. It looks and feels so natural to see this handsome man break down.

2007 is a great year for movies – there are great small independent features, resurgence of movie musicals and some wonderful adaptations of great works. I hope the audience can embrace the theme of love and sin in this movie. Some wrongs may never be able to be righted, but the journey to forever atonement is a story worth telling and watching.

Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton has finally done it: he has found a perfect story for his trademark gothic style and the combination of a superb script and his creative, imaginative directing style has resulted in a film masterpiece. And that masterpiece is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

First of all, let us get one thing straight – it is a musical in a traditional musical sense. People break out in songs mid-sentence, but it is a musical based on contemporary stage giant Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway hit that has been revived many times on stage, so you know the music has to be good. I have never seen Sweeney Todd on stage before. I love quite a few of Sondheim’s show tunes, so walking into the theater, I assumed the music would be great. What I did not expect was how powerful the story is and how well Sondheim integrates the songs with the story. It is not a musical to show off any specific tune like the way Andrew Lloyd Webber likes to do in his musicals. Todd is a rarity in the musical genre: the songs are designed to complement the story and they work closely together to make the end product (in this case, the movie) a divinely engaging experience for the audience.

Todd is not for the faint-hearted. It is the closest modern stage work we get to ancient Greek tragedies. Burton’s London of Victorian England is gloomy and depressing for a big chunk of time throughout the movie. It reflects well Sweeney Todd’s (played by Johnny Depp) dark mood. He is a barber bent on revenge against evil Judge Turpin (played by Alan Rickman) who, years ago, convicted him on made-up charges and sent him to Australia so that he could court Todd’s beautiful wife. Upon Todd’s arrival in London, he soon hooks up with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett (played by Helena Bonham Carter) and Mrs. Lovett’s meat pie business starts flourishing once Todd picks up his old trade and opens his “barber” shop.

Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography is astonishing. The sullen London sky seems to hide menace and danger in every street corner. The entire film is soaked with Burton’s unique gothic style. Depp and Carter look like live version of the couple in Burton’s animated movie Corpse Bride (which has Depp and Carter voice the two main characters). The violence in the movie is shot in a stylistic, over-the-top fashion. You feel squeamish when the blood is shooting out, yet all the blood clearly looks fake and Burton purposely wants a lot of blood to add another gothic element to this tale.

Unlike most movies based on stage shows, Todd is shot on sets in movie studios instead of outdoor locations. Burton understands Todd is not meant to be a realistic drama and recognizes its true grand theatrical scale. However, he does not let shooting on set, in any way, deter his cinematic vision. There are plenty of cinematic qualities in the movie that can never be achieved on stage. First of all, the set looks so much larger and incorporates London so much better than any stage production can ever imagine. Second, Burton employs many mirror shots, especially cracked mirror shots, to show Todd and Mrs. Lovett’s distorted faces, hence implying their deranged minds. Third, the color is so rich even though the entire movie may be described dark in general. Burton and Wolski have different shade and different layer of darkness and paleness. The only colorful sequence later in the movie is simply shot and designed perfectly. Mrs. Lovett’s dream vacation and life for Todd, her boy helper and her has an unrealistic post-card look, yet even in all those beautiful settings, Todd and she still look ghostly pale in a sharp contrast.

Burton also changes mood in a scene masterfully. When Todd’s daughter Johanna sings a romantic duet with the sailor, we see Judge Turpin peep through a peephole. When he enters in the room, Johanna instantly stops singing and then we hear this sad, sob-like woman voice singing a rueful menacing tune. It is not clear right away who is singing. Then we see a beggar lady approach the sailor and she is actually the voice we hear. She is covered in rags and we cannot see her face. It casts an ominous shadow into the characters’ future. This scene feels much creepier than some cheap scare moments done by lesser directors.

It may take you a minute to get used to Depp’s singing voice. He is adequate as Todd both singing wise and acting wise, but I don’t think he has done something extraordinary and surpassed his other freakish performances. The actor that shines for me in this movie is Carter. Her Mrs. Lovett is evil yet a seemingly suffering character. While you may hate her for some of her actions, you cannot help sympathizing with her in other circumstances.

The ending of the movie surely will make most American audience used to typical Hollywood movies uneasy, but I applaud Burton’s conviction in carrying out a Greek tragedy style finale. That finale is actually the most realistic and natural end for Todd. In any lesser hands, Todd can be easily made into a more realistic period drama but with a more hopeful and sweetened ending, but Burton chooses a completely opposite approach and the movie is all the better because of that.

There is so much duality in this movie. Burton is never a director who shoots his movies realistically yet he fully evokes the audience’s emotion far more than many realistic dramas released in 2007. One cannot help but marvel at his cinematic genius.

I Am Legend

I Am Legend is a competent scary thriller, far above the latest critic hit, zombie movie 28 Weeks Later, but as a human drama, it is not up to par with 2000’s Cast Away, a gripping movie about a solitary man’s struggle to stay alive and sane.

The opening scene of Legend reveals that a cure has been found for cancer, but we can sense a sinister undertone based on the less exuberant expression on the doctor’s face. Fast forward three-year later, the entire New York has become a wasteland and we meet Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), the sole survivor of a plague that kills most of mankind and transforms some into zombie-like monsters. Robert lives with his dog Sam at his home in Manhattan. He pretty much has everything needed to survive at his disposal. He drives a car, has plenty of food supply, protects himself with weapons, is stocked by a large amount of ammunition, exercises nightly, broadcasts daily about a meeting place for other survivors to find him, listens to his iPod, watches DVD and even has his research lab fully functional in the basement. Here is a guy much better organized than most people under no duress. He is a perfect human specimen to survive, proving Darwin’s theory of natural selection; however, it also leaves us mere mortals a little cold to his predicament.

Probably the biggest mistake in screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldman’s script is to introduce the audience to Robert Neville three years after the plague instead of witnessing Neville’s initial shock after finding himself the only survivor in New York. It might have been a more absorbing and ambitious thriller. I, for one, would like to see how Neville has established his daily routine after the disaster. Instead, the Neville we meet at the beginning of the film is already well set in his solitary life. He has his dog as his loyal companion. He seems to have all he needs for survival and even has luxury items such as music and movies to sustain him spiritually. His research lab looks top-notched and his mind is still pretty sharp to carry on a very systematic research. Yet, Protosevich and Goldman want us to know all is not well. Neville has built a relationship with the mannequins in a video shop he routinely visits. He goes there regularly to check out videos and return them; all the while carrying on conversations with the mannequin cashier and stealing glances at an attractive fellow mannequin shopper. If we had been gradually exposed to Neville’s nightmare, those quirks might have come naturally; however, only knowing Neville three years after the disaster and seeing how well he functions elsewhere, those quirks seem forced onto the character.

While failing to create a deep psychological drama, director Francis Lawrence succeeds in creating an eerie atmosphere for the film. It is a treat to just see the whole Manhattan being deathly quiet and empty. Will Smith is a good choice playing Neville. Smith is a likeable actor and often underestimated by critics. He doesn’t undercut the seriousness of the subject, but he also understands there has to be humor to lighten up the mood from time to time. Smith’s acting works well with Lawrence’s direction and Andrew Lesnie’s cinematography. When he looks one way and then the other in a dark building, every nerve-wracking whatwasthat? registers. The audiences are truly frightened when something jumps out. Even a cheap “gotcha!” moment, in which a heavily sedated zombie jumps up and grabs Neville, is very well done and can scare you out of your seat.

I Am Legend will not become a legend, but it has plenty of thrills to offer for simple thrill seekers.