FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

classicsoncall I was left with a bitter feeling at the end of this movie after hearing the elderly Briony Tallis (Vanessa Redgrave) explain to an interviewer how she manufactured the extended love story between her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and lover Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). Granted, and while putting things into perspective, young Briony (Saoirse Ronan) at the age of thirteen was not only mistaken in her accusation about Robbie, but was also in a bit of revenge mode after being rebuffed by him after the fountain 'drowning' incident. Her twenty first and final novel was meant to put to rest her conflicted heart over the matter of destroying two lives, but her means of 'atonement' at that point had no conciliatory effect on the way I felt about her character. Would that the relationship between Cecilia and Robbie have turned out the way it did following the war and it's aftermath, but it was all a fiction concocted by the troubled author. In a way, it's a story that never happened, at least as far as the latter half of the picture goes, so it left this viewer feeling as if he had been strung along. I don't think we had closure on chocolate heir Paul Marshall (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Lola Quincey (Juno Temple) either, as their relationship further damned the future of Cecilia and Robbie as well. They could have come forward to contradict Briony's story when she was thirteen without jeopardizing their reputations, although to be fair, Lola was a kid at the time too and was certainly scared about what happened between her and Paul. So ultimately, all thoughts of a tragic love story between the principals was shattered by the end of the picture, leaving me with only a degree of measured contempt for the author who couldn't (or wouldn't) take responsibility when it mattered.

begob At a gathering in a country house a jealous little girl intervenes in her sister's love life, and things will never be the same ...From an interesting novel that had an engrossing first half but, for me, trailed off in the second. So I had a different experience with the film adaptation, where the country house scenes are not quite satisfying but the following war story is brilliantly told. The narrator is a fascinating little character, but looking back I think her motivation needed to be colder and her atonement more problematic. In the end the story is wrapped up with a talking head, which I guess was unavoidable but not the mark of a great movie.The long tracking shot on the beach at Dunkirk is amazing - not only a technical marvel (the amount of ground covered, the multiple interactions) but it creates a great sense of chaos and despair.Performances are good, and it's no wonder people raved about Ronan. The music is excellent and plays about with the rhythm of a tapping type writer. Photography too, although I didn't get the sense of oppressive heat in the first act.Overall: interesting and impressive, but some big flaws.

blumdeluxe "Atonement" is a movie evolving around a young girl who falsely accuses her sister's brother of rape and thus ruins and influences the life and relationship of both of them.The production is of high value, delivers beautiful pictures and a very earnest and atmospheric set-up. Unfortunately, at times it is a bit hard to follow the story because at several points the flashbacks and time shifts include such great deals of time that the coherence is suffering. The ending, on the contrary, is pretty strong and achieves to weaken the negative impact of the questionable story-telling. I like how parts of the movie are proved wrong and how the audience is surprised by that. However, it would have been of benefit to tell one story consequently and not different stories of false accusations, war and love.All in all it is a very well-produced and serious movie but in my eyes it is not superb. On the other hand I have to admit that I'm not a great fan of historical movies anyway, so I can guess that many people will like the film a lot better than I do and it is definitely worth a watch.

Mihai Toma When a young boy is accused and punished for a crime he did not commit, he gets the choice of staying behind bars or join the war. We follow his tormented life from when he is brutally separated from his beloved as a result of a lie, until his last breath, in a desperate attempt to return to his previous life and love.It's a highly dramatic movie which starts a bit unconvincing but soon changes everything, raising the bar with every scene it depicts. It's actors, especially James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, do a really good job in creating and maintaining this dark, emotional and tense atmosphere which simply draws you into it, making you care for the its characters, as their fate seems more and more troubled. As a drama it does its job incredibly well, bringing more and more tension and sadness, one event at a time. It also has an unique way of telling its story by jumping from past to future and back without any warning, while the shooting perspective helps it even more in its quest. What it turns out to be is a very good drama, credible and emotional, with an unexpected but somehow logical ending. If only it had a better beginning...it would have been perfect! Still, it managed to impress me to the tears which its story, making it the most dramatic movie I've seen so far.