Atonement doesn’t beg for perspective as much as it demands it. Not in an ostentatious way, but in an impressively graceful manner that simply proves why it deserves your attention, and why it can and should change how you give your attention. It provides that coveted 20-20 hindsight in real time, provides the behind-the-scenes documentary as the show is being put on, takes the parts of our lives that have unsung rhythm… and sings it.
Does it look like anything…
Adaptations of favorite books have an obscenely unfair advantage for me. I imbue all of my affinity for the source material into just about every second of my film-watching experience and let the nostalgia of textual experiences or familiarity with the characters or reminiscence over the relaying of events waft over me. It causes me to view the two works as inseparable, transforms what could have had hope for being an objective experience into a wholly subjective, typically emotional one,…
The brutal absurdity Beau Is Afraid relentlessly unleashes on the viewer gave me much reservation the more I not only sympathized with Beau, but empathized. I paused, because relating concretely to him is severely tragic and insane, but it’s an understatement to say this film’s priorities lie abstractly. Aster presents life exactly how it can feel and nails it with uncanny, unbridled, unhinged… acuteness.
The only thing keeping me from perpetually feeling trapped in the final scene of this movie is the freedom…
"What sin are you referring to?"
Please hear me out:
Many believe this is wholly an anti-capitalism film. This is not the case. It is an anti-greed film. Yes, capitalism can provide a means for exercising greed, in many cases quite easily, but it is the vehicle for this film's condemning message, not the target. The oil industry was extremely domineering in the decades leading to the publishing of the novel on which this is based, making it an effective…
