Atonement (2006): C+

Director(s): Joe Wright. Screenplay: Christopher Hampton. Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, Juno Temple, Patrick Kennedy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Harriet Walter, Michelle Duncan, Gina McKee, Daniel Mays and Alfie Allen. Distributor: Focus Features. Runtime: 122 min. Rating: R.

Oscar season continues with Atonement, Joe Wright's overly-calculated adaptation of Ian McEwan universally acclaimed novel. However moving and faux-imaginative as its primary themes suggest, the film's roadblock is its ostensible and black marked raison d'etre: Academy Awards. The film starts circa the late 1930's, as the war starts to arm up; it is the tale of Briony (Saoirse Ronan), a young girl whose primary love is to write (almost the first thing we hear in the film is the sound of the type-writer, slightly incorporating itself into the film's score). Naivety, however, causes havoc in the family itself, as the child finds herself falsely accusing the gardener, played by the solid James McAvoy, of raping her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley)—though they are both in love—as well as, incidentally, a member in the extended family; one could say, indeed, that it is an indignant plan—Brinony herself being herself a striving writer—though it certainly doesn't stop the whole dilemma from entering the war, as Cecilia and her love find herself separated at the cost of the girl' stupid little mistake (the titular "atonement" comes into play later in the film.) Fashioned in faux-chronological order, the narrative itself feels strained of naturalness, though nevertheless one able to portray its characters emotions. Yet the film's main problem, however, is in its uneven feeling: however dire their situation is, Atonement refuses to go deeper, almost even afraid to scrap true emotions, despite its harshly realistic ending; one could say that, ironically, Wright has dubiously diminished the themes of his work to please its audience. Artistically, however, the film proves its virtues through a magnificent color palette and cinematography (including a stunning eight-minute tracking shot on the beach, perfectly queued and felt), with both Knightely and McAvoy proving an interesting chemistry on the frame. Moving it is, though the clash of these two ideas ultimately renders Atonement as a semi-beautiful, semi-flawed, semi-felt, and finally, semi-poignant concoction.