Atonement

Very well made. Characters, settings, mise en scène are handled with precious manner. The well-performed, uptight British characters are so repressed they can barely speak to each other until it’s time to molest little boys. It’s amazing the English were ever able to propagate at all. Nevertheless, it’s a long but good show, accentuating the shadows, the waiting, and negative spaces in between all the shooting, stabbing, and kissing that happens – sometimes non-stop – in other, more American-style movies. Don’t wait for the “cut to the chase”, it doesn’t happen. Only the painful results of that kind of uniquely British unrequited love. The moral of the story: when given the opportunity, be sure to punch a bratty, eleven-year-old English chick in the face. You never know when you’ll have another chance or a clear shot.