Atonement (2007)

I was wandering through the library shelves when I picked up Ian McEwan's Atonement. I didn't know what it was about, but I remember it was adapted into a movie with Keira Knightly and Saoirse Ronan that I had meant to watch for quite some time, so I read it. And I loved it which is why I was no longer sure I wanted to see Joe Wright's Atonement.

The story opens in 1935 when a 13-year-old aspiring writer and playwright, Briony (Saoirse Ronan), witnesses an act she doesn't fully understand, the long-time family servant, Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), making love with her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Later on, she becomes the witness of a crime she doesn't understand but she thinks she does and falsely accuses Robbie because of what she had seen earlier. This accusation of hers tears apart the two lovers, maybe forever as Robbie is sent to serve the army in WWII. Five years later, a grown-up Briony (Romola Garai), aware of the damage she has caused, tries to make amends for it.

Lost River (2014)

I added Lost River on my list years ago because of Saoirse Ronan but, I don't know why, I never cared to watch it. Probably because it sent me a negative vibe. 

Anyways, the film centers on Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single mother of two who has fallen behind on her house payments and may lose her home because of it. As a desperate attempt to save her childhood home, she takes a disturbing job into a macabre underworld. In the meantime, her older, teenage son, Bones (Iain De Caestecker), steels chopper from old houses to make some money and gets into trouble with a vicious local criminal named Bully (Matt Smith). 

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Historical movies aren't really my thing —despite the fact that I loved my teacher, history was one of my least favourite subjects in high school— but I checked out Mary Queen of Scots anyway because one does not simply pass a movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. And of course eye-candy in the form of Jack Lowden is always welcome. 

The film tells the story of Catholic Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan). Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, she returns to Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England are both ruled by her cousin Elizabeth (Margot Robbie), the Protestant Queen of England, and her claim to the English throne puts her on a collision course with Queen Elizabeth I.