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Cloud Atlas

Elisa Maza

Whomst


An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings, starring Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving and many others, this film is an adaptation of the book, written by David Mitchell.

Just found this today and I've searched some for it. I'm actually pretty hyped.

I've gotta say, despite the length of the trailer, I love how the plot of the movie isn't given to us. Nowadays, you can guess almost all the story from the trailer, since it gives too much. This one, however, had me guessing.

Looks REALLY interesting. Scheduled for this October.
 
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Oh my god, I can't believe this! This is my favourite novel ever. If you haven't read it, it's structured like a Russian doll, so clever, and so beautifully written. I'm afraid I cannot help feeling that the Wachowski brothers will mangle it, though. Still, it will boost sales which means more people will read it, and that's a wonderful thing.
 

Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
This looks various degrees of both awesome and mind-bendingly random, :monster:. Is it just one movie or three / four rolled into one? Like. When will it be out?

And it seems they're more like the siblings, now, :monster:. Gender changes are confusing.
 

Ⓐaron

Factiō Rēpūblicāna dēlenda est.
AKA
The Man, V
Cloud Atlas is about six different stories that are sort of worked together into a novel. I'm assuming the film will be similar.

It's out in a couple of months.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
I hope to meet you in another life, my love. Things have gone far too wrong this time. I promise the next one will be different.

So, has anyone else seen this film? I'd love to discuss it, but due to the way that it's delivered, it's impossibly difficult to know how or where to begin...

It's easily one of the most ambitious films I've ever seen, just looking at what they accomplished in terms of vision and narrative delivery. Some of those mechanisms have been a bit polarizing with critics, but I'd say that it absolutely deserves the 10-minute standing ovation that it earned at the Toronto film festival. I've been wanting to see it again to watch the narrative again with a better handle on the story, but haven't been able to.

Regardless, looking forward to hearing opinions and writing in more detail when not posting from my phone.


X :neo:
 

Carlie

CltrAltDelicious
AKA
Chloe Frazer
I would love to hear your analysis on the film. I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to see it since for some reason it hasn't premiered here yet.
 
I to would love to discuss it, but there's so much to this film I know I'll forget stuff, and yeah, I dont even know where to begin. I really wanna see it again.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
I would love to hear your analysis on the film. I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to see it since for some reason it hasn't premiered here yet.

D: I'm really surprised that it hasn't premiered for you yet. I hope that you manage to see it soon.

I to would love to discuss it, but there's so much to this film I know I'll forget stuff, and yeah, I dont even know where to begin. I really wanna see it again.

• Pacific Ocean, 1849: Adam Ewing, Autua, & Dr. Henry Goose
• UK, 1936: Frobisher & Sixsmith
• Cali, 1973: Luisa Rey, Joe Napier, & Bill Smoke
• UK, 2012: Timothy Cavendish & Nurse Noakes
• Neo Seoul, 2144: Sonmi-451 & Hae-Joo Chang
• Hawaii, 2321: Zachry & Meronym

I've finally got free time, so I'm gonna try to summarize my feelings on each of them briefly. I saw this movie several weeks ago, I'm CERTAIN I'll be missing a ton. I'm also occasionally going to be referring to the actors as the "souls" that inhabit the different characters. I'm also REALLY inconsistent about using the actors names and character names, so apologies in advance.

• Pacific Ocean: I really liked how this story keeps tension by having the role of Dr. Henry Goose be seemingly helpful at first, but grow darker over time, when you're used to Tom Hanks being a good character. It's really well presented, and it manages the tension amazingly well (plus it also shows his "soul's" affinity for the little gems and other trinkets that he often has). The whole story of him inadvertently rescuing Autua, and how they were going to kill him on the ship without actually allowing him to prove himself were incredibly striking. This story dealt with so many shifts of character, the expectations and order that it was presented in was brilliantly arranged. I especially loved how Adam and Tilda's love story managed to parallel with Sonmi-451 & Hae-Joo Chang's romance, standing up for the cloned servants and starting a revolution after they'd denounced slavery. Their story is such a beautiful growing point for what their "souls" accomplish together later.

• UK, 1936: Oh dear god, this story. It doesn't even matter that the moment gets revealed in the opening of the film. This is the story that totally hit me and managed to make tears pour out of my eyes in the theater. The little descriptive ways that he's always talking about Sixsmith just got to me and really sells how Frobisher feels about him. It doesn't help that this is the origin of the Cloud Atlas Sextet, and that song just rips at my heart now every time I hear it. The intercutting between Frobisher & Adam's story via the journal was wonderfully executed. I was rather sad that the only homosexual relationship ended tragically, and I can't recall if Frobisher's words to Sixsmith ever reached a time where they were able to be happy together.

• Cali, 1973: The pacing and twists in this story are just absolutely BRILLIANT. Once the tension ratchets up, it bleeds into all the other stories, and never lets go. From her surviving the crash, to Napier hiding in her apartment (right after the mystery novel quote), to the lady who saves them, the pacing and execution is amazing. The way it reaches into the other stories, like the post-apocalypse with the Manager of the plant also being the head of the Kona cannibals in the apocalypse that guard a similar area, Tom Hanks recognizing Luisa and falling for her and dying after trying to do the right thing, and Luisa's "soul" recognizing the Cloud Atlas song (with Frobisher as the record store owner). Also, Sixsmith also dying from a gunshot to the head was a connection that I only made well after the film when I was reflecting on it.

• UK, 2012: Holy Christ. This story was FULL of comedy and absolute marvelousness. Tom Hanks as the tough writer started things off with a bang, and it just never lets up. The already established "don't trust the soul of Hugo Weaving" was well in place, and when he appears as Nurse Noakes, it was equally terrifying and hilarious. Just all around great. The reference to Soylent Green before the reveal with Sonmi-451 was an excellent way to reflect on that moment later on. The conclusion in the bar and just all the senile old moments were SO damn enjoyable. The pacing really balances everything else out well, and makes me amazed at how elegantly they manage the potential for emotional whiplash in the film.

• Neo Seoul, 2144: The way this story starts out is so mysteriously sinister, it almost feels out of place, but the way that everything else ties into it is so amazing. It's easily got the largest number of (obviously) returning "souls" that parallel their roles in other stories - which is often apparent because of the makeup being the least convincing while still having a very serious tone. Doona Bae's performance is. just. stunning. She delivers on all fronts, and goes from being endlessly timid towards the most basic freedom to absolutely unwaveringly resolute in the face of unstoppable danger, and she carries any flaws that this section had for me. The action, mixed with the very believable growth that she undergoes in her role as a saviour for the rebellion is flawlessly executed. The sheer brutality that takes place on a human level brings up so many complex feeling, issues, and thoughts, that I don't really know how to sum it up at all.

• Hawaii, 2321: I LOVE Tom Hanks' role here. The fractured speech patterns, and post apocalyptic dichotomy between those with and those without is amazingly well constructed. I also love the idea of Zachry's beliefs haunting him almost physically in the form of Old Georgie. The simple survival against the most complex and small things are on display, in the planet dying, and human conflict, or just hazard. How it marries this together with Tom Hanks' "soul's" redemption and love of Meronym was carefully timed for the rest of the film, and the way that it literally loops the final shot to the one in the opening of the film just sealed the crisscrossing and non-linear narrative into an absolutely beautiful piece.

I really need to see this.

I cannot overstate how true this statement is. You really, really do.



X :neo:
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
It's one on BluRay/DVD today. Hopefully I'll be picking it up. Additionally, there's a pretty sweet infographic that I found on io9 that might be appreciated.

original.jpg



X :neo:
 

Ⓐaron

Factiō Rēpūblicāna dēlenda est.
AKA
The Man, V
Finally saw this and it was riveting. I wasn't expecting to watch the whole thing in one sitting but I couldn't stop watching. Will definitely have to see this at least once more and possibly twice more. One of the best films I've seen this year (and that's keeping in mind that Gravity came out this year and I rewatched Pan's Labyrinth a few weeks ago). Not flawless, but given how ambitious it was it's far better than it had any right to be.
 

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
ENDLESSLY pleased that you finally watched this, and felt how I hoped you would about the film. I've been meaning to rewatch this again, and I think that having a discussion about it might just be the motivation I need to do so.



X :neo:
 

Ⓐaron

Factiō Rēpūblicāna dēlenda est.
AKA
The Man, V
Sounds good. I think I want to read the book, too; I suspect I'll be able to follow the film a lot better the second time around if I've read the book. I had a hard time even keeping all the characters' names straight the first time around (and I was honestly cheating by looking at the actors' names and parts on Wikipedia pretty often during the film, but I think that's almost a necessity when watching a film such as this. I don't know if I'd have been able to stand seeing this in the theatres).
 

Geostigma

Pro Adventurer
AKA
gabe
Didnt realize we had a thread about this movie here :reptar:

Picked it up a few weeks ago whilst browsing movies at the mall. Ive seen it atleast 3 full times now lol, much like Aaron the first time around I put it in and didnt think i'd be able to sit through it all at once due to how busy I was and it turns out I couldnt keep my eyes from being glued to the tv lol.
 

Charles Xavier

Pro Adventurer
Interesting to know, but Enix (now part of Square-Enix) made an RPG back in the early 90s, which had a similar premise as Cloud Atlas. In fact, watching that movie reminded me a lot of this game. It was called 'E.V.O.: The Search For Eden'.

user3329_1164783772.jpg


Unlike CA, its main theme was all about evolution and the survival of the fittest. Though like CA, it focused on several different stories set in different time periods, all somehow connected to each other. If memory serves me well, you play as a hero (whose either a fish, a dinosaur, a mammal, etc., depending on which period you're playing), meeting the same friends/foes as different incarnations like yourself.

Though not as emotionally engaging or philosophical as CA, the similarities are there. I say have a look at the game if you have time.
 

Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
Yeah, CA the movie is definitely better if you've read the books - and yet, more annoying too. The book is more linear, where they go through the timeline one story at a time - each character / story has two chapters in the book, basically, going from history to future and back again.

But the annoying bit is that they seriously cut and adapted some stories. The future story for example was turned into some vague explosion fest, while it's much better in the book. Still, good movie.

Edit: Also, moar bonus points to the book for having different writing styles and cultural stuffs depending on timeline etc, which is hard to translate into film.

Bonus points to the film for being independent though.
 
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