Cloud Atlas

[baumer]

Discuss

[JackO]

Cloud Atlas is an ambitious film that covers six different stories over six different timelines that find themselves interconnected on themes, characters, and symbols. And how one person doing one act can effect the entire world. It really kind of works in this election year. This sort of film is at times easy to dismiss and hard to think about.I will admit, I did not get it until halfway through the movie. There is no life raft for this film, you can't phone a friend. This film is going to tell it's story whether you are paying attention or not. I mean the opening scene is a bearded Tom Hanks sitting at a campfire who seems to be talking to himself in some crazy dialect. It's a very auspicious start only massaged by Broadbent's Cavendish preaching a little patience would be needed to understand this tale.With that in mind, once you get it, it really hits. The first two timelines that grabbed me were Neo Seoul, 1970s, and the publisher's folly. I was immediately grabbed Neo Soul by the pure concept. Here is this restaurant where the workers are Frabicants. And as Sonmi-351 tells her tale, you see the whole culture between them and Consumers. It is sickening and at the same time enlightening as a commentary on our culture. I was also grabbed by the publisher's folly in a nursing home since it is just so out of place from every other timeline and brings a real joy and laughter to a film sorely lacking of it. I also liked most of 1970s with the reporter trying to get a story about a nuclear power plant since early on that was where some of the heavy suspense came from.Another thing that really worked well with this film is that instead of creating a film that just used the interconnectedness as a narrative device, these worlds truly are independent and stand on their own. The stories are as well. The ultimate resolutions ties them all together and separately. It really is a beautiful thing to watch. It's great because there are some lines you think are just for laughs but they are key to the film.At the end of the movie for credits, they play a montage of characters each actor plays and even that is eye opening as their transformations make some of them unrecognizable. It also helped me connect some dots to the story.One of the parts that I thought were lacking in the beginning was indeed timeline with Tom Hanks as Zachry seemingly mumbling in some incoherent language. It could have really used some subtitles but that is also the beauty of the film as this timeline is the most important of the entire movie. Once you get used to it, it is actually pretty cool and helps explain the independence of the universes that I said above.If there was anything else negative is that not all of the timelines end as powerfully as others. For example in one timeline, the timeline is resolved by reading a newspaper headline. I would hope a near 3 hour investment would be worth more then that. But it's positives outweigh it's negatives and it is the sort of ambitious film that needs to be made more as it takes risks in casting and story that few films do.B+

[Deep Wang]

Movie Review Haiku for Cloud Atlas:It's not perfect, justbold, daring, beautiful, richand stimulating.

[Travod]

This is so trippy. The entire movie was a pretty great ride (Sonmi~451 and Timothy Cavendish having the best stories) but we didn't really get it until in the car driving home when it hit us that sometime after Sonmi is killed the post-apocalyptic Hawaii story begins. And then it all makes sense and it is wondrous.Two complaints: is it just me or were MANY characters almost impossible to understand? I'm not even saying Doona Bae, I'm saying Tom Hanks in half of his stories and a bunch of others. And that the movie started quite slow, but when it pretty much BEGAN, it did not let up.Woa.And then today itself has been trippy as hell. We stopped by the college where I saw a girl who graduated last year. Then by the theater we saw two kids from school. Then after the movie we stopped at Planet Fitness (friend wanted to get membership) and the girl who helped us is in my college class. Then as we walked out we walked into a kid who graduated two years ago. And then as we were turning the corner 10 blocks away we stopped short because a girl, my friend's girlfriend, was crossing the street. O____________________________O

[CloneWars]

Great film. I still don't 100% know who each of the characters are in the various lives, but it is a great commentary on how we are all in some sort of prison. The film deals with many aspects of humanity. A very ambitious film that I feel will be much more greatly appreciated in years to come.

[Crusader]

Good to see that you guys are liking it Hopefully general audience embraces the film even tough a lot of critics couldn't

[JackO]

This is so trippy.The entire movie was a pretty great ride (Sonmi~451 and Timothy Cavendish having the best stories) but we didn't really get it until in the car driving home when it hit us that sometime after Sonmi is killed the post-apocalyptic Hawaii story begins. And then it all makes sense and it is wondrous.Two complaints: is it just me or were MANY characters almost impossible to understand? I'm not even saying Doona Bae, I'm saying Tom Hanks in half of his stories and a bunch of others. And that the movie started quite slow, but when it pretty much BEGAN, it did not let up.Woa.And then today itself has been trippy as hell. We stopped by the college where I saw a girl who graduated last year. Then by the theater we saw two kids from school. Then after the movie we stopped at Planet Fitness (friend wanted to get membership) and the girl who helped us is in my college class. Then as we walked out we walked into a kid who graduated two years ago. And then as we were turning the corner 10 blocks away we stopped short because a girl, my friend's girlfriend, was crossing the street. O____________________________O

I agree with you that some of the characters were tough to understand. Another one of the reasons why it did not click that much for me till halfway through the film. Nice little real life Cloud Atlas you had right there.

[MovieGuyKyle17]

I really liked Cloud Atlas...now the movie does take awhile to fully get into but once you do, you are totally invested into the characters. The acting is great, I was never bored through the movie. My favorite storyline had to be the present day story line. The cinematography is also top notch.A-

[fishstick]

I just want to clarify something from the book. There, it`s hinted that Zachry`s tribe (and likely other tribes save Meronym`s) are descendants from fabricants. There is a moment where Zachry says that he could never pass as Kona because his tribe didn`t have Kona features, while in Sonmi story Sonmi emphasized that fabricants had Sonmi features or Yoona features. So, basically, after the fabricant uprising, their descendants move to hawaii where they worship Sonmi as the Goddess (who inspired the uprising).

[Michael Gary Scott]

A beautiful film. I loved it.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I'm still in shock.

Cloud Atlas is so much more than a look at our souls as they take standing across time, but it is a saga of humanity, a story of the weak becoming strong, an epic anthology of our existence, and so on. The point is, Cloud Atlas is a jaw dropping experience.

All six of the stories are perfectly edited together, and each one is compelling and significant in portraying the true themes of the film. I actually how the movie showed snippets of each story at a time versus large chunks of each story in chronological and reverse order, as it was in the film.

Of course, the film is also absolutely outstanding on nearly ever level: sound, visual effects, art direction, cinematography, costumes, and especially makeup and editing. Everything about this film is incredibly well done. The actors are also perfectly cast in their several roles, and pretty much everyone gives it their all here.

The sum of Cloud Atlas's parts is huge, and yet the movie manages to be so much more. It doesn't even feel like a movie, as much as an incredible experience.

Whether or not you think you'll like it, please see this movie. It may be one of the best movies that I have ever seen.

A+

Edited October 27, 2012 by Spaghetti

[fishstick]

Loved it. Top notch acting by everyone. Also, they edited the shit out of this movie, probably the biggest editing undertaking since Inception`s three-level dream sequence and Avatar`s digital everything.Little details that tie things up are astounding. Anyone noticed that Archievist had that under-skin shit like Meronym and other Prescients? I suspect he`s their founder because a) he had Sonmi`s orisson that Meronym showed to Zachry, Presients have that under skin shit like him and c) Sonmi said he believed her.

Edited October 27, 2012 by fishnets

[Gopher]

I really liked it. I even teared up at the conclusion. In a year of some truly special films, no movie tries as much as Cloud Atlas, and the execution is almost always on the mark.

This has probably been said elsewhere but the fact that this movie works is just astounding. There are six narratives spanning three hours and there's never a dull moment. Things never spin out of control, even though they often feel like they're about to, and the unique stories are damn near powerful when woven together at surprising points.

Give these people the makeup Oscar. I don't want to hear who believed what (there was audible laughter at Asian Hugo Weaving's first appearance, as well as Buff Woman Nurse Hugo Weaving), but the statement made with each makeup decision is revelatory. Asian actors here play white/latino/other races... actually, everyone plays everything, and everyone is in every story. Cloud Atlas transcends all of this and uses its freaking casting as a means of highlighting the individuality theme of the film. The who's who game may feel like a gimmick but it's really anything but. No one performances stands out, which is exactly what the film should have let happen. This is the best ensemble of the year.

I probably won't find a time to see it again before DVD but Cloud Atlas is something I feel compelled to revisit. It's such a heartwarmingly positive movie... with this, Matrix and Speed Racer, the Wachowskis are the enemies of cynicism. I love that.

9/10

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I guess I should see this next weekend.

[rockNrollaDIM]

It's been a couple of days now, and this movie has stayed with me. I absolutely loved it and I think it has taken my #1 spot for the year. The most shocking part of this is that I had zero interest in seeing this. I thought it looked over the top, preachy, and baity. And sure, maybe it is extravagant and preachy with its message, but the experience as a whole completely transcends that. The three hour runtime was necessary to tell this story in full and the time was never wasted- I was engaged from beginning to end. It can be hard to follow in parts and I rarely remembered a character's name so it does demand a second viewing, which I'll be happy to do when it comes out on Blu-Ray.The acting is incredible. I was gobsmacked when I watched the credit reel and saw who played who, some of the reveals were completely shocking, which is a testament to what a good job the cast did. The movie is funny and warm and a true adventure. Cloud Atlas is what making movies is all about and it deserves to be seen and recognized.9.5/10

[iceroll]

Can someone explain to me why Frobisher killed himself right after he saw Sixsmith? I thought there would be some happy reunion thing but nope, bullet to the head That was such a sad part of the movie.

[Webslinger]

While it has been hyped as a love-it-or-hate-it experience, I find myself occupying the middle ground with Cloud Atlas: I admired the hell out of it, yet it didn't always connect with me. With six storylines spanning six periods and genres, there's no question that this is one of the most ambitious movies in recent memory. Each segment succeeds in crafting a unique feel and fitting with its genre, and co-directors Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings are so in step with one another that it's tough to put a finger on where one collaborator's work ends and the other begins. However, the big point the movie makes - that human experience shares similar traits across time, culture, and race - is not quite as revelatory as the film makes it out to be, the decision to have the same actors portray different roles often threatens to be as silly as it is bold, and the separate threads vary in terms of their effectiveness and sometimes mesh together awkwardly. I loved the '70s thriller, really enjoyed the contemporary story and the Neo Seoul segment, was left a bit colder than I expected by the composition story during WWII, didn't much care for the time after the fall story, and could have done without the Adam Ewing story. There will be much discussion about the performances of the film, and the best I can say for them is that it's good that each of the actors put their game faces (among other faces) on for some truly weird challenges - in particular, Hugo Weaving, who plays a villainous role in each segment, including an evil female nurse in the contemporary story. Overall, Cloud Atlas is a film whose ambition I admire, yet whose effectiveness on me was ultimately all over the place.

My take on the film may well get better or worse over time, but for now, I'll just settle with giving it a comfortable B-.

[acsc1312]

Holy incredible ride. What's brilliant about it is how well all stories come together. For about an hour it's the anticipation of how/if this will work. But boy does it. As has been said, phenomenal editing. Should win for sure. There are some absolutely breathtaking shots throughout that warrant a cinematography nom. Can't grade it yet, but its definitely in the A range.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I really did not think the directors could pull this off but they did. The movie is incredible and well edited. The direction was great and the acting was excellent. Oscar worthy makeup.The stories come together well, and I can't wait to see it again which will be when comes out on Blu ray.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

24 hours later and still thinking about this film.