Cloud Atlas (Spoilers)

[Zor]

Did anyone else see this film? Definitely an unusual experience, but one worth watching in my opinion.

Zor

[Guardsman Bass]

I'm planning to see it tuesday. It should be an interesting experience (I'm a big fan of the book).

[Skylon]

Caught it yesterday. I personally enjoyed it - it held my interest for nearly three hours which I consider an excellent feat, and it was extremely well edited, as it wove the multiple stories together. I'll call it as my prediction for "best makeup" Oscar, whether it deserves it or not (a couple of the makeovers pushed it a little).

My girlfriend, who read the book however didn't like it as much as I did - the 1936 story especially, her favorite in the book, she felt was missing a lot of its impact.

[JLTucker]

Can any of you actually explain what made it good with content instead of useless "I liked it?" So far this thread does nothing to illuminate the film's subject matter or even convince members here to see it.

The trailer made the film seem heavy handed in its symbolism and that the voice overs may indeed explain the themes. Does this happen? Is it too on the nose and less subtle? If so, does it work?

[Zor]

I just put the thread up with a quick post because i wanted people talking about the movie as soon as possible and I was still mulling it over a bit in my mind.

Definitely one of the most impressive bits is that they managed to work so many things together. There is the melancholy tale of the Gay Composer, the Romp with the British Publisher fleeing from the mob and busting out of an old folks home and the Science Fiction action piece in Korea which features a slaughterhouse for human beings. It manages to use all these elements together and still work. This film can make you laugh and make you cry.

Also it has some pretty good action scenes, the chase scene involving Hally Berry and the Assassin, the post apocalyptic fight between the cannibals and Tom Hanks, the air bike chase with Sonmi-451 all are engaging.

Also it has Kieth David in it. Kieth David is awesome.

Zor

[Crazedwraith]

Caught it yesterday. I personally enjoyed it - it held my interest for nearly three hours which I consider an excellent feat, and it was extremely well edited, as it wove the multiple stories together. I'll call it as my prediction for "best makeup" Oscar, whether it deserves it or not (a couple of the makeovers pushed it a little).

Seems to be catching a lot of flak (at least on livejournal fwiw) for the makeup. ie) putting actors in yellowface rather than casting asian actors for those scenes.

Not seen it, don't plan to. Not for that reason just because I've barely heard of it.

[Zor]

Caught it yesterday. I personally enjoyed it - it held my interest for nearly three hours which I consider an excellent feat, and it was extremely well edited, as it wove the multiple stories together. I'll call it as my prediction for "best makeup" Oscar, whether it deserves it or not (a couple of the makeovers pushed it a little).

Seems to be catching a lot of flak (at least on livejournal fwiw) for the makeup. ie) putting actors in yellowface rather than casting asian actors for those scenes.

I would say said flak is misplaced. They also made up Hally Berry and Bae Doona as (among other people) White Women. The purpose is maintaining a connection between these periods.

Zor

[Ford Prefect]

Look there's maintaining connection and there's putting Keith David in yellowface.

[Losonti Tokash]

That shit was weird and didn't really add anything, especially when you already had the comet birth mark to signify connections. About the only one in Korea that wasn't absolutely egregious was Halley Berry as the doctor who removes Sonmi's collar. It also confused the people I was with since they consistently had Hugo Weaving as a bad guy, but people like Tom Hanks as both villains and the hero.

[Covenant]

What is this movie about? I didn't want to spoil the entire thing for myself but all the trailers make it look like a tiresome slog through nigh-unconnected narratives. Nowhere did it tell me what was at stake or what kind of feel I'm going to be getting from it. If it's a melancholy set of narratives about human condition then I will absolutely pass, we're all stocked up on that right now out here.

It can't be terribly bad, it seems to be beloved and they say the name "Cloud Atlas" like it should mean something to me, but I haven't got a clue and I can't justify going to the movies without at least having some glimmer of hope that I'm going to enjoy myself.

[Ziggy Stardust]

For people who saw the movie and read the book, how do you compare them?

I read the book, and thoroughly despised it. I thought it was just a bunch of pretentious bullshittery masking a childishly simplistic theme. That is, all style and no substance. That said, there is no reason why a good movie can't be made out of an over-rated piece-of-shit book, so I am curious how people rate them comparatively.

[Guardsman Bass]

I just got back from seeing it (disclosure: I'm a big fan of the book).

The first hour or so is a mess. They start up and try to inter-weave the six different narratives, but it doesn't work that well (and they have a hard time keeping a consistent theme throughout the movie). It feels disjointed and odd, with pacing issues. I was checking my watch multiple times.

After that, it starts to pull itself together, mostly on the strength of the "Cavendish" [old guy in modern times] and "Zach'ry" [post-apocalyptic] segments. "Cavendish" is easily the best part of this movie, and the actor who plays him (Jim Broadbent) puts in the best performance in the film. "Luisa Rey" also starts to flow much better in the movie. The "Robert Frobisher" plotline is much weaker, "Adam Ewing" feels incomplete, and the "Sonmi" storyline is the weakest of them all. The "racebending" . . ugh. I don't even know why they bothered with it, since Neo Seoul is shown as a multi-ethnic city - why not just change the name?

For people who saw the movie and read the book, how do you compare them?

It's hard to compare them. So much of what made the book interesting and good is stuff that can't be translated easily into film, like the way that the different POV sections were written, the "unreliable narrator" factor, and the cross-referencing. Particularly the "unreliable narrator" element, which is really noticeable on re-read in all but Frobisher's section. It shows up in the "Cavendish" and "Luisa Rey" plotlines, where we see Sonmi watching the movie version of what Cavendish went through (and that Luisa Rey's story was made into a novel), but it's not really there or important.

I enjoyed the book much more than I enjoyed watching the movie. Some of the stuff that has thematic importance in the book just feels like a plot device in the film, such as the Kona in the "Zach'ry" segments. The movie feels the need to belabor you with repetition of its theme, and it still doesn't work (in fact, it relies heavily on voice-over narration). The book's theme of Predacity - how people interact and exploit one another - was really, really muddled, in part because the morality in the story (and the characterization) is much more black-and-white.

[Guardsman Bass]

EDIT: "why not just change the name of Hae-Joo Kim"?

[JLTucker]

How is the cinematography? The clip from the long trailer had an amazing shot of a car accident. Is this film beautifully shot?

[Guardsman Bass]

I think it was pretty good, including the car accident scene. The only stuff that didn't look too good was in the early "land" scenes in the "Adam Ewing" plotline, before he gets on the ship.

Nothing really "wow"-ed me, but a lot of little details were nice. Neo Seoul was beautiful, but you expect that with the money they put into CGI.

[Guardsman Bass]

Sorry, fourth post, but I was wrong about changing the name. They did.

[Cykeisme]

Forgive the silliness of the question, but if I may inquire, would I have a superior experience by reading the book first, or watching the movie first?

[Guardsman Bass]

I think you would probably enjoy the movie more if you read the book first. If you watch the movie first, the first hour or so (plus a lot of what comes after) might be confusing. Then again, my brother saw it without reading the book, and he really enjoyed it despite the early confusion.

[Cykeisme]

Sounds like the sort of thing I might be better off reading first. I'm easily confused

I'm gonna grab a copy of the book and read it first, then. With the movie tie-in in theaters, I'll bet bookstores will have a rack full of 'em.