Cloud Atlas

[Gary7]

I second this. One of the finest shows of the past decade. Truly extraordinary.

Agreed. It's very strange at first, but then you "get it." The epic nature of the interconnection between the 8 is just so brilliantly portrayed.

As for Cloud Atlas, I found it extremely imaginative and well acted. Tom Hanks did a wonderful job, backed by an excellent supporting cast.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Saw the movie when it first came out and was the only person I knew that liked it, which, okay that sometimes happens. Love the movie and I love the book. The book I just read last year, actually. Still pretty fresh in my mind, I liked the structure of the novel but understood that filming it that way would have really weird pacing. I tend to love the book just a little bit more though. Sonmi's story is just so heart-wrenching in it.

 

[stj]

Cloud Atlas is wonderful. I could quibble about a few things. For instance, the commitment to abolitionism in San Francisco doesn't make any sense, as California was a free state (and Mexico abolished slavery) and there were no adjacent slave states...though I did enjoy the spirit. Like dissing Sense8, dissing Cloud Atlas seems to be much more about being uncomfortable with sexual variation. As always, it is claimed to be aesthetic principle. (Saying something is boring isn't speaking about any novel or movie or music, it's just a self-report.)

 

[publiusr]

I loved it even more than Dark City.

Rare to have something that timeless.

 

[Awesome Possum]

It’s an amazing achievement when it comes to editing. It’s feels closer to a song than a film, which seems to be the intention.

It’s a shame the Wachowskis are retiring, they’re some of the most imaginative directors around. It’s an even bigger shame Sense8 ended so early, but at least they got to wrap it up. That show meant a lot to me, I’m probably still alive because of it.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

A lovely film, and one of my favorites. It's just so unique and timeless and defies simple classification. Wonderful music that's actually a part of the narrative, a fantastic ensemble cast in a variety of difficult roles, amazing visuals and world building, a compelling story, and both great drama and great humor.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

A lovely film, and one of my favorites. It's just so unique and timeless and defies simple classification. Wonderful music that's actually a part of the narrative, a fantastic ensemble cast in a variety of difficult roles, amazing visuals and world building, a compelling story, and both great drama and great humor.

All of this and I also love how it covered multiple genres to tell its sweeping story. It wasn't afraid to do sudden and severe tonal shifts between each scene.

 

[Kemaiku]

It’s an amazing achievement when it comes to editing. It’s feels closer to a song than a film, which seems to be the intention.

It’s a shame the Wachowskis are retiring, they’re some of the most imaginative directors around. It’s an even bigger shame Sense8 ended so early, but at least they got to wrap it up. That show meant a lot to me, I’m probably still alive because of it.

I rewatched it yesterday because of this thread and I still pick out new things I missed the first time.

And yeah, we'd be into the fourth season at this point, more or less.

 

[DonIago]

I find it's very much one of those "there's always something new to find" films, though I admit these days when I watch it I'm not sure whether I'm noticing new things or things I noticed previously but since forgot.

The score though...I ordinarily don't really notice a film's score until the second or subsequent viewing, but the music in this film leaped out at me the first time I heard it (and then I couldn't easily get it through Amazon, which vexed me for a time). I wouldn't call it the best CD I own, but it's probably in the Top Ten that I listen to, and I don't believe in the idea of a "best" CD since the music I listen to is influenced by my mood.

 

[stj]

I love the Cloud Atlas theme. I bought the sound track. Calling it a symphony is preposterous, though.

 

[DonIago]

Does anyone call it a symphony? I've heard the term sextet used...

 

[stj]

Yes, "symphony" is used, by the record store clerk, and even Ayrs I think. And I believe it is even written on the album cover. It is slightly annoying to have such a lovely theme made slightly ridiculous because they thought "symphony" sounded like a more important accomplishment.

Guess I'm going to have to watch it again. Want to hear Sonmi call for revolution and her lover agree. That's a satisfying vicarious hero fantasy.

 

[Kemaiku]

It's called the Cloud Atlas Sextet far more in the movie in certain important scenes, the others where it's called otherwise accompany confusion from the character saying it. They only have fleeting moments of clarity where it's the 'sextet' in particular.

I haven't read the novel to know how that differs.

 

[DonIago]

Perhaps the sextet is a smaller part of a much larger overall piece that we aren't exposed to?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

ever notice that the neck bands that binded the fabricants make up the pages of the Somni bible after the fall?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

It’s an amazing achievement when it comes to editing. It’s feels closer to a song than a film, which seems to be the intention.

It’s a shame the Wachowskis are retiring, they’re some of the most imaginative directors around. It’s an even bigger shame Sense8 ended so early, but at least they got to wrap it up. That show meant a lot to me, I’m probably still alive because of it.

Very apt analogy.. it is played more like a song than a traditional story, with tension buildups and crescendos. I've thought about that before, but maybe not spelled it out

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

One of the subtle images in the film is the teeth (like when the tooth gets knocked out at the pub) and how it relates to the whole story being a circle. In the opening of the film, Goose explains that the beach was once a "cannibals banqueting hall" and he is collecting the teeth the cannibals spat out. Of course, the same island becomes a cannibal's banqueting hall once again after the Fall

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

i just got the screenplay.. I wonder how the actors really would know if this crazy movie would seem coherent just using text alone?

 

[DonIago]

Well, they could read the novel to get some idea...

Also, the island in the future isn't the same island as the one shown in the past, sorry.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Well, they could read the novel to get some idea...

Also, the island in the future isn't the same island as the one shown in the past, sorry.

It actually IS the same island