I usually don't read much about movies before I see them, so going into Cloud Atlas I knew that 1) Tom Hanks and Halle Berry were the leads 2) scenes mixed from periods in the past, present, and future and 3) it was based on a book but I haven't read it.
I walked in to the movie expecting that it would be one story that jumped around, but about 45 minutes in, I realized that the best way to watch it was by themes and not try to think too much about the stories. The scenes jump around and the character introductions are too fast to keep track of everything in that way.
So instead, I looked for ways to connect the segments according to common themes and that worked pretty well.
Spoilers under the cut.
Cloud Atlas has six stories going on, and the scenes jump from one story to the other. There are connections between characters and events in the stories, but nothing fits together in one simple sequence. These are the themes I picked out:
- Suspended love - Adam and Tilda, Robert and Sixsmith
- Manipulation/exploitation - slaves in the South Pacific, Vyvyan and Robert, Sonmi
- Escape - Autua, Sonmi, Mr. Cavendish
- Suffering to make the world a better place - Chang, Luisa Rey
- Learning the truth - Sonmi, Zachry, Luisa Rey
Some online reviews criticized the movie for not having a strong story, but I don't think story was the point. The more interesting aspect is watching all these different characters go through vaguely similar experiences. If you watch Cloud Atlas only for the story, the whole film feels disjointed. The connections are in the themes–not the stories.
Having said that, there were a lot interesting elements in the stories. These are a few things I would have liked to know more about:
- The comet birthmark. Why are these people marked?
- In the future, is the rest of the world like Neo Seoul?
- The language in Zachry's world (it felt Firefly-ish, which was neat)
These elements would have added depth to Cloud Atlas, but there was already so much going on for one film. Cloud Atlas was made very differently from most Hollywood films, and keeping that in mind is the only way to enjoy it.
I walked in to the movie expecting that it would be one story that jumped around, but about 45 minutes in, I realized that the best way to watch it was by themes and not try to think too much about the stories. The scenes jump around and the character introductions are too fast to keep track of everything in that way.
So instead, I looked for ways to connect the segments according to common themes and that worked pretty well.
Spoilers under the cut.
Cloud Atlas has six stories going on, and the scenes jump from one story to the other. There are connections between characters and events in the stories, but nothing fits together in one simple sequence. These are the themes I picked out:
- Suspended love - Adam and Tilda, Robert and Sixsmith
- Manipulation/exploitation - slaves in the South Pacific, Vyvyan and Robert, Sonmi
- Escape - Autua, Sonmi, Mr. Cavendish
- Suffering to make the world a better place - Chang, Luisa Rey
- Learning the truth - Sonmi, Zachry, Luisa Rey
Some online reviews criticized the movie for not having a strong story, but I don't think story was the point. The more interesting aspect is watching all these different characters go through vaguely similar experiences. If you watch Cloud Atlas only for the story, the whole film feels disjointed. The connections are in the themes–not the stories.
Having said that, there were a lot interesting elements in the stories. These are a few things I would have liked to know more about:
- The comet birthmark. Why are these people marked?
- In the future, is the rest of the world like Neo Seoul?
- The language in Zachry's world (it felt Firefly-ish, which was neat)
These elements would have added depth to Cloud Atlas, but there was already so much going on for one film. Cloud Atlas was made very differently from most Hollywood films, and keeping that in mind is the only way to enjoy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment