Cloud Atlas
Yesterday I read that “Cloud Atlas” made less than 10 million at the box office last weekend, which is abysmal considering that the production cost was over 100 million. I don’t rule out the possibility that the film could still break even, especially when the media claims that people stayed home due to the hurricane, but it still doesn’t look good for the movie. Thinking back at how I have mixed feelings about the film and didn’t really know how to put them, I now actually feel sorry that it did that badly. Deep in my heart, I want to support every movie made in the Studio Babelsberg, and in many ways, “Cloud Atlas” is exactly the kind of movie suited for the studio.
This feeling is especially interesting because when the credits rolled, my first thought was “Damn, that was a lot of money put into a fairly silly and futile endeavor”. Halle Berry is the world’s worst actress, and even Tom Hanks is absolutely terrible in this film, perhaps due to their absolute lack of romantic chemistry. Without a doubt, Bae Doona is lovely and wonderfully cast, and I have a certain appreciation for all that cross-dressing which occurred (haha Hugo Beaving as modern Nurse Ratched). Nevertheless, Bae Doona as Englishwoman looks absolutely silly, and there just is absolutely no point to this cross-dressing whatsoever. In the end, it’s even hard to figure out what the whole point of these stories and connections were. Whereas the Cloud Atlas books make very clear and simple connections between the respective storylines, the interweaving of the stories in the film appear overloaded with pseudo-meaning and totally gimmicky. I don’t typically mind if a film means nothing, and I am perfectly okay if it merely transports an atmosphere, or a feeling, or pure fun. But “Cloud Atlas” sounds and looks like it wants to be very complicated and meaningful. You know this heavy, slow voice in which people talk about important things like “life” and “love” and sound like someone has died, last seen in a film like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”? “Cloud Atlas” is full of that, coupled with practically meaningless nonsense sentences. (I think I wanted to shoot at the screen when this character said “My uncle was a scientist, but he believed in love.” UGH.) On so many levels, “Cloud Atlas” was really, really ridiculous. Maybe I am harking on this a little too much, but it’s annoying to see that, just like in “Looper”, the only important Asian character happens to be a damsel in distress who practically doesn’t do anything on her own. It appears that Roger Ebert loved it, but now we all know that Roger Ebert cannot be taken seriously anymore.
On a side note, I also was not a fan of the bullshit language in the futuristic sequence, but “true true” has become an enjoyable inside joke now.
Enjoyment on the base level is probably what explains my sympathies for the film despite the terrible review I gave in the above paragraph. It’s 3 hours of action and stunningly beautiful in so many scenes. My favorite was certainly the Neo Seoul part with its futuristic blue lights and gritty Blade Runner looks. The chase scenes there were certainly the best, although the part in the 70s came in as a close second. Story-wise, I especially enjoyed the humor of the film. Whenever “Cloud Atlas” was funny, especially in the part with Mr. Cavendish, I get a glimpse of what the film could have been – an epic action drama with lots of fun. Without a doubt, the nursing home storyline is the most enjoyable of all of them, because it is just so beautifully simple and heart-warming to see. My second favorite was the love story between Frobisher, the young composer, and Sixsmith, the nuclear scientist. Here, I am glad that the movie made a turn from the original storyline in the book, which featured Frobisher falling in love with some girl and killing himself over it. That he saw Sixsmith on the day of his death was perhaps the only scene I thought was emotionally powerful, and I am glad they worked it in.
I don’t actually think you should watch this movie, but if you do, make sure you see it in theaters because that is what the film was made for.
Oh God, actually I waited for the “Although he was a scientist, he believed in love” bullshit throughout the first half of the film, but didn’t even notice at first, when it was finally said. :D
The elderly people’s home storyline was the best by far, followed by Neo-Seoul and the composer, both of which were nice, but a bit meaningless in the end.
I also think the movie could have been a lot better: without Tom Hanks (whom I cannot stand in serious movies) and with a bigger emphasis on the actually interesting meanings apart from “ETERNAL LOOOOOVE<3<3<3". What's strange is that even though I disliked most of the movie, I still want to read the novel.
At least we agree on which parts were the best. :D
Tom Hanks is good in… You’ve got mail? XD I feel like I saw every movie in the world with him. They’re just all classics?
I am quite convinced that the novel is truly good. I glanced over the synopsis of the novel, which appears to be significantly less pretentious (no strange race-mixing, no “everything is connected by love” thing) and sounds much more like a good story with a solid structure. If you read it, let me know how you liked it!