Last edited Sun Nov 11, 2012, 02:31 AM - Edit history (1)

I like writing movie reviews and could probably write a few pages on this one but I'll resist the urge to this time, mainly cause I don't feel like typing that much lol.

Cinematically it has some interesting touches. It's grand and tries a few new things. I like the way the different story elements were directed each using their own unique style. It's like 6 different movie experiences in one.

That though is basically the only highlight for me. The rest goes down hill and it's a steep hill. As a whole the film is a mess. Far too long, far too goofy, and far to little editing. It almost has the feel of a bad sci-fi B flick.

If you have a high tolerance for mediocre and bad film making there IS still enough of interest in this that you may enjoy it if you like novel (novel as in new not as in book ) films.

As always with movie review this is just my 2 cents. Everyone has different tastes in movies.

the novel?

Or are we solely reviewing it on its own?

Either have I. Only know the film is based on the novel. Haven't found anyone who has ever read it to tell me if it follows the novel or if it's just way off base.

I'm in the process of reading the book for the third time in preparation for seeing the movie again. The movie does an excellent job of capturing the plot and the spirit of the book. Here are the key differences, with minimal spoilers:

* The book has six nested stories, told in chronological order. The first halves are told from old to new, the second halves are told from new to old. (Programmers out there will recognize a recursive strategy.)
* The movie switches rapidly among the stories, but doesn't lose the viewer because cinema gets to use sight and sound as well as words.
* The movies adds a wrapper from the center story furthers in the future.
* The movie explicitly focuses on love rather than framing and the war between the I-Got-Mind and We're-All-In-This-Together worldviews. It's also a tiny bit less secular than the book. But the core messages from the book are there.
* The stories are shortened, of course, but the key elements remain.

My strong recommendation now: go see the movie while its on the big screen, then read the book. Progressives will love the book even more than the movie.

review! I have changed my mind, and now will go see it - after I see "Lincoln"!

and will probably see it a second time soon.

i thought it was hard to follow the thread that was supposed to connect the stories and characters. and it got a little too sci-fi for me (there was the blade runner futuristic sci fi story and then there was the back to the dark ages futuristic sci fi story) and the occasional violence bothered me--i found myself closing my eyes several times and being disturbed over a violent moment that came without warning that i ended up seeing.

The day after the election, I had the best Day of Inspiring Rhetoric I can remember. I watched Obama's acceptance speech and then saw Cloud Atlas, a film which perfectly examines the main themes of the election: love and charity and duty and patriotism. Connectedness. Oh, and greed, cruelty, and the 1%. It's the only action-scifi-romance I've seen where I checked the credits for Howard Dean and George Lakoff. It's hard to believe that all my progressive pals aren't swarming the theater to watch this thrilling movie.

Remember Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant!, about the power of framing to influence thought and action? At its core, that's what the book Cloud Atlas is about. The film shows this in a visceral way that will move those who would never read Elephant.

If you haven't already seen Cloud Atlas, go see it this week on the big screen. Take a few activist friends who like to talk about issues and meanings. If you are like me or Roger Ebert, you'll want to see it again right away and a third time soon. Go back on Thanksgiving weekend with relatives who have good hearts but are stuck in an I-Got-Mine mindset. You'll have a way to talk about big issues without talking politics.

But, you might say, some reviews have been bad. Maybe that's because this is a fully adult film, one which encourages us to challenge authority and work together to achieve very long-term goals. And maybe because Cloud Atlas shows how depraved the opposite, selfish approach can become. I wish we'd been able to take every reluctant or undecided voter to see this film. But at least we can see it now, for nearly three hours of pure pleasure and a big recharge to the activist batteries.

Cloud Atlas is based on my favorite book, in which David Mitchell nests and connects six stories set in different times and genres, moving from the 1800s to the far future. The film condenses and elevates his masterpiece, allowing for frequent switches among the stories to emphasize themes and build excitement in a way that would have been incomprehensible in print. It extends cinema itself, shooting to second place in my list of favorite movies, right after Casablanca.

Cloud Atlas shows forces that pull our society between "tooth & claw" and sharing: race, gender, age, class, and sexual identity. It addresses workers' rights, corporatism, artistic freedom, and environmentalism.

Several reviews identify the main theme as the butterfly effect: even small acts have consequences. Yes, but take this idea up a level to see that these small acts fuel the evolution of ideas and thus societies. They are made within world views that lead toward a compassionate, modern society that values freedom or toward a barbaric, selfish one willing to discriminate against or imprison its inhabitants. Or worse.

As President Obama said in his acceptance speech:

I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.

The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That's what makes America great.

SPOILER alert, somewhat masked so as not to be a full spoiler:

At the very end of the book and near the end of the film, a character who goes strongly against his family and financial interests to fight for a good cause is scoffed at by a relative who says his work and sacrifice "wouldn’t amount to anything but a single drop in an ocean." The character gives the reply that gets me out of bed many mornings:

Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?

The book goes into more detail, with the character thinking about how civilizations rise and fall based not on rules but on outcomes. Outcomes result from vicious or virtuous acts, which come from belief:

Belief is both the prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind's mirror, the world. if we believe the world is a ladder of tribes, [so it shall be.] You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage, & our legacy? Why fight the "natural" (oh weaselly word!) order of things?

Why? Because one day a purely predatory world shall consume itself....In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.

Respect for your time and the copyright law restrain me from quoting the whole end of the book here, plus the knowledge that these thrilling words will mean more after you've read the book.

Remember, even if your local candidate or cause didn't prevail on Tuesday, you may have made a difference in the long run. We are part of an evolving society. As the President said:

That's why we do this. That's what politics can be. That's why elections matter. It's not small, it's big. It's important.

Be a drop that moves us forward. If you get discouraged, say to yourself this line from the end of the book:

I must begin somewhere.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/420595/october-25-2012/stephen-ghoulbert-s-spooky-time-halloween-fun-guide---tom-hanks

Welcome to DU!

From The Simpsons Movie.

I think it was Tom Hanks!

Agree with everything you just said.

thanks for your amazing post.

Makes me want to plan my holidays around this!

I have a hunch it's not going to be an easy read.

A couple minor complaints but it's mostly good.

I enjoyed it very much, I just ordered the book today. I will probably get the DVD when it comes out because I think I could watch it several more times.
My only complaint was I needed a bathroom break, but I can see how they did not have an intermission because it was intense and it would lose something if there was a long break in the middle.

was extremely long and at times hard to follow.

The message I took from it was that one, tiny, benevolent action can change the course of the world. I have always subscribed to that theory, so this is what I took away from it.

He's in it. He's the protagonist in ONE of its six stories. He's a villain in another, a memorable cameo and a red-shirt in others.

Two of the juiciest leads in the film go to (to me anyway) no-names.

Loved it. Had no problem following it having not read the book. If I wasn't so busy, I'd probably see it again.