Didn’t see any current thread on this, so I thought I’d start one up.
Going in, the reviews were amazingly divided. The word “ambitious” got used a lot. Seemingly, half the reviewers thought it was the best thing they ever saw - the other half thought it was a pretentious, confusing mess.
I’m a big fan of the book it was based on, so I went into it with mixed feelings - there is always a certain dread when approaching a movie adaptation of a favourite book, particularly one said to be “unfilmable”.
I went with my wife, who has not read the book.
My verdict - I thought it was damned good, so did my wife, who had no trouble following the 6 different stories. In short, I thought i “worked” very well indeed. Though one must caution that this is certainly not a movie likely to appeal to everyone!
The story, the acting, the directing, was all great. But I wish they hadn’t stuck so hard to the “have the same actors playing multiple characters” idea. In some parts it was fine, but it got really distracting when they started piling on the makeup.
It was especially districting when they played different races (or sexes). Also the After the Fall segments could’ve used subtitles. Everyone sounded like JarJar Binks.
I liked it ok but I also only sort-of liked the book. I listened to it on audiobook and that might have been the wrong move - it’s a bit complex for that IMHO. I thought the Somni 451 section was done exactly right FWIW but got tired of seeing Tom Hanks in role after role (which is my general reaction to Tom Hanks).
I ADORED the book and I’m afraid to see the movie. Also not a big fan of Tom Hanks. I guess I’ll see it eventually.
There’s no way the movie can capture the AHA! moment I experienced when I realized how and why the stories in the book fit together and exactly why they stopped when they did and resumed when they did. It was one of my personal greatest moments in literature.
I got a laugh out of how the last word of the first section (Ewing’s journal) ended exactly at the end of the right hand page. I spent a few seconds angrily thinking I’d gotten a misprinted copy of the book, but I pressed on reading the next section anyway (Frobisher). A few pages in, Frobisher complains to his friend about Ewing’s journal missing its second half - that brought a smile to my face and hooked me on the book.
It would be difficult, without making some sort of arrangement for the jump between one segment and the next, which would require a certain amount of re-writing. Otherwise, if it was the same as the book, one segment would just end and another begin, which I don’t think would work as well in film as on paper - The Pacific Journal ending mid-sentence kind of thing.
Well, true… but consider The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Atonement, two books-into-films that handled alternative plots pretty well. In fact, I read Atonement, but didn’t really understand the plot/ending until I saw the movie. What a subtle heart-breaker.
It would not be the action-packed, extravaganza packed with digital special effects that today’s audiences apparently demand. But it might have been possible if carefully thought out.
Don’t get me wrong, the structure of the movie version of Cloud Atlas is “alternative” all right. It is just a different form of “alternative” than the book. I suspect film students will be studying the editing of this movie in the future.
I got your point and it’s a good one. I just wondered if the structure of the book could have been conveyed in a film. In fact, it might be a good project for a film student to come up with a design/plan that would do just that.
I saw the movie this afternoon. It was confusing, enthralling, tense, and I couldn’t tell what was going to happen next–a sure sign of a good movie. I didn’t read the book and I could really use a Cliff’s Notes treatment so I can understand the ins and outs.
I hate when movies and books have dialects. Probably why I was never a Mark Twain fan.
Back to the movie, I saw it tonight, I have to say it was ok. I think what people who make movies like this don’t understand is you can’t make an epic movie. You can’t go in and say this is going to “the movie”. It just sort of has to happen. My eyes almost fell out from all the rolling as I thought “the writer/director/whoever probably thought this was going to be better than it was/blow everyone’s mind”. I really bet this is going to be the movie people say they like or declare their favorite when they want to look “smart”. Sort of like the quasi artsy/musical people claim they like Moulin Rouge.
