Better Than Average Soap - Cloud Atlas

Rating: 6/10 (5 July 2020)

As a person who is sometimes characterized as egocentric, pretentious, and overblown, I can commiserate with the producer and actors of this film. Cloud Atlas is all these things and more. It is a courageous attempt at something different, but in the end, it all about people and their difficulties in life. Six disparate stories that have some similar parallels , but not the mystic parallels desired by the writers. In reality these are six stories that could not hold up for the necessary 90 minutes individually for a screenplay, so the concept of putting them in an ensemble with talented actors was actually a brilliant stroke of creativity. Of the six stories, the Korean woman in the future is, by far, the most interesting of the lot. The Halle Berry reporter story just doesn't seem to connect (although I love her, personally). Seeing Tom Hanks in red hair was amusing, however. He reminded me of a virile Red Skelton. The slave story was mildly interesting, but not as interesting as 12 Years a Slave. The old man trying to escape the old folk's home was amusing as well, but only strong enough for a 30 minute sitcom episode. The gay musician episode was quite well done in the early going, but unfortunately gradually went downhill after the first ten minutes. And the sixth component was so unmemorable, that I cannot remember it at all. All in all, a good college try by the cast and the director and advice to the writers to stick to 30 minute formats for their screenplays. Doona Bae steals this film.