Cloud Atlas

Plot synopsis:
This film follows the stories of six people's "souls" across time, and the stories are interweaved as they advance, showing how they all interact. It is about how the people's lives are connected with and influence each other.The first storyline follows a lawyer named Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess) in the early 1800s, whose family is in the slave trade. He has been sent to the Pacific to arrange a contract for some Maori slaves with a slave trader from that area. During his return voyage home, Ewing saves the life of a native man named Autua (David Gyasi) who is a runaway slave stowing away on the ship. Ewing also realizes he is being poisoned by a doctor he trusted, Dr. Henry Goose (Tom Hanks), who is robbing Ewing as he gets sicker and sicker. Autua saves Ewing's life and his views of the natives are changed in important ways as he comes to know the man. Adam Ewing's journal, which chronicled his ordeal and rescue by a runaway slave, are later published into a book which is discovered by the next character in the storyline. Ewing and his wife decide to quit the family slave trade and move east to become abolitionists.The second storyline follows the tragically short life of a talented young wannabe composer in the 1930's named Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) who finagles himself into a position aiding an aging composer, Vyvyan Ayrs (Jim Broadbent). While working for Ayrs, Robert Frobisher begins reading the published chronicle of Adam Ewing's journal which he has found among the many books at Ayrs's mansion. He never finishes reading the journal and it is unclear what effect it has on the creation of his own musical composition. Robert enters a sexual relationship with Ayrs' wife, which, along with Ayrs' own arrogance and presumption of superiority of position and class, tears him and Ayrs apart. Ayrs threatens to ruin Frobisher's already rickety reputation when he encounters Frobisher's own work, the Cloud Atlas Sextet. Ayrs forces Frobisher to accept second place in the credit for the Sextet. Frobisher inadvertently shoots Ayrs during an argument then flees. When Ayrs survives the shooting, and sets police after him, he realizes he is facing utter ruin, as Ayrs threatened. Frobisher completes the Sextet, then sends it to his lover and friend, a Cambridge student, Rufus Sixmith (James D'Arcy) and commits suicide. Rufus Sixsmith meets the main character in the third storyline much later in his life, and we discover Robert Frobisher's Cloud Atlas Sextet has been recorded into an album and although it is an obscure recording, it has clearly affected people's lives.The third storyline is about a journalist in the 1970's named Luisa Rey (Halle Berry). She meets Rufus Sixsmith in a chance encounter while being stuck on a broken elevator. Sixsmith by now is now a renowned physicist. After leaving the elevator, Sixsmith later attempts to re-contact Rey and reveal that there is a conspiracy afoot to cover up a report about the flaws in the design of a nuclear power reactor. When she is about to meet-up with Sixsmith, she finds him just recently dead, an apparent suicide. Her journalistic instincts kick in, telling her there is more to the story than a man committing suicide, and she discovers that a report on the reactor written by Sixsmith can reveal the terrible secret. Along with the report, Rey also finds a collection of letters written from Frobisher to Sixsmith many years earlier while Frobisher was working on the Cloud Atlas Sextet composition. A scientist named Isaac Sachs (Tom Hanks) meets Rey and helps her. The CEO, Lloyd Hooks (Hugh Grant) sends his head of security, Joe Napier (Keith David) and his agent, Bill Smoke (Hugo Weaving) to stop her. Smoke has already killed Sixsmith, and then Sachs, and attempts to kill Rey as she gets closer and closer to the truth. Smoke is stopped in the end by Joe Napier. As Napier and Rey escape death by the hands of Smoke, Luisa Rey publishes an article leading to the shutdown of the reactor after revealing the contents of the Sixsmith Report.The fourth storyline is a modern-day tale of Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent), the owner of a small publishing company, who has published a small biographical book by a lowlife thug. While the book has literally no hope of making much, if any, money, this changes when the author-thug kills a critic of his book by throwing him off a balcony to his death. Suddenly the book has legs and Cavendish is rolling in money from royalties. When friends of the thug come looking for his royalties, Cavendish is put in a tight situation, as he doesn't have the money they are demanding, and clearly the hooligans aren't particularly constrained by the law. While traveling by train to the hide-out address his brother recommended, Cavendish is seen reading a manuscript that was sent to him. The manuscript is titled, "Half Lives - The First Luisa Rey Mystery" and is the romanticized version of the third storyline. He arrives at the "hotel" his brother sent him to, which, only the next day is revealed to be a nursing home for the elderly. Residents are treated as prisoners, and each attempt to get out is stopped by the staff (which is revealed to be the nursing home's primary purpose, to lock up troublesome relatives). With the assistance of three other residents, Cavendish eventually creates an escape plan and they manage to escape. Once he makes good on his escape, he writes a best-selling tale of his adventures, which is later made into a biopic.The fifth storyline is about Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), a clone bred for work in a Papa Song fast-food restaurant in Korea (now called Neo Seoul) in the far future. In this stark future, she lives in a day-to-day world, each day identical to the next, existing only to serve food to "consumers." But her limited life is revealed to be less than she is capable of when another of the clones inadvertently awakens her from her daily slumber. Sonmi-451 through chance, discovers a fragment of the biopic film of "The Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish" on a cell-phone/PDA left at the Papa's Song fast-food restaurant. This film lays the seeds of the never-ending struggle against injustice. She starts to question all the things she has seen and experienced, including the believed purpose of her existence, from which other clones, and eventually she, will "ascend" after eleven years of work. When her friend, the other clone, is killed, she meets a man named Hae-Joo Im, who it is revealed was behind her friend, and then her, being exposed to something more than their day-to-day existence. They have been attempting to prove that the clones are the equal of "naturally born" humans ("purebloods"), hearkening back to the days of slavery. Hae-Joo rescues her from her life in the restaurant and begins teaching her about the outside world as well as philosophy, art, and "higher values". When they are captured by the authorities, he escapes, then rescues her from the authorities. He reveals he is actually a former member of the military who has become a member of a revolutionary organization, the Union, taking action against the oppressive government, that wishes to free the clones in Neo Seoul. Somni-451 is proof that the clones are capable of being more than mere slaves. He takes Sonmi-451 to meet the other revolutionaries, who arrange for her to learn what "ascension" really is, on a ship where they massacre the clones, only to reprocess them and use their bodies to feed the still-functioning clones. She agrees to assist the revolutionaries, knowing it means capture and death, by writing a Manifesto. They capture a broadcast facility, and reveal the truth, not just to all earth but to the offworld colonies as well. All of the revolutionaries, including Hae-Joo, but except Sonmi-451, are killed holding off the government's agents so that she can keep broadcasting her Manifesto. Sonmi-451 reveals all the above while being questioned by an agent of the government, who asks her why she did it all, when the government will make everyone believe it was false. She acknowledges that she goes to her execution calmly, believing that death is only a door, and knowing that one person -- her interviewer -- knows it is true, and that it will not be possible to suppress the Truth.The sixth and final storyline is about Zachry (Tom Hanks) who is a tribesman living in a low-tech post-apocalyptic Hawaii, 100 years after Neo Seoul has been swallowed by the sea. His people revere Sonmi and believe her to be holy. A member of a far more advanced group of people called the Prescients named Meronym (Halle Berry) asks to live with their tribe. Zachry's sister takes her in, and their relationship grows. Zachry is harboring his own secret, that he hid in cowardly shame while barbarians called the Kona killed his brother-in-law and his nephew. People suspect him, and he is largely an outcast, but his sister and his niece still accept and love him. Meronym wishes to cross the mountains to get to a place she believes is inland, but it is an area fraught with superstitious dread, and no one will take her there. When Zachry's beloved niece is taken fatally ill, and he realizes only Meronym has the ability to heal and save her, he agrees to lead her up the mountains to where she wants to go in exchange for Meronym's assistance. Zachry's fears, personified by his tribe's belief in a god of Death named Old Georgie, whisper to him that he must kill Meronym, that he is risking his tribe for an outsider. He rejects the impulses, seeing in Meronym something more and better than his fears can destroy. Meronym and Zachry succeed in reaching a large facility, and he is again pushed by Old Georgie to kill Meronym, and he again resists, but barely. Meronym reveals to Zachry that the world is dying, that all humans, even the Prescients, are doomed, unless they can reach the offworld colonies, if they still exist at all (most of the Prescients believe them to be dead and Meronym on a likely fool's errand). Meronym reveals that the place they are at is the same broadcast facility that Sonmi used to transmit her manifesto. She explains to him that his beliefs are not entirely true, that Sonmi was a human, not a goddess, and shows him pictures and things that prove it. They return to the valley of Zachry's clan, only to see smoke in the distance. Zachry realizes his tribe is under attack by the barbarian Kona and runs ahead to assist. When he arrives, everyone in his tribe is dead, and all the Kona appear to be gone. He sees his sister's dead body, then runs to their hut to find his niece. There he finds one lone barbarian lying in a drunken stupor, and he kills him in rage. He hears a noise and finds his niece hiding in a small niche. At the same time, the barbarians return looking for their clansman, and, seeing his horse outside the hut, begin to investigate. They see him lying there, throat freshly cut, and begin to search the hut for whoever killed him. Zachry and his niece flee, with the Kona in hot pursuit. The Kona catch up to them in the same woods where he hid in cowardice as his brother-in-law was killed. As he is about to die, in much the same place and position as his brother died (the story thus coming full circle), Meronym steps up from the place he hid in cowardice. She uses her advanced weapons and risks her own life to save him, and they kill the half-dozen Kona together. Meronym signals for her own people, and they accept Zachry and his niece in as their own, with Meronym's urging.Finally, it's shown that Zachry has been telling his tale to a large group of children, and that he married Meronym, and that the offworld colonies heard their broadcast, and came to rescue the survivors... and that he and Meronym are on another world entirely.One of the most important quotes in the film comes from Sonmi-451:"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."

Tags: avant garde, murder, dramatic, thought-provoking, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, action, philosophical, romantic, revenge, historical, sentimental

Review:
Despite the many questions I had in my mind when I left the theater and the moments during the film when I felt disappointed or confused, I knew this, and I have not stopped thinking about the movie and longing to be back in front of the screen.It is easy to criticize this movie as some have done for being overly ambitious, pandering to low taste, being too simple or too complex, with too few actors or too many, or even for celebrating revenge violence against professional critics who write negative reviews.
Once you clue in to that overall theme, it is no longer confusing when the story jumps from a runaway slave in the 1800s to a post apocalyptic future battle between some of the last humans remaining on earth.All this audacious style and structure makes Cloud Atlas a curiosity to say the least, but the film is lifted to the realm of "Masterpiece" by the all-star ensemble cast.
I mean this will long be considered one of the greatest acting clinics ever filmed, and a high point in some already outstanding careers, as the end credits alone are astonishing to watch.Overall this is a movie that transcends the simple elements of stars and plots and special effects, and boldly assumes to take the cinema to another level of storytelling, much like Avatar took film to a new level of technology a few years ago.
Just let it go and enjoy what's before you; It will all come together in the end.An important aspect of the film is that actors play different characters throughout the film, finding themselves in different stories and eras.
I'm not sure how the directing duties were distributed, so I'll uniformly praise Tom Tykwer as well.I haven't read the book, so I can't make any comparisons there, but I don't often leave a film adaptation wanting to read the novel afterwards, as I did after seeing this.Visually stunning, epic in scope, a strong score; the sort of film that you're constantly amazed was ever made and happy it was.
The biggest overall failure was definitely some of the make-up effects - trying to turn Doona Bae into a believable red-headed Caucasian woman was simply distracting - but the overall art & sound design was incredible.If I could turn channels while watching TV and switch between stories and narratives as seamlessly and as deftly as the editing in Cloud Atlas, it would honestly be hard to go back to simply watching one show at a time.Truly a marvel of multitasking on so many levels.
Genre conventions are toppled, as these stories with different tones are juggled in short intervals, leading from comedic highs to shocking drama in minutes.But as with the characters, these plots are connected thematically, and clever wordplay and visual imagery links the stories, such as the end of a monologue referencing "the gates of Hell" and cutting to a shot of the gates of a building that, for Cavendish at least, is the gates of Hell.
I am a huge fan of movies that are epic in nature and are rather daring by taking on the task of time lines that may span a millennia.I will not provide any spoilers but I will say that the film is truly grand in scope and as you may have deduced from the trailer, the film time span passes through hundreds of years and includes many characters and story lines that are interwoven or overlap.I cannot say enough about the performances in the film.
This may be one the most ambitious and epic films I've ever seen, demanding rapt attention from viewers as they're taken on an odyssey that spans the globe over 500 years and hopscotches between numerous interwoven story lines that incorporates just about every film genre available, featuring actors playing several different roles each.
Cloud Atlas is based on British author David Mitchell's best-selling 2004 novel and was a huge challenge for the filmmakers to adapt and finance (its estimated budget of over $100 million also makes it the most expensive independent film ever made).
Hanks does some of the best work I've ever seen from him, playing four different characters that range from an unscrupulous doctor in the 1800s to going far against type with maybe the film's standout character, a modern-day thuggish British writer named Dermot Hoggins who gets the ultimate revenge on a critic for a bad review.
Berry is excellent with her predominant roles playing an ambitious reporter in 1970s San Francisco and a political figurehead (from what I could grasp) aligned with one of Hanks' characters in the far future, in one of the film's few story lines that doesn't quite work.
In my opinion it mostly succeeds, but finding a large mainstream audience is its biggest challenge to be met (at this point, before wide release).Imagine taking six short (but big-budget) films with different stories and directors and combining them into an anthology feature, united by a common theme and cast of actors in different roles, and then editing the entire thing out of sequence.
It tries to have a common theme about standing up to oppression of some sort or other via corporate corruption, musical composition, the slave trade, science fiction etc but in the end it wasn't worth the effort.The white actors acting as Asian and vice versa are distractingly comical although I understand there is a reason for it.It's easy to see why it wasn't a box office success and didn't receive any major nominations.Skip it..
Yes, there are some visually stunning scenes - but the overall feel is that of watching three hours of good commercials (but commercials no less).Those involved with the film set out some grand goals and I'm sure they thought they were achieving something immense, overarching and wonderful.
I don't mind a thinking man's movie, just as long as my brain doesn't attempt to shut down after being exhausted by the editor's brutal film gymnastics.Three of Cloud Atlas' story lines are wildly entertaining.
If you are willing to accept that you may have to either take a notepad with you to keep track of the story lines and trudge through some uninspired acting (sometimes Hanks & Berry are flat), or commit yourself ahead of time to watch this film twice, then go out and purchase your ticket.
Honestly, I'd rather have watched a 3 hour movie about any one of its many sub-plots rather than all of them edited like this.The shooting star birthmark held some significance (don't really know what exactly), but with all the dozens of characters, I can't remember for the life of me who had them and who didn't.
Seeing the different actors as different characters was more distracting than anything, and the film was paced too quickly allow the average viewer to pick up all the complexities and themes the author was likely trying to convey.In the end, I found that it had a couple of good and original story- lines (particularly the Escape from the Nursing home plot, and the gay composer plot was good) but I found the other stories to be of the mostly bland and formulaic sort we've seen many times before (ie.
While all of the story lines were entertaining, you never have enough time to become invested in each story or characters because the movie constantly jumped around between the six different plots.
It shows how history not only repeats itself, but also connects to people in all time periods and places."For the life of me, I can't figure out why the directors didn't structure the movie this way.
It's a sign of poor story telling if you make it so that you have to watch a film more than once in order to "get it".This film could have been so much better if it was structured like the book and took its time to actually tell the stories and develop the characters.
The reason I think this film was a disappointment was precisely because it treated the audience like morons who just wanted to see fast paced action with no deep exploration of the themes or characters.
Stupendous, ambitious and profound, "Cloud Atlas" is a once-in-a-lifetime movie of epic proportions.Comprised of six interrelated stories from different times and places, the movie is about how people's lives are connected with and influence each other.
It is, in a way, an illustration of the six degrees of separation that fleshes out karma and reincarnation.The film is structured as a sort of mosaic - the fragments of each of the six time periods scattered all throughout the movie, revisiting each narrative to propel the story into one humongous piece of art.The complex story lines require utmost degree of attention and a deeper level of appreciation to be fully understood.
Their Neo Seoul love affair alone is enough reason for me to watch this movie again."Cloud Atlas" is unlike any other film.
It goes beyond your average movie-going experience as it defies cinematic conventions, transcends real-life preconceptions, reintroduces obscured emotions, and permeates the subconscious, leaving you tremendously overwhelmed.With a $102 million USD budget, "Cloud Atlas" is one of the most expensive independent films of all time.
And with every crime and every kindness, we give birth to the future." The truth is, Cloud Atlas is just the type of movie that the whole world should see and really needs at this point in time.
Once I understood what was going on I was able to enjoy three long but never boring hours.I haven't seen anything like Cloud Atlas.It jumps between six timelines telling six different but intertwined stories separated across sometimes vast gulfs of time.
A wider audience would have slid into the movie far more comfortably if they better explained we were watching multiple timelines and that the same actors were playing entirely different characters.
and absolutely i don't understand how people don't like this movie !What is most important factors that effect on a good movie ?A good story line ?A brilliant roles played by a collection of lovely actors/actresses ?A good filming and camera man ?A suitable soundtrack ?A message and a lot of shocks ?So you can find a collection of these factors inside this movie , but still just nominated for one Golden Globe Award !or may be simply i don't understand ?!!
There is no one definitive story to Cloud Atlas (Based on the 2004 novel of the same name), instead, it's a collection of stories set in different time lines ranging from 1849 to 106 years after apocalyptic events, utilizing an all star cast to wonderful effect.Despite a very lengthy runtime of close to three hours, Cloud Atlas is surprisingly easy to watch all in one sitting.
This movie, like a lot of great films, is adapted from a book (of the same name).
An all star cast including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Keith David, Susan Sarandon and Hugo Weaving (a Wachowski regular) joined Bae in the cast (all playing multiple characters of different races and sexes).
I didn't think it left the viewer enough time to get to know the characters and storyline of one story before jumping to another, making it much more confusing (than if it had been told in a more linear fashion).
If you don't mind letting go of the conventional way of being told a story, where scenes follow time rather than purpose, this is a movie for you.
Cloud Atlas tells six stories with amazing connections that appear to be individually based, but grow in momentum to form ONE giant philosophical idea.The film explores the idea of an eternal soul that reincarnate﻿ through time and space - no matter of race, gender, religion - but based on the past actions, reborn and rejoin with lost loves, and remedy wrongs from the past.
Each story is so unique with its own rising action/climax/conclusion, yet they all connect through different themes.The more times you see Cloud Atlas, the more details you'll﻿ notice and realize how it's all connected to each other.
If you want to witness something fresh, exciting that pushes the boundaries and makes you think, then see Cloud Atlas.Prometheus was suppose to be the film of the year that made us ponder about our existence and what lies beyond our own world.
And my high expectations for Cloud Atlas didn't come from the people involved or the story/ies itself, but the ambition of the concept and the potential for true technical feat despite the love-or-hate it reputation the film was starting to gain.
Cloud Atlas is an interesting film, and unlike most viewers, I'm in the middle of the love-hate, as the only thing I actively dislike are half of Tom Hanks' characters but there's plenty to really like.
The more times you see Cloud Atlas the more details and hidden messages you'll notice/discover and realize how all the stories and everything are connected to each other.But I would also say it's a brainy movie for already open-minded human beings with a heart and some kind of depth in their bodies.
Cloud Atlas is a groundbreaking, rare, unique, beautiful, epic piece of art, and a film like this hasn't been made before and won't for many years to come.
That's one of the best rewards a movie can get.One more thing: Even though Cloud Atlas didn't get the Awards or Nominations it deserves, it will be that one film that I will forever hold dear to my heart..
After a long time there comes a movie with some thought in it.The writers have done a good job in bringing the book onto the screen .The film defies the old fashioned conventions of the same ending and this time gives us a reason to be involved in it.The story is told non linearly.One will have to follow from the beginning to the end to fully understand the film.The film is thematic ,rhythemic and does not revolve around any character or plot.But just flows in one direction.All you have to do is ride on.Tom Hanks suits every role in this film and so does Halle Berry.The film starts from past to present to future and is an epic adventure.This is a long movie but not one minute do you take your eyes off it.Direction-8;Story-8,Cinematography-7A good film in a long time..
(Like a modern-day John Carpenter, Twyker also worked as composer on Cloud Atlas.) Together they've created a three-hour movie composed of myriad stories spanning different time periods.
The actors - Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Ben Wishaw, Jim Broadbent et al - each play different characters throughout these stories, regardless of age, race or gender.
Whether it be the stories, the characters, the settings, the CG, the makeup, or the actors, there will be something you can not only like, but appreciate about this movies.
I'm not sure where to even begin with this.Profoundly intelligent, masterful film comes to mind .Even at almost 3 hours long, it clips along at an easy rate and I never felt bored at any point.Wildly ambitious films like this rarely find their mark, but like "The Matrix" it shrugs off that mantle and comes through in spades.The storyline is a intricate multidimensional one of human struggle, psyche, systems of belief, love and fear and how everything is interlinked in a complex web of mind body and soul.I haven't enjoyed a movie this much since Inception, though this one jacked the whole concept up to a new level.The Wachowski's have really created a master piece with this one.Not a film I'm going to be content to watch once, which is something I'm usually happy to do.An incredible, cinematic and thought provoking experience that shouldn't be missed..
Ironic, since the film demands so much from its audience (it's in no way a passive movie experience) up to that point, and maybe the intention was to, in some ways, ease the audience out of the three hours of wildly engaging cinema they had been subjected to.The performances run the gamut from decent (Tom Hanks) to solid (Halle Berry) to good (Keith David, James D'arcy) to inspired (Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturgess)to the brilliant (Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Doona Bae).
It is a film that tells 6 stories spanning the years 1846 to 2346, with the same actors taking on different roles across the 6 segments.
This film was a mishmash of a number of story lines - past, present and future - using a cast of actors over and over again in different roles for each storyline.
I liked the performances of the actors and actresses Tom Hanks, Hale Berry, Hugo Weving, Susan Surandon, and others, what was great about their performances was the fact in each of the stories they all played different characters which to me is a great but fun acting challenge and they all passed.
(Identity is toyed with and questioned continuously throughout the movie though by way of using makeup to have actors play a variety of characters of different ages, races, and even genders.)You know how it's often said there are no new stories and no new ideas?
Cloud Atlas (2012)It's no secret this is an ambitious film, over two hours long with three directors and scenes set in six distinct time frames over several centuries.
This movie is amazing to watch and is way more of an experience than just a film.
Rarely does a film deliver almost every genre into one piece without becoming so full of itself and confusing, but here it brilliantly tells these stories effectively keeping everything needed in tact to deliver the message it is trying to convey.There are few movies that come along that truly feel epic, but Cloud Atlas is defiantly one of them.
it's like watching 5 different films at once, with their stories unwinding in a similar way...