Caught Cloud Atlas on Sunday, the Wachowskis latest offering. It took in a dismal $9.4-million (and cost over $100M to make), and I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps Hurricane Sandy kept people in, perhaps the publicity campaign fell short, perhaps people are easily confused by the trailer. As always, I'll share my bias up front: I love the Wachowskis. Their multi-part storytelling style, the way they work gender roles, their entire movie aesthetics, and, well, their fight scenes... I think they're amazing. I pretty much went in with high expectations but without any real idea as to the plot. Perhaps this was the best way to go about it.Cloud Atlas was amazing. No, really.
The cast - which was huge and very talented - really gave it their all. The actors are asked to play multiple parts - in different times and in different genders - and to do so in an authentic way. Boy, did they deliver. Sometimes recognisable, sometimes completely obscured, they put on a tour de force. It goes without saying that the make-up and special effects stepped up too. Some critics are saying that the plot is too complicated for the average moviegoer; I didn't think so, and in fact thought that considering there were 6 different plot-lines being interwoven, it was quite easy to follow along. (Have people gotten that dumb? I really hope not.)
Yes, this movie makes you think and if you don't want to think, you may feel lost or bored or just plain ambivalent. Since I'm a dissector by nature, I didn't feel any of these things. I really liked the exploration of humanity's dark side: we try to build ourselves on the backs of others (jaku-niku-kyou-shoku; survival of the fittest; might is right) and the powerful like to keep the status quo in order to elongate their own wealth (there is a natural order to things). We are doomed to repeat history not because we are ignorant of it but because the baser instincts of our natures compel us to do so. We look for a scapegoat to judge and condemn and abuse because that somehow comforts us a society. It was a 3-hour philosophical journey. As I said: love.
There are characters in that movie that really stayed with me: Commander Chang (whose intensity and superhuman capabilities thrummed every feminine instinct in me), Zachry (whose anguished cowardice made him most human of all), Sonmi (whose expression when she sees the truth is like a picture postcard for our own dawning horror)... all good.
Go watch it! In theatres, if possible, to really appreciate the cinematography and camera-work. I intend to buy it so I can watch it a few more times. A film like this reveals its facets after each viewing. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
2 comments:
1 hour too long - to appeal to the true intelligence in the crowd, the message was a little repetitive. Otherwise, agree - a philosopher's dream. The age old free will vs. determinism.
I didn't think it was too long at all - unless they cut an entire storyline, I can't imagine how they could covered all that ground without becoming shallow and cursory.
As for true intelligence: well, I guess I may be a little dull, because I didn't think it was repetitive at all. Each plot was interesting in its own right (and would have made excellent short films of their own).
I thought it walked a good line between free will and destiny - I couldn't get a read on whether we're fated to be a barbaric society or whether we can overcome those basic instincts.
(As you can see, I could have talked so much more about this - I recommend building time for a post-movie nosh-and-chat session.)
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