Cloud Atlas
With Wit, Reviewed By Kimmo Mustonenen
There are times when the sweet, sweet smoke must be smoked before the mind can accept strange.
You think “I understand anything and have the munchies.”
Other times Kossu is demanded for drink – sense must be made but you are more “I pretend to get it” and then “more Kossu, please” until the drunkening is achieved.
Now there is the “Cloud Atlas.”
Crazy novel.
Crazier film.
I must be for the admitting that my brain was blown.
Not by gunshot (not yet, thank Odin).
Not by crack whore (thanks again).
But by cinema.
Not since “Zardoz” has there been so much “huh?” in my thinking parts.
Let me explanation for you.
Tom Hanks plays many character people, some with latex (on his face, perverts!).
Halle Barry has also the many latex people to be – but not like Tom, she has bigger boobs.
Tom IS getting moobs, however, because he is getting the olds.
It is all of mankind’s future. Moobs. For men.
That is not discussed in the film.
Plot? You let me in the know – I was idea-less. I’ll try.
There are many stories, in many orders, none for the explaining (my mind is whacked).
First, the way back in the South Pacific and Hanks is a sailor man.
Then forward to the near past – we’re in England and guys argue about PBS music.
Then the really near past in San Francisco with Berry and her love puppies bouncing and in the investigation mode.
Then today with an old drooler stuck in the pre-morgue unhappily (stay off his lawn!).
Then the way future where ‘droids are less cool than “Star Wars” and are Korean-ese but played by white people (I think – CGI would make it possible).
Then, the way way future, where Hanks and Berry are post-apocalyptic – yet her headlamps still are ample.
Which is good.
Then back and forth and back and forth in time and space and then I doubt my own brain thoughts.
This is directed by Tom Tykwer (“You Better Run, Lola”) and the Brothers Wachowski (“Matrix” cool – other stuff is the suck) and one brother is a girl.
No wonder my thoughts cannot hug what my eyeballs tell them is real. For it is unreal.
So, plot? So you tell me.
But great? Pretty damn so.
My mind flies like a 9 year old boy seeing his first of the female nakedness – I am not understanding yet am standing in awe (but without the pants bone).
Both are terrific and at the time of seeing not understandable.
Yet again I must see. And again. Until I am busted (embarrassing when father finds your Playboy stash – but this film makes you cool, not shamed).
Two thumbs are in the air! What the hell did they see? A “wow, cool, what?” movie that is cool.
Hells yeah. I will see this many times, with the Cheetos and weed to make the understanding believable. It is the only way.
Go to your dispensary. Grab your pipe. Go see “Cloud Atlas.”
Really.
Kimmo Mustonenen – (Kimmo On Kino) – Behind The Proscenium
P.S. “American Horror Story – Asylum” is coooool. Adam Levine gets what he (for his Marooning 5 crimes) deserves. I smiled big!
LOL. I love movies. Love them. I do not know ANYONE, film lover or not, that thought the 2nd and oh god 3rd Matrix were any good. They are mumbo jumbo wrapped in ugly CGI packaging. The film DARK CITY does more in 90 minutes than all three Matrix movies do combined. Speed Racer sucked too. Not holding out much hope for this one but it’ll be worth a Redbox rental in January.
I really enjoyed the film. It takes some patience in the beginning. For about the first 20-30 minutes, you have to just ride the wave because you are not only being introduced to the skipping time periods, but also getting to know the various characters in those periods. Once you pass that point, you have no problems following the narrative. I did have the same issue with the dialect of the 6th time period which takes place around the 2300 or 2400s. It’s hard to follow at first, and just seemed unnecessary. It’s like a terribly clipped deep bayou accent, or some kind of lost mountain language. I kept expecting Jodie Foster as Nell to come twirling out of the woods, waving her arms, and saying “tay’ay ina win, tay’ay ina win!” But seriously, if you don’t want to pay the full fee for the movie, see it as a matinee. It’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen. It’s visually stunning. And you need to see the credits, where they reveal the 6 or 7 characters each actor played. I’ve never heard so many gasps in an audience.
You had me at “her love puppies bouncing”.
This looks like a great film. Can’t wait to have my mind blown. Thanks, Kimmo!
The Wachowski’s always have some type of innovation in their movies, whether it hits, as in The Matrix, or misses, as in Speed Racer. Even if one of their movies as a whole doesn’t quite work, I always get to see something innovative in them.
This mess cost $102 million and was said to have been un film able. Which is why it was financed by outside sources. Having seen it three times and because I had to not because I wanted to. At almost three hours it is a torture to watch it is boring too many stories criss cross and unless you pay attention and concentrate you will lose the plot.
However after sitting for two hours and trying to concentrate you don’t really care what happens….poor Tom Hanks this is not the movie to resurrect his fading A-list status after two flops in a row and his last biggest hit was Angels and Demons. Haley Berry had also had some flops to her name as well and this movie will be part of that list. Too many plots Too many characters Too much time all add up to one big snooze.
“The Brothers Wachowski” are now known as “Wachowski Starship” even though one of them no longer has his/her starship.
WRONG WRONG WRONG ! I WISH I could give this movie 5-stars….yet I just can’t. This COULD HAVE been such a great movie! YES, the acting was great, and the film making itself was awesome!, but what the hell has happened to Hollywood? I am so sick of watching movies that are either; re-makes of great movies, comic book adaptations or have some HIDDEN POLITICAL MESSAGE. Can’t you just make a damn movie without showing your political colors? I am such a movie junkie…but Hollywood, you guys suck anymore.
This movie is about 2.5 hours too long. The visuals and skills of the make-up artists were impressive. At times it was difficult to recognize the actor due to their altered features. The story is depressing and at times difficult to follow due to skipping from time periods. At times the dialogue is very dIfficult to understand requiring captions to follow the story. The film should draw a large audience due to popularity of the cast which will be misleading to anyone who hasn’t seen the film. Overall a disappointing film and a loss of 2.5 hours.
why are you trying to see the actor underneath the makeup? see THE CHARACTER for who they are and you’d be less confused.
This was an incoherent pretentious piece of garbage. If you are going to take on deep subject, make sure you have the substance to deliver it, else stay away.
They should have made Jim Sturgess a half Korean guy instead. That would have been spot-on! It would have been much more realistic. Now, his hair and eyes are too black, and his eyes look freaky. His whole appearance is weird. A half Korean has light hair colour, often brown hair, and sometimes Western eyes. Wow, that would have been nice.
Interesting review, I must say 🙂
Just wanted to rebuke all the naysayers:
* Bad makeup/masks? Seriously, you go watch a movie to see the actors’ faces, or do you go feed your mind? I guess you need to read more yellow print instead of this. I feel like listening to some old ladies debating the looks of passers by.
* Understandability of dialogue… actually I understood that garbled English perfectly fine, even better than the funny translation from our localized subtitles. Strange how a foreigner can understand English better than naturals eh?
* Length is one of the truly bad points, but I see some necessity in all the stories. They make a pretty picture together. Cutting it would be like cutting a master artist’s painting in half to fit it into the hallway. Also, I suffered in a few new Holywood long movies like Avatar, TDKR and similar cause of length. As for Cloud Atlas – movie had me and I didn’t notice the time.
* The matter of political propaganda is funny when much of the Holywood production is politically colored. The thing is others are far-right wing creations and nobody notices anymore… I don’t complain about that even if it does not conform with my political views. It’s funny to see how many complaints there were regarding this.
* There is just one more thing I learned from this movie being a flop – the world is full of uneducated people with closed minds. And that is exactly what is one of the messages of this piece (I wrote “one of them”, mind you!).
Also as I see it, you can easily read people based on their review of the movie. The reaction really tells much more than usually, guess since it rises some provocative points. Also a lot of other points veiled but barbed still.