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 Post subject: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-29 09:37pm 

What does everyone think? I'm . . . okay with this film. I'll see it, but probably not for full price in the theaters unless somebody else is paying (or it's a date).

Has anyone here read the book? I've only seen the plot summary, which is basically "stories of characters across time, through the past, present, dystopic Blade Runner-esque future, and post-apocalyptic far future*".

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-30 09:39am 

The book is incredibly complex, I'm struggling to comprehend how it will translate into a move that is less than 5 hours long and still make sense.

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-30 01:12pm 

I read the book a couple of times a looong time ago.

I know some of the basic plot, but I don't remember a post-apocalyptic future.

Or explosions.

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-30 10:36pm 

Knowing nothing but what has been posted in this thread, this trailer does not make me want to watch the movie. It says everything is connected, but it does not look like a coherent work of fiction.

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-31 12:55am 

That's pretty much how I feel too. I'm curious as to what happens but the trailer also makes me feel like I'd end up spending a lot of time watching the movie and end up being very disappointed afterwards. I guess it's giving me a Southland Tales vibe and that's one of the few movies I tell people not to watch. That's probably not giving this movie a fair shake since it at least is based on an award winning book.

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-31 05:13am 

You know, the connectivity isn't really all that important. Each narrative tells its own mostly self-contained story - they just happen to be embedded in each other through metafiction (as the trailer demonstrates, each protagonist becomes aware of the story of the last one). Without spoiling anything, the narratives are connected more by the themes they share and by their depiction of the evolution of society rather than by the actions of Character A leading to a response from Character B.

 Post subject: Re: "Cloud Atlas" Trailer Out

Posted: 2012-07-31 11:43am 

I'm going to read the book. Everyone I've spoken with who has read it raved about it, but also expressed concern that its complexity might not translate to film well.

The whole interlocked meta-narrative theme came through well, although it also looked like they were playing up a kind of "reincarnation" story, with the same two people arising over and over again in different situations as civilization progresses through "Rise", "Triumph", "Decadence", and "Fall". It reminds me of this famous Thomas Cole series of paintings, The Course of Empire (particularly the clip from the trailer where we see the ruined cityscape over-run by vegetation).