I this easily the most "confusing" film I have watched in at least a decade. It was made up of 6 different story arcs, all with the same actors, playing different roles. Other than that, the stories were not connected at all.
There was a scene set in on a sailing ship in 1849, England 1936, San Francisco 1973, London 2012 (present day at the time of filming), Neo-Seoul 2144 and The Big Island of Hawaii 2321.
Also, there is a VERY loose connection with a couple of scenes of a piece of music called Cloud Atlas. Apparently, the title of the book was taken from a piece of music created by Toshi Ichiyanagi, who was one of Yoko Ono's husbands, though I don't think his music influenced any of the music in the film.
I would say you could throw out 2 of those stories, and the films wouldn't lose anything. The story set in 1849 and 1936 were not great stories, IHMO.
The Neo-Seoul scene has a tech-noir feel to it, which was reminiscent of Blade Runner, with the replicants being "fabricants". But I couldn't understand the division between human and fabricant. They seemed identical (in their capabilities), and it is confusing to think they would bother to manufacture "humans" to be fast food workers, and then a food. That would be extremely inefficient. It was like they mixed Logan's Run and Soylent Green together. Another thing that struck me odd is that Hae-Joo Chang (the protagonist) suddenly became a martial arts expert and pulled of some unbelievable moves. It seemed a bit too over the top, to me.
It was interesting to see the post apocalyptic world of the Big Island, with a society surviving with stone age technology and a slightly altered form of the English language, as well as a high tech society that was living separately from them. While the existence of the character of Old Georgie was confusing, it was a role that Hugh Weaving was born to play.
The scene set in 1973 San Francisco was interesting in that it really did have a feel of the 70s. It seems like this story was derived from the The China Syndrome.
The story set in present day London was also quite interesting, and can be taken without any of the other scenes, as there is only the remotest of connections.
And as the story set in 1849, had a very interesting scene at the end with Halle Berry playing a white woman (no one got upset). The strange thing is Halle Berry doesn't strike me as having any black features without any make up, but in the white make up, she looks strongly mulatto to me.
This story also featured Tom Hanks in the role of a villain. Certainly Tom Hanks appeared as types of characters I have never heard him playing before in this film, but I greatly prefer him in the likable guy roles, which he usually plays.
While I am impressed with what they were trying to do, and I think it may have made for an interesting book, it did not translate well into an entertaining nor thought provoking film.
I have also read that an Asian America group was upset the in the Neo-Korea scenes the actor wore Asian make up. This is rather a ridiculous thing to get up set about, being that there are big name Hollywood actors, and none Asian actors of equal caliber exist in Hollywood today. Honestly, they looked so odd, I though they were either an odd looking Eurasians, or some odd new race. While this seems like a ridiculous reason for people to get up set, it seems to me that some group could also potentially be upset for having an African American portray a Polynesian.
One thing that bothered me about this film was the . I guess the point of this film was the death leads to reincarnation, but as that is not true, it seem to highlight suicide and death too much for me.
This is a film for everyone but ultimately no one. The narrative jumps back and forth between the six stories. You don't know why the characters are important. It covers old sea faring tales, modern settings, high tech sci-fi and a post apocalyptic future.
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