Cloud Atlas

I går så jeg Cloud Atlas. Grunnen til at jeg så den var at jeg måtte se en film til en filmanmeldelse jeg skulle skrive. Anmeldelsen skulle skrives på engelsk. Jeg har lyst til å poste den her, og jeg håper at det ikke gjør noe at den er på engelsk. Jeg gidder ikke å oversette den til norsk... 

"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."

The movie Cloud Atlas is based on David Mitchell’s book with the same title. The movie came out in 2012, and was directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. The main cast, consisting of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae and Ben Wishaw, played different characters in the different parts of the movie. 

The movie tells the stories of six completely different persons, in six completely different lives. In the 19th century, a young American lawyer, Adam Ewing, travels with a ship across the Pacific. A young composer, Robert Frobisher, sends letters to his lover in the 1930s. In the 1970s, a young journalist, Luisa Rey, investigates a mystery surrounding a new nuclear power plant. An old publisher, Timothy Cavendish, is tricked to enrol in a nursing home in 2012. In a future Korea, 2144, a fabricant, Sonmi-451, opposes her programming and joins a rebellion. And in a post-apocalyptic future at Hawaii, a young man, Zachry, does everything he can to survive. Their stories are all connected. From the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, every action is a ripple in the water and creates waves.

As I said earlier, Cloud Atlas is based on a book by David Mitchell. It is a long time since I read Cloud Atlas, but as far as I can tell, the movie is true to the book. I recognised the essence of the story and most of it was the same as the book. Of course, some of the story was cut out of the movie, but I realised why, and it weren’t important parts. I really liked that the script writer had kept David Mitchell’s beautiful language, and I recognised a lot of the lines. The language is poetic and has a huge impact on the story. I loved the way lines from one story blended together with the action of another perfectly.

I really liked the way the six stories blended together in the movie. It is different from the book, but as a movie it was absolutely perfect. The scenes changed often, and it helped prove the point that all the six stories were somehow mixed together; they were connected. It felt like one story, not six separate. I understand that the changing of scenes can be confusing, and I have to say that this is a movie you have to concentrate on while watching; it’s not a movie you watch just because you are bored. You have to commit to the cause when you watch this movie, but don’t let this put you off. It is really worth it.

I loved how each of the stories were original. They were all different from each other, but most of them were quite dramatic. Because of that it was great to have the story about Timothy Cavendish. It felt like the movie’s comic relief, and I did laugh out loud sometimes. Old people running away from a nursing home are actually hilarious, and Jim Broadbent played Timothy Cavendish perfectly. Where the stories of Robert Frobisher, the composer, and Zachry, the post-apocalyptic man, made me cry at times, Timothy Cavendish made up for it by making me laugh.

The cast in Cloud Atlas was brilliant. Playing that many different characters in one movie must have been hard, and I, as an amateur actress, can really appreciate their work. It was great seeing them in the different roles, and it made me feel like the stories were connected. I suppose that’s why the directors decided to tell the story like that. I think it worked really well.

Noen av de viktigste karakterene. Fra venstre: Robert Frobisher (Ben Wishaw),
Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess), Luisa Rey (Halle Berry),
Zachry (Tom Hanks), Lloyd Hooks (Hugh Grant), Abbess (Susan Sarandon)
og Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent).

The cinematic part of the movie was amazing. Some of the scenes were absolutely stunning; shots of mountain ranges and the sailing ship at the Pacific. It took my breath away. I always love landscape shots in movies, and Cloud Atlas had some really beautiful ones.

The music in the movie was also beautiful. I like to listen to movie soundtracks, and I am sure going to listen to Cloud Atlas’s soundtrack. The music fitted the story perfectly. It made scenes suspenseful, sad, romantic and everything else the soundtrack is supposed to. Robert Frobisher composes a piece of music, The Cloud Atlas Sextet, in the movie, and it is a really beautiful piece of music. It fitted the movie and the theme of the story very well.

I really liked this movie, and even though I want to say that the book was better I am not so sure. The book was better at some points, but the movie at others. The book was, for example, hard to read at times because the different stories were written in a way that made it seem like they were written at the particular time they were meant to describe. The 19th century text was one of the texts that were a bit hard to understand. In the movie it was much easier. But there were much more happening in the book, and I felt like I got to know the characters better.

I would really recommend Cloud Atlas. It is a beautiful, exciting, sad and humorous story, which I believe most people will find entertaining. The plot is original, the cast is amazing and the story really makes you think about life in general; do I affect the lives of others? Check it out. It’s worth a try.

“Fear, belief, love. Phenomena that determined the course of our lives. These forces begin long before we are born and continue after we perish.”

Håper det ikke gjorde noe at anmeldelsen er på engelsk. 

- Anna