The Philosophy of Cloud Atlas

[minute bull]

I am not sure really what he means with that first or last statement.

Did you just assume my gender?

FORMER: Today's generation of film-goers are less focused on going-along with the ludicrousness of a story as they are picking apart its holes. I think this mostly because as I was growing up I felt that the preceding decades of film, particularly black and white cinema, was very stagey and fake. It took me a while to get used to the change in style, and even today I don't enjoy old cinema as much as many cinephiles do.

Although made in 2012, the Wachowskis are still cut from the same cinematic cloth as the 90s. They expertly foray into new technologies for sure, but their story sensibilities still hearken back to a time when imagination and fantasy took precedence over veracity and perfection in execution. Audiences these days are pretty spoiled and picky.

LATTER: CLOUD ATLAS deals with people under multiple guises across a large expanse of time, this and other elements are present in THE MATRIX. Consequently, watching CLOUD ATLAS becomes reminiscent of MATRIX, and the experience may suffer for the comparison.

You may not have quite seen a story like CLOUD ATLAS before but you have seen some of its moves before, and in Wachowski films -- that's what I'm saying.

 

[Der Eisbär]

Did you just assume my gender?

FORMER: Today's generation of film-goers are less focused on going-along with the ludicrousness of a story as they are picking apart its holes. I think this mostly because as I was growing up I felt that the preceding decades of film, particularly black and white cinema, was very stagey and fake. It took me a while to get used to the change in style, and even today I don't enjoy old cinema as much as many cinephiles do.

Although made in 2012, the Wachowskis are still cut from the same cinematic cloth as the 90s. They expertly foray into new technologies for sure, but their story sensibilities still hearken back to a time when imagination and fantasy took precedence over veracity and perfection in execution. Audiences these days are pretty spoiled and picky.

LATTER: CLOUD ATLAS deals with people under multiple guises across a large expanse of time, this and other elements are present in THE MATRIX. Consequently, watching CLOUD ATLAS becomes reminiscent of MATRIX, and the experience may suffer for the comparison.

You may not have quite seen a story like CLOUD ATLAS before but you have seen some of its moves before, and in Wachowski films -- that's what I'm saying.

The matrix deals with people under multiple guises across vast expanses of time...?

 

[minute bull]

For starters: there's Thomas Anderson, and there's Neo. And he's lived at least six lifetimes.

 

[Bay Area]

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.

 

[Der Eisbär]

For starters: there's Thomas Anderson, and there's Neo. And he's lived at least six lifetimes.

Wot?

 

[Joe Wong]

@Bezos

@Der Eisbär and @Secret Agent are throwing haymakers ITT

OHHH SHHHH! Who is gonna go down first? Someone is going to end up on Queer Street. It’s inevitable!

 

[Ares Black]

I couldn't even finish that giant pile of trash movie.

I struggled with it the first time I watched it. Gave it another chance about a year later and loved it. Turns out it's actually a masterpiece.

 

[Ares Black]

I live in a socialist hellhole and recognise socialist propaganda at the first chime of 'The State knows best' and 'Hey, let's regulate everything'. This movie, like the saccharine Avatar, ticks all the boxes.

Don't even get me started on the messy aesthetics and crude theatrics. Just awful.

Now I'm curious where you live.

And also how you could so completely miss the point of the movie.

 

[minute bull]

Wot?

I said CLIFFS, .

 

[Der Eisbär]

I said CLIFFS, .

I just don't understand what's being said here lol.

You're saying that the Matrix is similar to Cloud Atlas in that neo has multiple guises over a vast expanse of time? I'm confused as I've watched the matrix trilogy many many times and not once did I ever watch what you're describing lol.

The Matrix is about sentient machines taking over the planet, enslaving mankind as an energy source and hooking us all up to virtual reality so we can live out our lives in peace. A "chosen one" rises up that has the power to see the Matrix for what it is and fights to liberate humanity.

Cloud Atlas is about six different stories, in six different periods, from the 19th century to the distant future. All six stories are more or less about tyranny vs liberty, and each story is interconnected to the other stories, in different ways.

How are these two at all close to each other in narrative? Lol

 

[Der Eisbär]

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.

I cried. Not gonna lie. Only time I've ever cried in a movie theater.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Again, literally the opposite is true of both the movie and the book. God damn peoples perceptions are so off from reality. In multiple timelines one actor plays both good and evil characters which embodies aleksandr Solzhenitsyns quote "the line between good and evil runs through the hearts of all men". Literally nothing you said in the above quoted is true about the film or the book and I'm not sure how you arrived at such a poor conclusion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)

First part is indigenous getting oppressed by bad greedy people

Second part is someone getting ripped off by a bad greedy person

Third part is big business trying to get away wrong doings and trying to assassinate whistle blower

Fourth part is poor sap getting chased by bad greedy gang bangers

Fifth part is Bad greedy rich people who clone humans for slaves, and then reuse them as food

Sixth part is intro to how all the other people in the first five parts fights back.

What movie or book did you read again?

 

[Pugilistic]

I enjoyed it. Good premise and idea. But not the best execution though. I liked what they were trying to accomplish though

 

[Der Eisbär]

After reading the plot of the book from wiki, the only message I got is kill all the bad, greedy people, namely the rich because they most likely got that way by being sleazy, before it is too late, and never be sorry about it.

Funny thing, in real history, there have been times when one group perceived another group as such a bad force they moved to exterminate them, notwithstanding their perceptions being correct or incorrect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)

First part is indigenous getting oppressed by bad greedy people

Second part is someone getting ripped off by a bad greedy person

Third part is big business trying to get away wrong doings and trying to assassinate whistle blower

Fourth part is poor sap getting chased by bad greedy gang bangers

Fifth part is Bad greedy rich people who clone humans for slaves, and then reuse them as food

Sixth part is intro to how all the other people in the first five parts fights back.

What movie or book did you read again?

^^^^ @Ares Black ^^^^
Cloud Atlas is about "kill all the bad, greedy people, namely the rich because they most likely got that way by being sleazy, before it is too late, and never be sorry about it. "??

What an absolutely bizarre interpretation of narrative. You could literally apply what you've said to virtually EVERY movie or story. How do you not get that?

the lion king, bad things happen to mufasa from bad greedy scar who wants power

the matrix, energy hungry robots do bad things to the human race

the departed, bad greedy corrupt cops do bad corrupt things

the titanic, bad greedy capitalists take shortcuts to constructing the ship and everyone dies

the shape of water, bad mean guys do bad mean things to a good person

Bad things happening to people is the central dynamic to nearly every story ever written. Like what... that's really your complaint? The movie is about the eternal struggle between good and evil, tyranny and liberty, freedom and slavery. How else are you going to tell that story?

 

[minute bull]

I just don't understand what's being said here lol.

You're saying that the Matrix is similar to Cloud Atlas in that neo has multiple guises over a vast expanse of time? I'm confused as I've watched the matrix trilogy many many times and not once did I ever watch what you're describing lol.

The Matrix is about sentient machines taking over the planet, enslaving mankind as an energy source and hooking us all up to virtual reality so we can live out our lives in peace. A "chosen one" rises up that has the power to see the Matrix for what it is and fights to liberate humanity.

Cloud Atlas is about six different stories, in six different periods, from the 19th century to the distant future. All six stories are more or less about tyranny vs liberty, and each story is interconnected to the other stories, in different ways.

How are these two at all close to each other in narrative? Lol

Lol yourself!

But I'm being dodgy because to reveal more similarities would spoil the film for people who haven't seen it and are watching this leg of the conversation.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

^^^^ @Ares Black ^^^^
Cloud Atlas is about "kill all the bad, greedy people, namely the rich because they most likely got that way by being sleazy, before it is too late, and never be sorry about it. "??

What an absolutely bizarre interpretation of narrative. You could literally apply what you've said to virtually EVERY movie or story. How do you not get that?

the lion king, bad things happen to mufasa from bad greedy scar who wants power

the matrix, energy hungry robots do bad things to the human race

the departed, bad greedy corrupt cops do bad corrupt things

the titanic, bad greedy capitalists take shortcuts to constructing the ship and everyone dies

the shape of water, bad mean guys do bad mean things to a good person

Bad things happening to people is the central dynamic to nearly every story ever written. Like what... that's really your complaint? The movie is about the eternal struggle between good and evil, tyranny and liberty, freedom and slavery. How else are you going to tell that story?

LOL, I have not made any complaints. And yes, you are correct about all stories. A lot of stories are essentially about fighting. I just dont find it necessary to read so much into it.

"the line between good and evil runs in hearts of all men" ? ? ? ??

That is just cheesy. It does not matter if actors play multiple characters. They are different characters. Maybe they were just being cheap.

 

[Der Eisbär]

LOL, I have not made any complaints. And yes, you are correct about all stories. A lot of stories are essentially about fighting. I just dont find it necessary to read so much into it.

"the line between good and evil runs in hearts of all men" ? ? ? ??

That is just cheesy. It does not matter if actors play multiple characters. They are different characters. Maybe they were just being cheap.

Yes, one of the most profound quotes from one of the most profound writers and thinkers (who also won a nobel prize) the world has ever known, who endured the horrors of the soviet gulag for years and who wrote one of the most important books of all time is "cheesy". Just stop dude.

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil
deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the
line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to
destroy a piece of his own heart?

During the life of any heart this line keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by
exuberant evil and some- times it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the
same human being is, at various ages, under various cir- cumstances, a totally different human being.
At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood. But his name doesn't change, and to that
name we ascribe the whole lot, good and evil.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago.

 

[Der Eisbär]

I've been wanting to watch this movie forever as it is on Netlfix now. That said I never find myself feeling I can pay attention for a whole 3ish hours. Or I'm with my wife and watching a movie with her you damn sure better watch one that isn't complicated because she just can't help talking through it.

Whenever you have some time to chill out for a while light up a joint and enjoy the movie ;]

 

[AOM]

Your just not smart enough to understand!

*you're

Hey @HomerThompson ...Keep these dullards in check...

 

[Bay Area]

I came across this recently published video on youtube and found it to be excellently articulated and edited and I wanted to share it with anyone here that might be a fan of this movie:



Personally I find Cloud Atlas to be one of the finest films ever made and it is my personal favorite movie of all time.

Those that hate on the film seem to either: A) not understand it at all, B) misunderstand the parts that they do grasp or C) just generally don't like long and/or complex films.

Having read the book, which I loved, I thought the movie was one of the best film adaptations ever. It's so good in fact, I actually find the changes they made improve the story.

Everything about this movie is A+ :
-incredible storytelling
-top notch acting (especially from Tom Hanks, Ben Wishaw, and Jim Broadbent)
-incredible score
-complexity and depth

This film is almost Biblical in scope. It's not just a movie, it's not just a story. It is an epic; a grand "meta-narrative" portraying the infinite struggle between good and evil across all of time and between all people. It beautifully depicts the interconnectedness between all of us and how our actions and lives ripple across time.

Hope you enjoy the video!

After 3 minutes of your video, I had to turn it off. Too queer for me.