Cloud Atlas

First Hit:  A difficult concept to make believable in film but here it works fairly well and is interesting.

The concept that the energy/spirit of who we are never ceases to exist and manifests itself in bodies is not new.

His Holiness Dalai Lama has revisited us 14 times. If you watch the Martin Scorsese film “Kundun” (HHDL’s nickname) you will see an enactment of his discovery of who he is and was. Anyway, Cloud Atlas takes us through people and their connections through many different expressions of their lifetimes.

Tom Hanks plays multiple versions of a good guy as does Halle Berry his connected partner. This very long (almost three hours) film goes by surprisingly fast because there are 6 story lines the audience has to follow.

The credit for this film being engaging and interesting is to the fine direction under Tom Tykwer with Lana and Andy Wachowski. I found myself wanting to know more (and read this also as caring more) about some story lines versus others. T

here were storylines I wanted to dismiss quickly while others I had more interest in. Without tipping my hand too much, the future stories were more interesting to me as were 2 of the historical stories. At times the scenes and sets were amazing in their ethereal beauty while others were sharp in their rough starkness.

Without me having to go back (and I won’t) watch it again, what struck the following day was; did anyone learn enough in their previous versions of themselves to go from being a bad guy to a good guy? Was there redemption? I don’t think so. This thought took me to thinking how much better this film might have been if an energy/spirit learned from their past behavior and moved to a different based energy. But then again it would have been a whole other film.

At one point the film did strike a chord in me which I think is true: “Love is real. Everything else is an illusion. Live in this realm and you will be at peace.”

I wondered how hard it was for the actors to stay in character for all the roles each had to play – and therefore kudos to all. Hanks was very good but typical of himself in his roles as Dr. Henry Goose, and 5 others. Halle Berry was strong in her 6 roles. Jim Broadbent was really fun to watch in his 5 roles. Hugo Weaving had 6 really disparate but interesting roles as the bad guy. Jim Sturgess was the young hero in 7 roles and did this well but I didn’t think the Asian makeup worked well. Doona Bae was mesmerizing as Sonmi-451 (interesting reference to another famous 451) and her scenes stole much of the film. Lana and Andy Wachowski along with Tom Tykwer wrote an interesting screenplay from David Mitchell’s book Cloud Atlas (named for a symphony). They also did an outstanding job of keeping this long film moving and engaging the audience.

Overall:  Interesting, far reaching, and well done but not great.

21

First Hit: The film started out well. In fact I enjoyed the premise of a young strong mind finding traction in the hot fast world of gaming, however at some point it turned more towards being unbelievable or false.

Based on a true story, Jim Sturgess plays Ben a young bright MIT student doing what he can to enter Harvard Medical School.

In one scene he is meeting with a Harvard representative who is telling him that to receive an all paid trip to Medical School on a grant, he must have, besides perfect school and test scores, a dazzling life experience story to tell.

The rep wants to be dazzled. Ben walks away dejected because his life has been all study and no play he doesn’t have any life experiences to dazzle the Harvard rep, nor does he have the $300,000 it takes to pay for school.

During a class taught by Professor Micky Rosa (played by Kevin Spacey), Ben impresses Mickey with an answer to a math problem. Upon further questioning by the professor Ben impresses the whole class with his thought process and brilliance.

Days later Ben is invited to sit in a meeting with the Professor and some students who have created a team that counts cards in 21 and plays for money in Las Vegas on the weekends.

They want him to join the team because they lost one of their players. On this team is the girl of his dreams Jill Taylor (played by Kate Bosworth). Although it tempting as a way to pay for school he initially declines their offer.

Jill comes to see him and he is finally convinced to try this but sets a limit that he is only there to win $300,000 for his tuition and after that he is out.

At this point the film starts telegraphing itself with the high life he gets caught into while gambling in Las Vegas. After a few trips, he finds himself to be really good at the game and starts to think he is better than the rules set up by the team.

At one point he disregards the signals by his team members and ends up losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although counting cards is not illegal, casinos don’t like it and anyone suspected of counting gets a reminder that counting is not tolerated.

Ben gets his lesson from Laurence Fishburne who has strong feelings against card counters and as we find out Professor Rosa.

Overall: This was an entertaining film, more at the beginning than at the end where the real character seemed to get lost. Some of the gambling scenes are great.