Cloud Atlas [HD]

An early review from a lover of the novel
David Mitchell is one of my absolute favorite writers, and Cloud Atlas is among my favorite novels. It was my top pick for 2004. I've previously blogged about my unusual first encounter with Mr. Mitchell while he was touring for Cloud Atlas. (Google "David Mitchell returns to San Francisco" if you're curious.) Good times!

Anyway, considering my love of the novel, you can imagine that I've been looking forward to the film with equal measures of anticipation and trepidation. You always want the film to do the source material justice, but it's rare that it actually happens. Especially when you're looking at a novel as complex as Cloud Atlas. It was said by many to be unfilmable, and if asked, I would have agreed.

And I would have been so very wrong. What Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer have achieved is nothing short of astounding. I'll cut to the chase and tell you that I LOVED this film. It will surely be my favorite of the year.

Have...

Masterpiece: The Ensemble as Agents of Delerium
Have you ever felt hammered by a movie? Has it ever taken you days, weeks,
to integrate a movie, in your head and heart? Read on ...

If you see this movie, you'll probably see why some people don't like it. In
fact you may see different reasons for different people. A great movie allows
the individual to bring their own positive interpretation. Cloud Atlas also
allows the individual to bring their own negatives.

My own personal bitterness was "How come my heros always die, but your heros
always live happily ever after?" This hit me hardest as I was walking out of
the theater, but it still galls me to think about it.

You see, its like this: Cloud Atlas goes for power and effect. If they hit
something positive in you, you rave about it. If they hit something negative,
you hurt big time. This movie isn't about entertainment, its about achieving
enough kinetic force to shake you up. Its wrenching. And some...

A Buddhist's perspective
I am a Buddhist and I went with a group of fellow Buddhists and Buddhist Monks to see this movie today.
Right off there are Buddhist messages all over the place. Sutras quoted over and over, Buddhist imagery and of course the message of rebirth and Karma.

But the problem is that unless you are a Buddhist it is very unlikely that you would pick up on all these undertones and the theme.
The general Western public has zero knowledge about Buddhism and the message will be lost on most people. This is unfortunate because there was a great opportunity here to bring this message to the foreground and introduce people to Buddhist concepts.
It's there but so very few people will ever understand what is being told here. Had they only taken a moment to maybe give people some obvious clues so that the curious could at least have some point of reference to begin asking questions, that would have been great.
But the curious are left unfulfilled and empty handed and...

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