25 Points: Cloud Atlas (RK)
visual aid – © Rauan Klassnik, 2013 (all rights reserved!)
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[ I’m sorry, everyone, that it’s taken me this long to join the Cloud Atlas conversation. And I’m talking the movie Cloud Atlas which made a tremendously profound impression on me–so profound, in fact, that just the mention of the words “Cloud Atlas” (by tongue or in print), causes, usually, something in my brain to short circuit. And I start to sweat, and to drool, and, within a second or two, pass out on the spot. But this morning I have, miraculously, been able to overcome the beast of those two simple words, “Cloud Atlas,” and, laboring in a kind of inspired, biblical and epic fervor/trance, have organized my thoughts into a complex, intricate and classical analysis of the movie, Cloud Atlas. ]
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1. Boring.
2. Boring. Yawn.
3. Boring. Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZ.
4. Boring. Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZ. ——>>>Brain Damage
5. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.
.
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.
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21. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.
22. Boring. Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZ. ——>>>Brain Damage
23. Boring. Yawn. ZZZZZZZZZZ.
24. Boring. Yawn.
25. Boring.
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[ notes: Blah Blah Blah boring death Blah Blah death zzz Blah Blah boring death Blah Blah yawn yawn Blah yawn Blah Blah Blah zzzz Blah Blah death yo yawn Blah Blah Blah zzzzz Blah Brain Brain Blah zzz Blah Blah boring Bla Yawn Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah yawnBlah Blah Blah boring death Blah Blah death zzz Blah Blah boring death Blah Blah yawn yawn Blah yawn Blah Blah Blah zzzz Blah Blah death yo yawn Blah Blah Blah zzzzz Blah Brain Brain Blah zzz Blah Blah boring Bla Yawn Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah yawn Blah boring death Blah Blah yawn yawn Blah yawn Blah Blah BlaBlah zzzzz Blah Brain Brain Blah zzz Blah Blah boring Bla Yawn Blah Blah zzzzz Blah Brain Brain Blah zzz Blah Blah boring Bla Yawn Bla ]
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visual aid – © Rauan Klassnik, 2013 (all rights reserved!)
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“Cloud Atlas” — Brain, failing, falling, dead, dead, dea
Tags: Cloud Atlas, rauan movie review
BUT WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE BOOK
haven’t read it yet. but, the movie’s not much of a recommendation. what did you think of the book? (and/or the movie?)
ZZZZIPP HASN’T READ THE BOOK EITHER BUT AD JAMESON MADE IT SEEM LIKE IT WASN’T WORTH THE TIME
ZZZZIPP LIKED THE MOVIE, PROBABLY BECAUSE HIS EXPECTATIONS WERE SO LOW AND HE HAD WATCHED SOME AWFUL HOLLYWOOD MOVIES PREVIOUSLY
HE WAS ALSO WEEPY THAT DAY OR SORT OF WEEPY AND THE BROAD THEMES REGARDING “LOVE” FELT COMFORTING AND WERE EASY TO DIGEST IN THE TUMULT
IS THAT THE KIND OF THiNG YOU MEAN BY “DEATH” OR DO YOU MEAN ACTUAL DEATH
HE ALSO WALKED A DOG ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH, MAYBE THAT BROKE THINGS UP A BIT
IT WAS NICE TO LOOK AT THE DOG AND NOT HAVE TO THINK OF THE MOVIE FOR A WHILE BUT HE ALSO ENJOYED THE MOVIE “VISUALLY”
ZZZZIPP ALSO RENTED “HOLY MOTORS” AT THE SAME TIME BUT COULDN’T GET THROUGH IT ALL THE WAY SO MAYBE THAT IS AN INDICATION OF HIS CURRENT MENTAL STATE? HAS ANYONE SEEN THAT MOVIE AND DO THEY THINK IT IS GOOD? DID ZZZIPP MISS OUT
hey ZZZZZIPPP ! …. ok, i can hardly remember anything about Cloud Atlas except that it felt like a mindkiller, my mind, and that’s what i mean by death, the death that comes out of boredom, sustained & persistent boredom.
Holy Motors — you know, i thought the last 1/3 of it, maybe, was a yawner, a write-off. but the first 2/3 of it was a great movie, really. one of my favorites of all time, I think. I called my brother after and told him to go see it but to leave when he saw Kylie, or something like that.
Really I loved it. I should watch it again and do a write up. Maybe.
Good luck, man. (mental states, and all).
p.s. i remember now that while watching Cloud Atlas I resorted to reincarnating my book, The Moon’s Jaw, in my head. at that point, i was just finishing last edits i had it pretty much memorized and could on occasion pull it out into me bead by bead. (it’s a short book and i listened to it a bunch so this is no big feat at all. my memory’s ordinary).
but, anyways, that’s what the Movie sent me to. in desperation. like a cave. or a womb.
WHEN ZZZIPP FEELS OVERWHELMED BY A MOVIE LIKE THAT HE WALKS OUT OR IMAGINES HIMSELF DOING FLIPS AND HANDSTANDS ACROSS THE THEATRE SEATS
LAST YEAR ZZZIP WATCHED “PITCH BLACK” (ON DVD, OBVIOUSLY) AND IT WAS SO AWFUL IT SOMEHOW INSPIRED AN ENTIRE BOOK (A SHORT ONE) AND HE HOPED CLOUD ATLAS WOULD BE THE SAME KIND OF MOVIE, THOUGH IT WASN’T, FOR ZZZIPP
WEIRD THAT YOU SHOULD SAY THAT BECAUSE IT WAS THAT FEELING ZZZZIPP WAS LOOKING FOR WHEN HE PUT CLOUD ATLAS IN, OR SOMETHING LIKE IT
BUT WHAT YOU DESCRIBE SOUNDS DIFFERENT
ANYWAY YOU CAN NOW SAY CLOUD ATLAS WAS YOUR “THE SECRET MIRACLE” EXCEPT WITHOUT THE EXECUTION SO THAT’S SOMETHING
THANKS
ZZZIPP DIDN’T MAKE IT AS FAR AS KYLIE, HE TURNED IT OFF AT EVA MENDES IN THE CATACOMBS
BUT HE STILL HAS IT, MAYBE HE WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THOSE TWO POINTS
THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING ABOUT THAT MOVIE BUT IT EITHER HAD TOO MUCH MYSTERY OR NOT ENOUGH FOR ZZZIPP
i walk out of lots of movies but if my wife won’t walk out with me then sometimes i just sit and work on shit in my head because i have nothing better to do outside of the theater. or maybe it’s just inertia.
like relationships, and most everything else, sometimes it’s just about timing…
I liked the book. Haven’t read it in a long while. But I liked the book when I read it.
i liked the book a lot when i read it but that was like 10 years ago. not sure how i’d feel about it now. i thought the movie was just ok but couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t structured it like the book instead of constantly switching back and forth between storylines.
for the record i thought holy motors was way overrated.
A.D. Jameson has a lot of clever things to say about the structure, movie/book differences and decisions .. i’m guessing you’ve read his review? … http://htmlgiant.com/reviews/25-points-cloud-atlas/
p.s. I should watch Holy Motors again
I think the book is structurally very elegant and impressive and well worth knowing about. But it’s also a damn chore to read.
I’ve already forgotten the movie, except that it was a waste of an opportunity.
I find watching movies in theaters a great opportunity for writing.
I agree with bemightee. I think the best thing about the book is its structure (and I agree with you, Rauan, that it’s boring to read). The movie isn’t boring per se—it held my attention—but nothing compelling is happening in it, and I think that stems from its makers having chucked the book’s design right over a balcony in London.
yeah, outside of my narcoleptic kidding around, i’ve pretty much forgotten about the movie, too,.. and from the way you describe the dull, blunt style of the book i think i’d rather know about it by reputation only :)
The book is cleverly structured as a nesting of chronologically sequenced and thematically connected narratives: you read the first halves of five stories, going from oldest (in history) to most recent and each written in its historically appropriate style, the whole sixth and historically latest story, then the second halves of those first five stories in the order opposite to the first halves (that is, going back in time, instead of forward, with each story).
It’s simple, but, because few novels present temporal games even of this simple set-up and stylistic variety even of Cloud Atlas‘s availability, the book got a completely undeserved reputation for being, eh, intellectually forbidding.
Rauan, I found the book’s six styles neither dull nor blunt. Mitchell is mellifluous in a plain way and effective in exciting emotion. It’s an excellent novel.
I agree with Adam about the movie: a badly missed opportunity, in favor of narrative choices that emphasize the, what, ‘creativity’ of the filmmakers. Pointlessly tiring, when, at a length of, say, an hour longer than The Godfather, they could’ve told the book’s story-of-stories as tightly as Coppola made that (great) movie.
yeah i’ve read it and agree with a lot that he has to say about it.
i can just see it spiraling over that balcony, its pages unfolding like an accordion, only to land on some on duty bobby, who, with stiff upper lip, doesn’t. move. an inch.
have you seen Pola X? i think it might be the only other film by Carax i’ve seen. its great in a kitschy way. (again i saw it 10 years ago so i might feel differently now but that’s what i remember of it).
no, but i’ll look into it… thanks, man,..
i’m all for Kitsch (in theory and sometimes in practice)
deadgod– to be fair I have heard similar things from people I respect (who also though it “excellent” and had no gripes about the style(s).
i’m sure the movie has helped sales of the book quite a bit but it’s also steered many away.
and, yeah, well, it doesn’t take too much these days for being labeled “intellectual” in a bad way.. I giggled quite a bit when someone on here called me that for some of my celebrity posts.
tinyurl.com/l3cselt…