tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29864506.post2633324264236773668..comments2023-11-03T05:49:10.841-04:00Comments on Storytelling Rules: Cage Match: Cloud Atlas The MovieMaureen McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00494408580378817045noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29864506.post-39306651308333284272012-11-19T11:52:10.597-05:002012-11-19T11:52:10.597-05:00Oh, wait. Duh Zachry worshipped Sonmi! Which in th...Oh, wait. Duh Zachry worshipped Sonmi! Which in the movie was interesting to me as her story was so much about what makes someone human. I really felt like her monologue brought that message home. And it made me look at the other characters' stories in a different light.<br /><br />What makes us people? What drives us to strive for more? For dignity for everyone? Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09803986849921870941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29864506.post-38572699601590282632012-11-19T11:30:46.628-05:002012-11-19T11:30:46.628-05:00Yes, I only saw the movie and on the book front on...Yes, I only saw the movie and on the book front only had Molly's gushing to go on. And based on the few things she'd told me, I was super excited about the movie and knew it would be somewhat confusing and very long.<br /><br />I liked the movie, but didn't love it. It did make me want to read the book... And it seems kind of crazy that they tacked happy endings onto two stories that didn't have them in the book. I, too, can now see the meeting where the Wachowskis were probably forced into doing that... because it doesn't seem like a choice they'd make based on their other films.<br /><br />Great cage match girls!!! Maureen McGowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00494408580378817045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29864506.post-35155868482400327982012-11-19T10:38:19.483-05:002012-11-19T10:38:19.483-05:00I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I thou...I liked the book, but I didn't love it. I thought the structure was interesting and Mitchell's writing was extremely good. I'm always impressed when an author can switch tones and genres and make them all sound so natural and real.<br /><br />I didn't love the book, though. While the structure was interesting, I also felt it kept me from really connecting with any of the characters too deeply. Also, I felt the reincarnation theme in the book would have been more interesting if it had seemed like the characters had learned anything from their past lives. Since each character finds something form previous the previous character's life (except maybe Zachry - I can't remember any letters or movies or journals that he found) that somehow those messages could have somehow informed them or helped them grow or change. It was disappointing to me that they didn't. Or maybe did it so subtly that I missed it.<br /><br />At the end of the book, I found myself thinking that it was a fine piece of writing, but I wasn't sure what the point of it was. <br /><br />Watching the movie, I got the point. By letting a lot of detail fall away (it's a big book and there's no way to put it all in there), it allowed the more central themes to shine through. The connections between the overlapping stories became clearer to me. <br /><br />I will grant you that a lot of the makeup was SUPER distracting. Not just the things you mention, but Hugh Grant as Cavendish's brother? Eek. Halle Berry as Jocasta Ayers? I couldn't stop staring at their rubbery faces. Although at the end of the movie, I did love seeing all the different characters that each actor played. I had no idea it was Berry as the wizened old doctor with the mechanical eye in Sonmi's story or Grant as the Kona warrior to name a few.<br /><br />The movie did leave some of the same ambiguities. What happened after Sonmi that led to her statue being everywhere, but civilization being gone? <br /><br />I wasn't as bothered by the Berry/Hanks ending. I felt something similar was implied by the end of the book. The movie just got the ponies all the way back in the barn. The thing Adam Ewing and his father-in-law was a little overly moralizing. I'll grant you that.<br /><br />I did wonder how someone how hadn't read the book could follow the movie with its rapid cuts between the 6 story lines, but two of the people I was there with hadn't read the book and said they were a little confused at first, but mainly got it. <br /><br />So that's my stand. Anyone else want to weigh in? Maureen, you saw the movie. Did you read the book?Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09803986849921870941noreply@blogger.com