Cloud Atlas, In Brief : An old, Scarred man (Tom Hanks) Speaks around a Camp fire, about connected lives. A Engaged Lawyer (Jim Sturgess) writes to his Fiance on a Boat. A young Composer (Ben Whishaw) finishes composing a letter to his lover, and gets in to the bathtub to shoot himself. A Female Journalist (Halle Berry) Drives away from what might yet be the story of her life. A Book Editor(Jim Broadbent) struggles with one of his writers. A Genetically Engineered Waitress (Doona Bae) goes about her meticulously planned life.
Life of Pi, In Brief : A Indian Man, Pi (Irrfan Kahn), is interviewed by a Canadian writer(Rafe Spall) about his Life, and how he came to, as a young man (Suraj Sharma), Survive a with a ship wreck on a life boat with a full grown Bengal Tiger.
Cloud Atlas:
Much has been said about how ambitious Cloud Atlas is, based on the book of the same name, its runs the course of 6 stories, that span different genre of films all being told at the same time. Now, in the book, as i understand it, most of these stories had 2 chapters dedicated to them, the first 5 starting with half they're story, and the 6th running its duration before returning us to each of the previous stories. This sort of makes the film a Mishmash at times, with events in a dramatic scene, cutting to a scene from a thriller, then going into a scene from the comedy story. So not only do we have 6 stories running at the same time, but also we have 13 cast members playing multiple roles across these time lines, regularly requiring them to switch race or gender or both. And its not that bad.
In fact, the films kinda great at moments. Some of the story lines hold up better then others (The Present Day story and Pacific Journal probably hold as the weaker), but it plays beautifully on screen. It's hard to pin point where is a good point to talk about the film. Tom Hanks cockney mobster accent, Hugo Weaving and Hugh Grant killing it across 6 supporting characters each, the sweeping score, the amazing special effects, and at times brilliant, at others, laughable make up.
Tyker and the Wachowski siblings have done a fantastic job, bringing what many considered a un-film-able book (there's a heap of apparent unfilmable scripts and books out there, being made into movies), each of the stories could stand on they're own, but as a full film, its really something to see. Highly recommended to giving this a chance.
Life of Pi:
Like Cloud Atlas, Life of Pi is a bit of a visual feast. There are some brilliant scenes that heavily rely on CGI to bring them to life, and there are some fantastic scenes that make great use of 3D (including a scenes or two where the screen ratio changes to make things 'pop' more on screen.). But it feels a bit vacant at points.
Like any story we are being told from recollection, we know the hero is going to survive his ordeal with the Bengal Tiger, so the story is without any true sense of danger. Sure there are a few scenes where Richard Parker (the Tiger), seems quite threatening, and the film makes us more then aware that Pi and Richard Parker are not friends.
First Timer Suraj Sharma has the bulk of the film to himself, acting across from a more often then not computer generated Tiger, and he holds the scenes well. The character is played a bit whimsically. Irrfan Kahn and Rafe Spall don't have as much to do in the film, as they tell and react to the events in the story. They're probably the weaker part of the story, and could have been done away with, if the last part of the tale Pi tells us would be ignored. But this little scene helps to put everything into perspective, and sell a greater idea to the story about us the audience.
Life of Pi is enjoyable (Even if i don't seem to have spelled it out that way), as a piece of escapism.
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