"Cloud Atlas" movie quotes weave their way through six unique yet connected stories about how lives are all linked in the past, present and future. The science-fiction drama film was adapted from the award-winning novel of the same name written by David Mitchell. "Cloud Atlas" received overwhelming praise after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival prior to its October 26, 2012, release.
In "Cloud Atlas," viewers are introduced to six different stories, each of which impact the next. It starts with Adam Ewing, a notary during the California Gold Rush who writes a journal as he journeys in the bowels of a ship on a voyage to San Francisco. That journal, or at least part of it, ends up in the hands of struggling English musician Robert Frobisher nearly a century later. Robert is drawn in by Adam's story so much so that in his letters to friend Rufus Sixsmith, Robert mentions this fascinating yet incomplete story. Later, in the 1970s, journalist Luisa Rey discovers Robert's letters and like Robert is drawn in to the previous storyline.
These connections continue as three additional stories are introduced each carrying small details as well as large themes from one to the next with the theory that our souls stay with us through different lives and are shaped by each interaction, each event we witness. The stellar ensemble cast of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant each portray multiple characters in the film to bring those connections and theories to life.
"Cloud Atlas" on the surface can be a bit intense with the intertwining storylines and dozens of characters. For something a bit lighter, instead check out "Alex Cross," "Smashed," "Sinister," "Seven Psychopaths," "Argo," "Here Comes the Boom," "The Paperboy," "Taken 2," "Frankenweenie," "Butter," "Won't Back Down," and "Looper."Cloud Atlas Movie Quotes,
Adam Ewing's Journal
I Know I Know It
Luisa Rey: "This is the Cloud Atlas Sextet?
A Better World
Robert Frobisher: "I believe there is another world waiting for us, a better world."
Our Lives Are Not Our Own
Madame Horrox: "Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."
Cloud Atlas Sextet
Timothy Cavendish: "That's it, the music from my dream."
Potential Directions
Dr. Henry Goose: "Our lives and our choices, each encounter, suggest a new potential direction. Yesterday my life was headed in one direction. Today, it is headed in another. Fear, belief, love, phenomena that determined the course of our lives. These forces begin long before we are born and continue long after we perish. Yesterday, I believe I would have never have done what I did today. I feel like something important has happened to me. Is this possible?"
Robert Frobisher's Letters
Same Mistakes Over and Over