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Cloud Atlas | 2012 | R | - 8.8.7
An intertwining tale of how the actions of individuals affect their lives and the lives of those around them, in the present and the future. With Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D'Arcy, Xun Zhou, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant and Robert Fyfe. Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski. [2:52]
SEX/NUDITY 8 - A woman rests her head on a sleeping man's chest, he awakens, they kiss, and we then see them nude (we see her bare breasts, chest, abdomen, hips and legs and his bare back and legs) and thrusting as she straddles his lap. A man and a woman have sex: we see him thrusting (her bare thighs are shown) and they both moan as another woman watches them. Two men lie in bed together holding each other (sex is implied); they are awakened by two men pounding on the door, one man dresses (we see his bare buttocks and back as he pulls on his pants), kisses the other man and climbs out the window. A married woman drops her robe in front of a man (we see her bare back to the hip and his bare chest) lying in bed, she climbs into bed, they kiss, he kisses down her chest and moves off-screen (oral sex is implied) as the man's voiceover talks about having had sex with the woman (presumably reading a letter to his lover).
► Several women are shown nude while walking through a cleansing area before picking up their clothing (we see their bare breasts, backs and abdomens). A woman wears a dress made of a sheer fabric that reveals her nipples. A bare-chested man is shown sleeping and a woman rests her head on his chest. Several women wearing skimpy outfits (cleavage, bare legs and shoulders are seen) sitting and walking through a bazaar and it is implied that they are prostitutes. A man slaps a woman wearing short shorts on the partially covered buttock while she is working in a restaurant. We see a man's bare back to the hip. Women wear short shorts as part of a work outfit and part of their bare buttocks is sometimes seen. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. Many men are shown shirtless while working in a field and their bare chests and backs are shown. A woman wears an off-the-shoulder and short dress that reveals bare shoulders and upper chest as well as a portion of her bare buttocks. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. A woman wears a tank top that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. A man's bare thighs and knees are seen when he is shown sitting on a toilet.
► A man and a woman kiss in bed (we see his bare chest and her bare back and chest) as we hear a voiceover talking about the woman's parents being out of town; they are interrupted by the woman's parents coming into the room, the man jumps out of bed (fully nude), he holds a cat over his genitals (we see his bare chest, abdomen, hips and legs) and the cat screeches and scratches the man's groin area (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A man caresses another man's beard and cheek, he moves close to kiss him and the other man laughs and scoffs at the first man, who becomes angry and leaves. A husband and his wife hug and kiss. A man and a woman kiss. A man and a woman hug. A man and a woman lie in bed together fully clothed and holding each other.
► A man holds a container of a condiment (presumably mayonnaise), pretends to masturbate while standing behind a woman and squeezes the container squirting the contents onto the woman's back (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A man writes a love letter to another man and expresses his feelings. A man asks a woman to go away with him and she does. A man talks about a relationship between a man who is German and a woman who is Jewish.
VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - Two men attack a man and a boy, the man is held on the ground with a blade to his throat, the boy tries to save him and he is shot in the back with an arrow; the other man's throat is slit (we hear the slice and see blood spurt) and the killer licks blood off the blade. A man grabs another man in a crowded party and throws him over a balcony; we see the man slam on the street below and blood bursts from his head and body.
► A silhouette moves on a balcony outside a man's hotel room, the man turns around and another man places a gun in his mouth and shoots (blood and matter spray onto the wall behind the man and he falls dead on the bed where more blood pools). A man with a gun threatens a man and a woman; the man is struck in the head with a large wrench and then beaten with it a few more times (we see him dead on the ground with blood pooling around his head). A woman is seated in a chair, a helmet is lowered onto her head and she is shot through the head (we see a trickle of blood on her forehead); she is laid flat, blades are shot through her ankles and she is dragged onto a conveyor. A woman is seated in a chair; a helmet placed over her head and it shoots her in the head (we see her head fall back lifeless). A man with a knife stands over a sleeping man and as he awakens the man and cuts his throat slowly (we see a lot of blood gush and hear the man gurgle).
► We see a conveyor belt with headless and handless bodies hanging from their ankles and moving through a facility where we are told the corpses are re-purposed and fed to fabricants. A man discovers a village that has been destroyed and many dead and blood-soaked bodies are shown along with severed heads on posts. A woman finds a dead man with blood on his mouth, and blood and matter are shown on the wall behind the man. We see a man dead on the floor and a puddle of what could be vomit is shown near him; another man says that the man self-overdosed. A man and a woman find dead and decaying bodies on the floor.
► A man sits in an empty bathtub, places a gun in his mouth and we hear a gunshot; we see blood on the tub behind him and trickling from his mouth when he is found. A man strapped to a column is shown being whipped repeatedly; we hear the whip crack against his skin and we see blood on his arms and face as he flinches with each blow.
► Several armed guards are shot; two of the guards fight with punches and kicks until one of them is shot. Armed guards pull a man out of a truck and threaten him; he grabs a gun and shoots several of them, he throws an explosive that blows up a flying vessel and another vessel is driven into a guard and it explodes. Several men on horseback chase a man and a young girl through a plundered village; a woman shoots several of the men, the man is held with a sword to his throat, his face is cut deeply (we see the bloody gash), the woman is shot in the leg (we see blood), and then stabbed in the leg as she fights one of the men and a man stabs another man in the back. A man and a woman on a flying vessel speed through crowded lanes while being shot at by others; the man detonates an explosive that blows a hole in a tunnel, floods it and sinks several of the vessels that were chasing them. A man with a gun takes aim at another man working on the sail of a ship; a third man pushes the gun and it fires but no one is shot, the gunman then hits the third man with his gun and he bends over in pain. A man hears the voice of another man telling him to kill a woman; the man pulls out a knife and approaches her (he does not kill her). A car t-bones another car that is speeding toward a woman walking across a street; the two drivers shoot at each other and one runs away, he steals another car and shoots its driver and then speeds toward the other man and the woman, who run away, and he chases them on foot while shooting at them. We see many men being thrown by explosions and gunshot strikes during a fight between guards and rebels. A man shoots a dog and we see it lying motionless on the floor (no blood is visible). A man with a gun threatens another man and shoots him in the chest (the man falls to his knees and groans). A man and a woman walk across a narrow walkway high above the ground as armed guards burst into their apartment and shoot at them; the man shoots several of the guards, he falls (presumably to his death) and the woman is arrested.
► The ground breaks under a woman's feet and she nearly falls when a man pulls her up to safety. An elevator lurches and stops throwing a man and a woman inside the elevator to the floor; they are unharmed but stuck for hours before the elevator resumes operation. A man steals a bicycle and another man chases him; the man on the bike gets away. A man and a woman climb along a sheer rock face and along rocky ledges. While climbing a sheer rock face a woman slips and falls; the man holding her rope loses his grip and when he tries to catch it, his hands are cut and we see them bleeding.
► A woman punches a man in the face after he makes a sexually suggestive gesture; the man falls to the floor and the woman runs trying to get away until another man pushes a button on a device that causes a metallic ring around the woman's neck to explode and sever her carotid artery (blood spurts from the wound and she falls dead). A man punches another man in the mouth and a tooth flies out of his mouth and into another man's beer. A man tries to force poison into another man's mouth, another man attacks him and they fight until one man is struck in the head with a heavy chest (we see him dead on the floor with blood around his head).
► A woman threatens four elderly people in a pub; she and two men are surrounded by other people and a fight breaks out with lots of punching and tossing over tables. A man lunges toward another man, pleads for help, places a knife in the other man's hand, presses it to his throat and tells the man to kill him (he does not). A man grabs a woman's mouth and holds her, he lets go and she hits him, headbutts him and holds a knife to his throat. A woman punches a man in the face and he exclaims.
► A crowded passenger plane explodes after take off and we understand that people have died. A car is pushed off a bridge by another car; it crashes into the water, and the woman inside swims to safety after the windshield shatters.
► A man throws planting pots at another man who chases him through a yard; one man eventually catches the other man, picks him up and carries him inside a building. A man and a woman kissing in bed are interrupted by the woman's parents coming into the room; the man jumps out of bed, he holds a cat over his genitals, the cat screeches and scratches the man's groin area, and the man throws the cat and falls back through the window and onto a bush below (we hear that he broke his ankles). A man collapses after seeing another man being whipped repeatedly. Two men fight over pudding in a dining hall; other men try to break them up and they fall over a table. Three people pound on a car hood and window where three elderly people are seated, the driver starts the car and speeds away, crashes through a gate and speeds down a road.
► A woman puts her eye to the peephole of a door and a man on the other side of the door points a gun to the peephole (she is not shot). Several heavily painted men on horseback chase a man and a woman who hide behind a bridge (they are not discovered). A woman is shown being locked into a chair and questioned. Three men burst into a man's bathroom while he is sitting on the toilet and threaten him for money; one man pushes a plunger against the man's face and mouth.
► We understand that a man is being poisoned by another man and we see him in a weakening state. A woman holds a man's hands while chanting, she throws her head back as if in a trance, her eyes change color and she gasps (she is left unharmed).
► A young girl is shown with a very swollen foot and we hear references to a fish and poison and a remark is made about the girl dying (she does not die). A man grabs two trays from servers at a party and throws the food on the trays onto the floor. A man is angry and yells about a negative review written about his book.
► A man has a dream that shows many quick images of violence or people in danger. A man imagines a man with pointed teeth and green-tinged skin speaking to him in several scenes and telling him to kill people, or not help people in danger. We see heavily painted men on horseback attack people in several scenes and we understand that they are cannibalistic.
► A man's voiceover says, "I shot myself through the roof of my mouth" as he climbs into an empty bathtub. A woman tells a man that she thinks of "throwing you off the balcony." A man describes a brain after being infested by a worm as "maggoty cauliflower." A man yells at another man over the telephone. A white man tells an African man, "I thought you might eat me" to which the African man replies, "I don't like white meat" and they laugh. A man removes a metal ring around a woman's neck while explaining that there is a charge in the ring that could "blow the carotid." A man yells, "Soylent Green is made of people!" A man tells another man that he looks forward to hearing about "You, Nurse Noakes and a broom handle." A man with several armed guards enter a cell where a woman is being held and the man talks about euthanizing her. A man tells a woman that another man was killed and she grieves. While in a facility where headless and handless bodies are moved on hooks a woman asks, "They feed us to ourselves?" A man talks about another man being lynched or crucified. People talk about slavery and indentured service around a dinner table. We see many elderly men and women in a home for the elderly.
► A man vomits (we see him) and we see goo and stuff stuck on his mustache and beard. A man is shown with a very swollen and discolored finger; another man cuts the ring off the man's finger. A man is shown with a badly scarred face and a discolored eye in several scenes. People are shown with heavily tattooed faces. Women are shown wearing metal rings around their necks in many scenes. A witch doctor smears salve on a young girl's swollen foot and on her body. A plate of food is shown with wriggling maggots on it.
LANGUAGE 7 - About 22 F-words, several people are shown with the letters FOCH tattooed on their fingers, 5 sexual references, 5 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, 3 derogatory terms for Africans, 1 derogatory term for an immigrant, name-calling (pansy, reprobate, prostitute, parrot, degenerate, fabricant, pure blood, fangy devil, Jezebel, dog in heat, cantankerous witch, evil, stupid, scheming, worming, smarty pants, ignorant ape, pilfering cow, thief, naïve, demented, stow away), exclamations (ruddy, bloody, shut up, bugger, sod off), 2 religious profanities, 5 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - A woman smokes a thin cigarette that could be marijuana, a woman smokes a marijuana cigarette and shares it with a man, and a man is given medicine by another man in several scenes (presumably to treat him for a worm that he supposedly has inside him). People are shown drinking alcohol and smoking, people drink alcohol at a party, people are shown drinking alcohol at a dinner, a man drinks alcohol from a bottle, several men drink alcohol on a ship and two appear to be passed out, people drink alcohol and a man smokes a pipe, a man and a woman drink champagne, several people in a home for the elderly drink alcohol, and people in a bar drink alcohol. Two men are shown smoking cigarettes, a man smokes a cigarette, two people smoke cigarettes, a man smokes a cigarette, a man smokes a cigar, and a man smokes a cigarette.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Slavery, fear, secrets, madness, survival, suicide, love, homosexuality, courage, cannibalism, unanimity, Karma, past lives, belief system, truth, infatuation, freedom, weakness, infidelity, exile, protecting a source, trust, journalistic integrity, publishing industry, future of energy, lobbyists, altering reality, repeating the same mistakes, abolitionists, natural order, rebellions, afterlife.
MESSAGE - Our deeds define us.
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CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
The Front Room - 6.5.6
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - 3.6.5
Reagan - 1.4.3
Afraid - 4.5.5
You Gotta Believe - 2.3.3
The Forge - 1.1.1
City of Dreams - 5.8.7
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support us
PLEASE DONATE
We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.
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Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.