Fully agree on this point. In the beginning, I really liked the way the movie was being woven together, and I wasn't confused by the jumping around. But I didn't find that the individual stories stood out on their own as compelling pieces of storytelling. Every single one of the six stories played out exactly how I expected them to play out, and because it was so predictable, I found myself continuing to nit-pick little things throughout the movie (like how much limestone cliffs in Spain really, really don't look anything like volcanic mountains in Hawaii, or how there's not going to be enough water pressure on the windshield of a rapidly flooding car to cause it crack like that, assuming that it would've survived a headlong crash into the ocean in the first place). Overall, Cloud Atlas left me underwhelmed and I couldn't get invested in what was going on.

The way I see it, Cloud Atlas wants to have it both ways: it acknowledges the importance of race on one hand, while trying to completely disavow its importance the with the other. I didn't like that they were asking their audience to accept the visual cue of one actor playing multiple characters, while denying what the actors actually look like. No one seems to be saying that the race-bending was convincing, and in many cases, it was very distracting. It makes me wonder why they didn't decide to make the movie color-blind. I can easily imagine a version of Cloud Atlas where the directors make no visual accommodation for the race of the actors, but otherwise let us know that what we see as the audience and what the characters see may not directly correspond to each other (if necessary).

No Netflix in Japan, unfortunately  , but as Fish Story is a Japanese movie, I'll just go down to the nearest rental place and pick me up a copy .

Yeah, I don't think there's any sort of DVD mail service here at all, and we don't have access to any of the online television or music streaming services except Hulu, which requires a subscription and has far fewer programs available than in the US. I had completely fallen in love with Pandora just before moving here, and it was a real kick in the teeth when I found out I couldn't access the site anymore.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this suggestion! This was a great little movie!

You're dead on about the scope, production value, and tone in comparison to Cloud Atlas. Really all they have in common is something of the structure. The most significant difference, however, is that the individual stories that make up each part of Fish Story are really good. That really is Cloud Atlas's biggest weakness. Four of the six stories feel weighted down by the rest of the movie, one of them is so far removed I almost forget is was part of the same film, and in Sonmi-451, it works. That's the only one that feels like a complete piece of storytelling. In Fish Story, every part is interesting and fun, and when you see how they fit together, it makes the whole thing even better. I'm tempted to hunt down the book of short stories the movie is based on and give it a go, assuming my Japanese skills are up to the task. After living here as long as I have, you'd think I'd know a bit more about good Japanese cinema.

So I just watched this a couple days ago...had actually meant to see it in the theater, but didn't and am now super bummed that I didn't.

I enjoyed everything about it, but as it ended, my first thought was, "can't wait to go over to the board and see what the guys had to say about this movie."  so there's that.

and yes, this is a great movie to get baked and watch, but this is no stoner flick, that's for damn sure. 

also, I listened to this ep at work and was surprised at how quickly it flew by.  excellent work on this one.

Great commentary, guys. I spent the evening watching this for the first time and the night listening to you deconstruct it, and it was time well spent.

I do agree with some of the negative observations about the way the race-bending is more distracting than successful and how the individual stories weren't terribly compelling in themselves. But I also agree with the panel that the former was necessary to maintain the links between the stories without further complication and the latter is virtually moot since the film ties the stories together to tell a broader tale.

Like Trey, I don't really adore the film, but I really admire it and enjoyed it and am glad it got made. Maybe I'll give Speed Racer a second chance.

You talked a lot about the Wachowskis and very little about Tom Tykver, tho. Run Lola Run explores some similar themes of choice and chance, cause and effect, and improvement over iterations/lives. It's a great collaboration.