The fact this movie exists at all is a miracle. Billed as the most expensive
independent movie ever made, it took lots of companies and people to get Cloud Atlas made. In return, the Wachowskis and Tom
Tykwer have created one of the most important modern cinematic achievements
with a film that challenges the norm on technical, story, and acting levels. Cloud
Atlas is a film that impressively tells multiple stories spanning multiple
centuries that, at the same time, force the audience to pay attention and
connect the dots. It can and might
be overwhelming to some, but it's never confusing with a very simple theme.
In the most basic sense, Cloud
Atlas tells the story of how our past, present, and future lives and the
choices we make echo throughout eternity.
From here, six different storylines are told, featuring different but
related characters during six different time periods. The big change is that, instead of telling anyone of these stories
in a conventional straightforward manner, we transition constantly between the
time periods. At first, the
editing will take some getting used to, simply because we have never had a film
deliver the amount of information Cloud
Atlas attempts.
The editing of this film is phenomenal, pushing the visual
storytelling boundaries to their limits with something we've never seen
before. It's understandable that
not everyone will take the film the same way I have. Some will call it pretentious, hard to follow or cheesy, but
really what they are reacting to is a new kind of storytelling that is just now
being discovered.
It doesn't stop at the storytelling level. Multiple actors
play multiple roles throughout all the stories, breaking boundaries of race and
gender. Tom Hanks, for example,
plays a scientist in the "˜70s, a post-apocalyptic traveler in the far future,
and a villainous ship surgeon with a deadly motive. Halle Berry plays a journalist, a Caucasian wife to a famous
composer, and a Korean doctor.
Sometimes they play an important role, sometimes it's just to pop in for
a second, but the fact that this was even attempted is nothing short of
amazing.
Cloud Atlas will
challenge you to rediscover the joy of cinema in ways you've never seen or experienced. I could talk about Cloud Atlas for hours and never even begin to break the surface of
what this film has to offer. Go in
with an open mind and be ready for a blast of sorely needed optimism. The world needs Cloud Atlas more than ever.
Be there to experience the change.
