Review 362: Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is a masterpiece!

Based on the novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Cloud Atlas is an exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.

The plot is astonishing, the way it intertwines various different stories together is just masterful, no wonder there were three directors on this movie.

Firstly I just want to start off by saying that Cloud Atlas is a movie ahead of its time - it's multiple intertwining storylines probably caused most of the polerised critical reception. Loads of people complained the plot of this film was too hard to follow but I haven't read the David Mitchell novel and even I managed to follow it. Also films like Love Actually and Momento have multiple storylines and are hard to follow (well maybe not the former) and little to no one seems to be complaining. 
I honestly think that in 20-30 years time this film will be considered a masterpiece and a lone bright spot in The Wachowski's heavily flawed filmography.

Regarding the story, it's just rich with detail and intriguing themes. Primarily it's a story about how we are all connected. It also deals with very powerful themes, such as love conquers all and just like in the book virtually every single character is a reincarnation of the same soul in different bodies throughout the film identified only by a birthmark which is really a symbol of the universality of human nature.
As for the title itself, the cloud refers to the ever changing manifestations of the Atlas, which is the fixed human nature which is always thus and ever shall be. So another theme in Cloud Atlas is Predacity, the individuals prey on each other, groups on groups, nations on nations, tribes on tribes. So this film takes this theme in one narrative and reincarnates it in another.
  
It spans generations and centuries and shows that, no matter what time period you live in, man's emotions are universal throughout the ages. Man, no matter what continent he lives on, what language he speaks, or what his personal circumstances, is still the same the world over.

It was also a very hard book to adapt mostly due to the multiple storylines told in a series of vignettes which are apparently unrelated, but turn out to make sense as a whole. The film flashes backwards and forwards in time, the multiple characters, scope of David Mitchell's vision and overall just "bringing it all together and I thought Tom Tykwer and The Wachowski's all did very well in bringing all these elements together.

Directors Tom Tykwer and The Wachowski's direction is unobtrusive, the cinematography is beautiful, the special effects are marvellous, the production design is magnificent, the costumes are mystical, the make up is astonishing, the scenery is breathtaking, the score by by Tom Tykwer, Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek is wonderful and the locations are just gorgeous.

The acting is just an outstanding ensemble of actors all playing different characters at various points in time, the transitions are seemless in that they just blend perfectly into their various roles and it doesn't become a distraction that some characters are being played by the same actor and all the actors were just... brilliant: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Strugess, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Doona Bae, Keith David, Zhou Xun, the list goes on. 
I was especially impressed with Hugh Grant as he actually challenges himself as he plays against type here. He doesn't play the usual charming cad he plays in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill and About a Boy, he plays some actual characters. Characters with dimensions, flaws and surprises even-delightful surprises.
Tom Hanks contines to impress me and reminds us why he's one of the great actors working today in a big number of juicy roles. Halle Berry gives possibly some of her best acting in recent years and Susan Sarandon and Jim Broadbent especially shine as various characters.

Cloud Atlas is an underrated masterpiece, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.