LEAD CAST: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith Davi, Sudan Sarandon, Hugh Grant DIRECTOR: Lana & Andy Wachowski & Tom Tykwer SCREENWRITER: Lana & Andy Wachowski & Tom Tykwer PRODUCER: Grant Hill & Stefan Amdt EDITOR: Alexander Berner MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil GENRE: Drama & Science Fiction CINEMATOGRAPHER: Frank Greiber RUNNING TIME: 163 minutes DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures LOCATION: Germany
Technical
assessment: 3.5
Moral
assessment: 2
CINEMA
rating: V 18
Cloud Atlas threads together six stories that
examine how the actions of individuals impact one another in the past, present
and future. The six stories
take the viewer from the South Pacific in year 1849 to in the nineteenth
century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future in year 2321. According to
novelist David Mitchell who wrote the original (novel Cloud Atlas) in 2004, the film is structured, “as a sort of
pointillist mosaic: We stay in each of the six worlds just long enough for the
hook to be sunk in, and from then on the film darts from world to world at the
speed of a plate-spinner, revisiting each narrative for long enough to propel
it forward.”
Critics are divided on Cloud Atlas. Seeing
the film previewed at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival where it
received a 10-minute standing ovation, film critics either acclaimed it as one
of the most important films of the year, or shrugged it off as a “totally
unparalleled disaster.” The
gorgeous sets, makeup and special effects definitely add to the credibility of
the characters in this film co-written and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski
and Tom Tykwer. Cloud Atlas owes its uniqueness to the
ambitious casting; big stars play six roles each, appearing in all stories, and
reprising their roles with equal elan and competence.
But what is Cloud
Atlas trying to say to the contemporary man? The six narratives are independent of one another and yet they
are united in celebrating positive values, above all the dignity of all human
beings. Due to its complexity,
however, this is a movie that may need several viewings to be fully
appreciated, and even then it will be comprehended individually, in accordance
with each viewer’s capacity to intuit its worth. This would be a nice film to watch (even on DVD) with the
whole family—it could lead to profound discussions even among teenagers.
