Cloud Atlas has received some mixed reviews from critics. Some have said that there are too many stories or that it's hard to follow along with, but I saw this at the end of last year and I was deeply touched by it.
The film stars an ensemble cast, including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Doona Bae, and Keith David, among others.
One thing that many critics didn't like was the fact that each actor/actress portrayed multiple roles, some of which cross gender and ethnicity. I did not have a problem with that. In fact, I think that it helped tie the stories together. Was some of the makeup and effects of our gender bending actors & actresses odd looking? Yes, sometimes they were, but given the magnitude of the story and the miniscule role that problem affects, it can easily be forgiven.
When I first saw the trailer for the film, I had no clue what it was about and if I saw the trailer today I still wouldn't be able to tell you what it's about.
The plot, simply put, is about overcoming adversity and how things are connected. Of course it's not just that simple. There are layers upon layers of dimensions to this film. The film is about six seemingly separate stories that are connected by either a character or something in a character's life (a novel, a composition of music, a film, etc.). I'm not one for karma or reincarnation or anything like that, but this film delves into the fact that we are all connected. In the stories, each person's fate is somehow intertwined with someone else and all this is connected through the ages and across the seas, spanning from the dark history of slave trading to the post-apocalyptic world of farmers and cannibals.
The movie was supposed to come out on BluRay and DVD in February but was pushed back til May. The movie is pretty long, coming in at almost 3 hours, but when you consider that it has six different stories within the film, it's nicely broken down into bite-size chunks.
The film is edited in a manner that jumps from story to story and I can see where some people had trouble keeping track of each timeline, but movies like this aren't for the people who just want to see something pretty on their televisions. This film is for people who want to connect to characters that are well written and put the pieces together and see how each story is connected to the previous one and the one before that and so on.
This film has three directors and sometimes when a film has multiple directors it becomes an incomprehensible pile of rubbish, but Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings did a damn fine job at making the film a coherent, cohesive piece of art that is pleasing to the eye and the heart.
Overall, if you don't like longer, more complex films then you should pass on this one, but if you like solid storytelling and well written characters then take the time and check it out.
