Cloud Atlas

From the rolling deeps of the South Pacific, to the sprawling metropolis of the dystopian Neo-Seoul – Cloud Atlas is an epic spanning not only locations and time periods, but genres as well.

Cloud Atlas follows six individual tales spanning space and time, each with their own distinct characters, setting and story. Adapted from the 2004 award-winning novel by David Mitchell, it was declared ‘unfilmable’ by many in Hollywood due to its number of loosely linked tales, scope of genres and Russian nesting doll structure. However, here the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer have certainly acquitted themselves well, making a film that is spiritually true to the book and yet in its own right so much more. The effortless editing allows the loosely linked stories to be closely knit by their common themes - themes such as success, hardship and sacrifice.

An all-star ensemble cast is brilliantly used to flesh out each of the sextet of stories, with each taking the lead in one of the tales whilst the others take turns filling in the secondary characters. This technique works especially well with the theme of reincarnation that is explored by the film – souls living on into successive bodies, and soul-mates finding each other again and again in different lives.

At times joyous, hilarious, and uplifting it also has harrowing moments, moments of intense sadness and moments of great sacrifice; ultimately Cloud Atlas is about Life – that it has both ups and downs, and that no single story or genre can capture it entirely.

An exceedingly ambitious film; if you visit the cinema only once this year – this is the film that you should see.

Timothy Green