Review of Cloud Atlas (2012) by William W — 03 Jan 2014

I didn't care for the book much (I even told the author so, accidentally) and I skipped this movie at the cinema. Big mistake. This intensely and overwhelmingly cinematic adaption of "Cloud Atlas" by the visionary Wachowskis and "Run Lola Run" director Tom Twyker is magnificent, towering, gob-smackingly ambitious concoction that weaves the full gamut of human experience into 3 hours of swooping, vertiginous narrative leaps that cover 6 completely different stories, taking place from colonial times to post-apocalypse, which fold into each other, add context and layers, and breathe life into the somewhat stale idea that what we do in life echoes in eternity.

Counter-intuitively, the sheer breathlessness of the narrative requires a great deal of patience, and you may initially be more intrigued by the quality of the prosthetic noses than the ambition of the editing, which can seamlessly flow between six stories in a couple of minutes, enriching each.

Actors reappear through the stories like migrating souls, morphing and reaching for the true true (particular kudos to Doona Bae, whose heart-pains are achingly real), and big themes of entrapment, love, faith, greed and redemption are effortlessly (and sometimes violently) melded and overlapped, which could cause dizziness in the unprepared.

But that's ok, cos you can watch the whole thing again. And again. And again.