One thing that is certain to grab my interest for a movie is when I hear
praise and denouncements but nothing mediocre concerning it. When a film incites
such a polarizing affect among both critics and audiences alike there has to be
something special contained within it. If you would like to experience such a
project you need look no further that ‘Cloud Atlas’. The recent independent film
based on the enigmatic novel of the same name by Tom Tykwer and translated to
the screen by Lana and Andy Wachowski, formerly referred to as the Wachowski
Brothers, has created what is currently cited as the most expensive e $103
million budget raised by generous contributions stalwart benefactors of the art.
While this might seem like a very large sum to most of us such a sum would
barely be a ripple on a quarter of a billion cost of a summer blockbuster action
flick. In the film festival circuit $102 million could finance every entry for a
couple of years. If any In Indy filmmaking team could pull off this financial
coup it would be the Wachowski siblings. They have built a reputation for
creating some of the most interesting films employing a distinctive and
consistently fascinating style and imaginary. If any filmmakers were able to do
justice to a literary work of such incredible scope and wide ranging timeline
that encompasses the globe and centuries as easily as most movies flip pages on
a calendar.
The underlying premise for this expansive story represents a statement that
requires but a minute to utter but a lifetime to explore perhaps never to fully
understand; "a simple action in one time and place can ripple through the past,
present and future exerting a profound impact on humanity. This is a technique
that elevates the metaphysical thought experiment known as the ‘Butterfly effect
to unimaginable heights. The film has been described as a form of cinematic
pointillism. The paintings of the French innovator of the artistic school,
Georges Seurat who created intricately colorful and beautiful paintings by
applying millions of individual dots of paint to the canvas, arguably the
innovation of what is now accomplished by pixels. Tykwer applied a variation of
this technique in a literary fashion to then have it reinterpreted cinematically
by the innovative minds of the Wachowski siblings with remarkable efficiency and
emotional impact.
The story is composed of six seemingly independent tales separated by vast
difference in geography and some 472 years of time. In many ways this reminded
me of a philosophical incarnation of a James Mitchell novel that had the
tendency to bring the reader through epochs of time. The six time points are
subtly bound together by events and characters that might initially appear
inconsequential are magnified through the ripples of time to pivotal events
crucial to the progression of the culture.
South Pacific Ocean, 1849
Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess ) is a young lawyer who journeyed from San Francisco
to the Chatham Islands to handle a business deal between Reverend Gilles Horrox
(Hugh Grant) and his father-in-law Haskell Moore (Hugo Weaving). Involved in
this segment is a treatment for a parasitic infestation and a movement to
abolish slavery.
Cambridge, England and Edinburgh, Scotland, 1936
Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) is a musician, a bisexual who plies a trade as
an Amanuensis for the more established composer Vyvyan Ayrs (Jim Broadbent).
This jobs him ample time to work on refining his own opus called ‘The Cloud
Atlas’. That work is much better than the one Ayrs is composing so he uses
Robert’s sexuality to blackmail him. This introduces Frobisher’s lover, Rufus
Sixsmith (James D'Arcy).
San Francisco, California, 1973
An older Sixsmith encounters a journalist Luisa Rey (Halle Berry) who becomes
fascinated by the older man now a nuclear physicist. The story at hand is safety
concerns pertaining to a nuclear reactor being built by Lloyd Hooks (Hugh
Grant). He engages the services of a hit man, Bill Smoke (Hugo Weaving), under
his mandate to murder of the scientist and concealing the damaging information
that a nuclear accident could greatly benefit the oil cartel.
United Kingdom, 2012
Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent) is a publisher who receives a manuscript
written by Dermot Hoggins (Tom Hanks) detailing his deadly exploits.
Neo Seoul, (Korea), 2144
Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae) is a genetically engineered clone who functions as a
restaurant server. She is being interviewed prior to her execution. She had been
involved with a rebellious faction who had watched an old movie msde from the
novel of Cavendish’s criminal life. Executed clones, or as they are called,
fabricants, are recycled into a food source for the next generation of
fabricants. Traveling to Hawaii to openly protest the slavery or fabricants she
declares her manifesto.
The Big Island 2321 or 106 winters after the fall
Most of humanity has undergone cataclysmic ‘fall’ but Zachry (Raevan Lee
Hanan), and sister/nice Catkin (also Raevan Lee Hanan) five in a simplistic
tribal society called the Valley where Sonmi is worshiped as a deity. There is
another culture, ‘The Prescients’, which has retained some of the pre-fall
technology protecting the location of a communication station called ‘Cloud
Atlas’. One of these group members, Meronym, (Halle Berry), is prepared to
reveal the mortality of Sonmi (Doona Bae).
A film like this is an honest interpretation of a complex literary work that
could have easily warranted a more involved cable mini –series. Some detractors
of the film point to the running length of just short of three hours. It is
disparaging but what appears to be a sizable portion of the moving going public
has undergone a diminishing of the general attention span. The movie demands a
greater concentration than the usual block buster requires. You are challenged
to associate circumstances and details of each of the six segments while
dissociating the roles played by this remarkable ensemble cast. Most of the
actors portray a variety of roles each with a varying degree of direct
involvement to the current segment or overall story. This is a demonstration of
the talent of this cast and their willingness to move effortlessly between
spotlight and background placing their commitment to their artistic growth above
ego.
I have likened a well-crafted movie to an expertly made tapestry but never
has this analogy been so incredibly on point. The six segments are the dominant
threads in this work but its genius lies in the minor filaments than serve to
connect the pieces together connective tissue to a beautifully fashioned body
that in true synergistic fashion greater than the sum of its individual parts.
This is a work of art that must be experienced, many times, in order to glimpse
the depth of its humanity and emotional commitment.
A Film Like No Other: See How Three Visionary Directors Come Together,
Divided Their Tasks and Created a Cohesive Masterpiece
Everything Is Connected: The Cast And Filmmakers Delve Deeper Into The
Connections That Tie The Story Together
Spaceships, Slaves & Sextets: Unravel the Mysteries, Themes and Subtext Of Cloud
Atlas With The Cast, Filmmakers, Author And Producers
The Bold Science Fiction Of Cloud Atlas: Explore The Film's Cutting Edge Future
With Tales Of Cloning And Extra planetary Exploration