Starring:Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Jim Sturgess, Susan Sarandon, Doona Bae
Director: The Wachowskis, Tom Tykwer
Running time: 172 minutes
Released by: Warner Bros.
Out: 22nd February
In his gladatorial outing Russell Crowe says that what we do '...echoes in eternity'. In Robin of Sherwood it was said 'Nothing is ever forgotten...' Such are the broad themes of Cloud Atlas, likely to be the most ambitious films to hit cinemas this year.
From a galleon sailing the high seas of the 1800s, to a love that dare not speak its name - except through music - in the 1930s.... to a potential 'china syndrome' in 1970s San Francisco to an OAP revolt in contemporary London... on to a future Seoul and then to a post-apocalyptic island.... Cloud Atlas takes a range of characters and timescapes and weaves a story which illustrates the ideas of cause and effect; how little events have massive consequences and how lives separated by centuries can resonate and determine the fate of millions.
Adapted for the big-screen from David Mitchell's acclaimed novel, it was tempting to think this was a karma-crash waiting to happen. Cloud Atlas was a complex book that shouldn't work as a film. Its scope was too big, its canvas too varied. It merged so many forms, had so many disparate threads and narratives that any self-respecting pundit could only come to the conclusion beforehand that the best case scenario would be to avoid outright critical derision and that it simply wouldn't find an audience outside the festival circuit.
And yet, subjectively flawed though a project of this scope may almost inevitably be, it must otherwise be considered a triumph on so many other levels... not least because it's been a long time since I saw a film of quite this sense of sheer, unapologetic ambition. Too many films mistake the word 'epic' as shorthand for something big and loud and yet Cloud Atlas truly fits the description. Its creative vision, cinematic style, expansive - but not sterile - CGI all come together to produce a film that genuinely feels as if every frame has been considered.
The mixture of genres on show - everything from futuristic sci-fi and period drama, to farce and tragedy - may frustrate audiences looking for an easy formulaic pigeon-hole to unspool before their eyes and certainly the film doesn't always feel entirely even-keeled, but this is a movie that very much IS the sum of its parts and all those parts seem excellently executed individually and weaved together well. Each time-period, from which we jump back and forth, is lovingly realised. The future Neu Seoul is perhaps the best metropolis since Blade Runner and provides a backdrop for some of the film's biggest kinetic action moments.
Casting its diverse actors in a multitude of different parts reinforces the idea of the same souls moving through time and experiences towards something more. But it does run the risk that audiences will be lifted out of an immersive experience as they play 'I-spy'. Some of those performances work better than others, but the cast is clearly relishing the opportunity to stretch themselves. That's helped and hindered by prosthetics of different qualities, but for the main part it's a tribute to the efforts involved that you probably won't catch every actor in every role they appear in. In an uniquely expansive ensemble piece, it's probably Hugh Grant who makes the most of shaking off the stereotype: safe to say he wouldn't have been most people's idea of a post-holocaust Orc-like cannibal.
The Wachowskis made the Matrix trilogy a landmark in special-effects but also one that felt devoid of any real soul under its pseud-religious imagery. Here, the siblings and co-director Tom Tykwer give us something just as dazzling but has a beating human heart at its centre. Sure, the criticisms will be that it's too long, too complex and too diverse for a modern audience, that it meanders where others hurl themsleves forward. If so, that ultimately says more about the way that contemporary viewers are often spoon-fed formula and bland product designed only to sell merchandise. Any flaws aside - and it's clear it's wide remit won't suit everyone - it is impossible not to marvel at the ambition shown here, ambition which largely pays off on both a visual and emotional level.
It's Love, Actually meets Blade Runner by way of a handful of other separate genre movies that the film tilts towards and even outright homages at times... and it's worth every second. This may be sprawling and truly 'epic', but it is like no other movie you'll see this year and also a quite stunning piece of film-making that deserves to be supported and rewarded.
10/10
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