Cloud Atlas (2012)
Available on Amazon Prime Video. A story set in the past, present and future about the lives of several characters intertwined between alternate realities, and adopting different personae within these realities. At just under 3 hours, you really have to commit yourself to watching this before you start. Featuring a great cast such as Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving and Susan Sarandon taking on different roles within several concurrent storylines, it takes a bit of getting used to. But once you get acclimatized to the distinctive style of this movie which is both groundbreaking and courageous, it begins to feel completely natural.
Whoever did the makeup for this film must have had a real blast as you get to see the likes of Halle Berry, Hugh Grant and Tom Hanks as you've never seen them before. However, some of the transformations are a bit ropey due to substandard prosthetics which kind of destroys the moment, but then again some are really good! The film may 'appear' to be a bit of a jumbled mess of a story but as the tagline suggests, everything is connected. It's funny in places, graphic at times, intriguing, mysterious, dark but nonetheless very compelling. How a film can jump from the late 1800s with a runaway slave stowed away on a ship, to an advanced civilisation of the future where clones are made to serve humanity, then onto a post apocalyptic tribe battling for survival but with time to incorporate a 70s murder mystery amongst others so seamlessly but still retaining some semblance of order is a major feat in itself.
Everything is telling you that this shouldn't work but it really is a masterpiece of story telling. If only Nymphomaniac had been made in this way. Despite all of its disparate elements, the film comes together as a whole and Cloud Atlas doesn't feel like a chore at all. It's the human elements that ultimately shine through in each story. Strip them down and you get love, friendship, discovery, courage etc. Jim Broadbent, the publisher hiding out in the nursing home from a gang looking to settle a debt provides the comedy, and Doona Bae in a futuristic Soeul as a clone who is beginning to question everything around her provides the fantasy. We have everything else in between. It's visually stunning in places and despite chopping from one story to another every 30 seconds or so, it somehow manages to keep you gripped. Six completely different stories being moved along in complete harmony. My favourite stories involved the clone in New Seoul played brilliantly by Bae and the interactions between Berry and Hanks in post apocalyptic Hawaii. Broadbent deserves an honourable mention and with most of the crap nominated these days, he should have got an Oscar nod at least.
Some people may think it's a bit pretentious or vacuous but it's a film that will get better with age. Perhaps, like Nymphomaniac, it doesn't get the respect it deserves now but maybe in time it will. I've held off from watching it for so long but it was worth the effort. I haven't completely figured out what the connection is yet but this needs to be watched several times anyway...when you have a spare 3 hours!
I'm giving this an 8.5/10.