Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is not for everyone though I found it absolutely breathtaking and a work of genius. I give it only two and a half buckets of killer kiorn though because it's a convoluted storyline and it can be confusing. If you go in like I was told to go in, suspending all belief and just ride the wave, you will get swept up in this movie just like I did.



You ever go in to see a movie and then come out completely changed? You ever then, look at the world and the people around you with a completely different eye than you had just two ours before? That's what I felt like after seeing Cloud Atlas. Now I will be completely honest with you, I had no desire to see this movie whatsoever, thankfully a dear friend recommended it and since I trust her taste, I told her I would go give it a look see. She told me not to get caught up in the story line because it will make the movie worse, to just sit back and enjoy the ride and that is just what I did. No better advice was ever given. Directed by the brother and sister duo that brought you the Matrix Trilogy along with Tom Tykwer who directed The International, Cloud Atlas is a film that spans time and even space in a way never before seen.

Adapted from the novel written by David Mitchell that was published in 2004 (which I am now curious about reading), and written somehow for the screen by Lana and brother Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer, Atlas deals with multiple lives that are separated by years if not hundreds and even thousands of years. Its extensive cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Keith David, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, and Doona Bae as the principles. I can't even begin to list their characters names because each person plays more than one character. I also can't really get into the story except to say this tale was a tale of the abolishment of slavery, rebellion, betrayal, music, and love.

This is not a movie for the average movie goer. The average movie goer will more than likely get up and walk out. In fact, this was probably the biggest waste of money by the producers of a film other than Ishtar (remember Ishtar?). That's not good news for any of the fourteen producers of the movie (and three of the fourteen were the directors of the film) but something made them fork over the money and I am going to have to go with, it was their love of the novel. The novel, whose very own author told those directors that even HE didn't think his novel would make a good movie but the project went on regardless. If this book inspired that kind of fanaticism then it sounds like something worth looking into because this movie WILL lose money. That being said, I can honestly say that I feel like one of the lucky ones that did see it. I feel like one of the fortunate few and I feel sympathy for those that either saw it and didn't get it or will never get the chance to see it.

It was a visual feast for the eyes AND the ears. The name of the movie, according to the movie comes from a piece of classical music entitled The Cloud Atlas Sextet. If you've seen the trailer then you've heard the melody and if you've been living under one of those big rocks out there and missed the trailer, don't worry because I'll include it and you can hear it there. The score was created by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, and Tom Tykwer and it was beautiful, graceful, dramatic, sorrowful, and inspirational throughout the film. It was more than a job well done, it was Oscar worthy. I recommend it but I do so with a caveat, if you don't go in with an open mind and an open heart, this film will go right over your heads. If you go in though, with no preconceived notions or ideas, if you go in just prepared to enjoy the ride then you will love this movie as much as I do, I swear it. Go see it and I'll see you at the theater!