Cloud Atlas

2012, dir The Wachowskis, Tom Tykwer w/Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, 172 min, 35mm

Rightfully considered to be an unfilmable novel, David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is a complex narrative that is literally layered like an onion. In this adaptation undertaken by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, the narrative strands are necessarily streamlined but the audacious heart of the remarkable work remains intact (as acknowledged by Mitchell himself). Set in a myriad of locations and time-periods – ranging from the 19th century to the distant future – CLOUD ATLAS follows the paths of a number of intertwining souls with the same actors playing characters of various nationalities, ethnicities, and genders.