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Cloud Atlas Review


Cloud Atlas is a film that is massively huge not just on a budget scale, but on a story scale.  It’s a film that many people went, my brain hurts, too much thinking, just too much everything.  I went in with a different mindset. Just let the movie go and see what connections I can make.  Polarizing as many reviews of this film are, I can say this is one on a positive end.
From the first frame to the final tilt of the camera I was riveted by the stories throughout the film, however wondering why some of the stories were shoved to the back for a good portion of the film(Cavendish’s story towards the end).  The film follows six stories  and how one affects the other, for good and for bad throughout history.  In many of the modern blockbusters we see today, it is hard to empathize with one character, let alone multiple different characters on different timelines. But this movie isn’t like that at all.
The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer create these worlds with beautiful visuals, strong characterization, and a soundtrack that God would have on his iPod.  The story moves along, and just when you are on the edge of your seat for one, it moves to another, and another, and the process just kept me riveted to see what just would happen next. 
I am not going to go into detail about every story because that would take eons, but the actors play each role with a subtled nuance, changing small things in each character, yet we can still see bits and pieces of each character new and old in them. 
Hanks and Berry are in top form as always, but a performance that stood out to me was Hugh Grant.  He isn’t in very often, but when he was on screen I would go, that’s Hugh Grant? Good to see an actor get out of rom-com to something where film people can truly critique your work.
Cloud Atlas is a film that will not be understood by many, as indicated by the box office, but will be one that 50 years from now we will say set the benchmark for a new type of filmmaking, one that created a scope so large, we may not ever be able to grasp it.  It really takes every movie you have ever enjoyed and puts it into one effective, beautiful, flowing film.
Cloud Atlas is one like Kubrick’s 2001; it needs digestion, and many more viewings.  It is one of my favorite films this year, and I think one day, we will look back and discover somehow, someway, we truly are all connected.


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