Cloud Atlas

— “Cloud Atlas” is a wonderful--and exceedingly ambitious--experience. I was reminded of “Babel” and “Tree of Life”, two other very ambitious films that tried looked at the entire human experience. The direction of “Cloud Atlas” is part of its strength and downfall. The six storylines aren’t exactly related and, by jumping back and forth from story to story (sometimes more for cinematic reasons than anything else I could figure out), we can lose the emotional flow of the individual stories. Unfortunately, the larger idea that emerges is a little watered down as a result. About midway through, we begin to see more clearly the interconnectedness of the human experience across time. From one story to the next, good stands up against evil, planting a seed for the future, but evil’s seed is also planted and the push and pull resurfaces from generation to generation. I should say the acting is interesting in this film too, and often good enough to distract us from the prosthetics and make-up. I enjoyed the film and what it did and I think it was far more successful than I imagined it would be. Well worth seeing.

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[2012. 172 min. Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski. Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D'Arcy, Xun Zhou, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.]
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/movies/cloud-atlas-from-lana-and-andy-wachowski-and-tom-tykwer.html?_r=0