Cloud Atlas (2012)

Take six fantastically written short films, lace them all into each other intricately and fit it all into 3 hours and you have the biggest "look what I can do!" movie of all time.

Cloud Atlas follows six individual stories, spanning six time periods (past, present and future) with six different protagonists whose stories influence the next persons in the minuscule yet important ways.

The intricacies of which all the stories of Cloud Atlas are interwoven are near unfathomable, "blink and you'll miss them" moments that effect the characters, the story, the setting, the audience, sometimes multiple or even all of these elements are affected. Some write books for the future protagonists, some have their lives turned into biographical films and one even ascends to become the religious figure from which future generations draw all hope. We have films in modern times that appeal to those with the attention span of a fruit-fly, to those incapable of understanding that more than one character can have a story and so the industry caters to it, leaving everyone but the protagonist under-developed, amassing an army of side characters that are just shadows against a wall. Cloud Atlas takes the audience by the collar and states "witness the beauty of time, of humanity, feel these stories resonate in your soul and don't leave a single one of them forgotten or else you don't deserve to know the rest".

Cloud Atlas is also the perfect canvas and opportunity for the cast as each of the main ensemble inhabit multiple roles, each with their own particular patterns and behaviour. From Sci-fi to period drama, comedy to thriller, an immense range of potential is presented to them and each of them fits their turn as the protagonist perfectly. Tom Hanks speaks the broken yet evolved language of the Valleymen with such ease and familiarity that it could be his first language, Ben Wishaw portrays a love and passion for his partner and the medium of music that is seldom seen in any modern dramas, Jim Broadbent brings classic comedy up to the level of the Sci-fi epics as it competes hilariously for the audience's admiration, Hugo Weaving brings his masterful presence to multiple villains of the film, once again proving his expertise in the categories of intimidation and fear. These and so many more members of the cast prove their true range and the ability to have a single actor tell a dozen stories. 

With a film like Cloud Atlas having to juggle so many scenarios at once, there easily could've been short-comings or sacrifices during production but the environments, the props, the costumes the make-up, all of these elements were incredibly done to a level where you would think the six stories were six full budget films, all competing against each other for the Oscars, thus pushing their creative efforts above and beyond what they could've been left at. The make-up especially, changing men to women, white to asian, young to old, hair and beards of all sizes and colours, whilst maybe controversial amongst some audiences, it is purely a showcase of the abilities of these great artists.

Cloud Atlas is a behemoth of a film to try and analyse in completion but I'll leave it at this; in order to learn about working with the medium of film and the method of telling a story, watch this film, follow every story, notice every character, for within this film lies the examples for all others.

4.5/5 - The energy of the universe contained in a single speck.