I don’t know what’s weirder about the film ‘Cloud Atlas’, adapted from the famous, well-received book by David Mitchell (no, not that David Mitchell). Is it the initially confusing but ultimately fascinating six interwoven and loosely connected stories? Is it the appearance of the actors in different guises through different time zones? Or perhaps it’s either the ‘Cloud Atlas Sextet’, a piece of music appearing throughout the film that sounds like an even slower version of the slowed-down Blackadder theme tune from the last episode of series four, or the fact that Howard from the ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ appears half way through? I’m not so sure.
‘Cloud Atlas’ tells six individual stories through its long three-hour running time but, unlike recent lengthy opuses like ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Les Miserables’, it kept me hooked for the whole of its running times, though those two examples were great films in their own rights.
We have Adam Ewing on a 19th Century sailing ship and its connections with the slave trade; a slow-burning romance between two men in Cambridge and the composition of the aforementioned piece of music; a seventies investigation by a journalist into a nuclear power station conspiracy; a modern-day publisher embroiled in a nursing home farce; a future world where replicant humans work away in New Seoul bars; and a post-apocalyptic tribal future.
When you first start watching the film you feel like your head will explode trying to follow all the individual stories but within the first thirty minute you’re easily settled into them and it’s an impressive ride from then on. The actors pull off an incredible job with the wide-spanning piece with Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry and Tom Hanks being particularly of note. The directors and make-up artists need credit for the work on the piece and though it cost a fair whack to make – reports of $100,000,000 are circulating – you can see where the money has been spent with set pieces, locations and, where needed, CGI are all top notch.
At times ‘Cloud Atlas’ does feel like you’re lost in the cinema and wandering into different films at times, but it all works and is clear to follow, even if the plot that holds all six strands together is a little bit weaker than I would like, but there are plenty of visual clues from props to actors to name dropping that hold it all in place and overall it feels satisfying, if a little bit wishy-washy in the connection with no big ‘aha’ moment to be found.
My personal favourite portrayal was Jim Broadbent as the present-day publisher who ends up being locked in a retirement home before conducting a daring escape with the other ‘inmates’, along the lines of the old ‘One Foot In The Grave’ episode, but he’s also excellent as the composer struggling with writers block. Tom Hanks also scores well with a huge range of appearances from a Danny Dyer-esque writer who gets the best and most unexpected piece in the whole thing, to characters scattered throughout the ages. Halle Berry is equally enjoyable on screen as a strong character throughout the ages, and credit should go to the supporting cast including Jim Sturgess, Keith David, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Waving, James D’Arcy, Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon, plus many others, who all pull off great turns in different roles. In fact it’s only when the end credits role and you are shown all the guises of all the actors that you realise just how many roles each one is in, and many I missed completely with the excellent make-up.
It’s also a credit to the film that, with such a long list of characters, you find yourself caring for all of them and what happens to them and all the main characters feel fleshed out and real.
Oh, and Hugo Weaving as a woman is great!
Oh, and Hugo Weaving as a woman is great!
‘Cloud Atlas’ is a grand, long, verbose piece that requires concentration but it is never anything less than a thrill ride and once you’ve got your head around the characters, situations and, in one case, futuristic-yet-ancient language, you’re in for a treat. Never less than visual interesting with elements of thrillers, comedies, sea-faring boys-own adventures and sci-fi all thrown into the mix, there’s no chance of getting bored. Mesmerising.
The only big mystery is why such an expensive production with a great cast has received such little promotion and fanfare. Shame.
The only big mystery is why such an expensive production with a great cast has received such little promotion and fanfare. Shame.
(9/10)
0 comments:
Post a Comment