A Challenging Movie to Watch -- and I'm Going to Put it in My Library for Reference

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2016)

I gave this the highest rating for a reason. This is a film that is a reference for any actor, director, or writer (which I am) especially of speculative fiction. As someone writing in speculative fiction who has had recall of other lifetimes since 1986, this movie make so much sense to me. Is it hard to follow? Yes. Bear with it.
This may be one of the most difficult movies to watch you've ever encountered. If you're a writer, an actor, a director...and like me, also a person who remembers other lifetimes, this is a must see. You may not be able to watch it in one sitting. It's that complex.
The cast is phenomenal, and that's a big reason to watch it -- because great actors get to portray multiple characters in a single movie. For all of them, it's a tour de force which they can hold close to their hearts (I hope they do) as a reminder of what exceptional work they can do.
The Wachowskis? I've got no words (and I'm a writer, of sci fi to boot, based on past life recall, so I should have words). What they did, despite the pans, I truly think will stand as a classic (the same happened to Blade Runner).
Who are we and how did we get here? What are we doing, what do we need to do, and why? Most of all, who do we trust? It's the people we love. The people we've always loved. For hundreds if not thousands of years. That's at the bottom of this complex film.
Some reviewers questioned yellow face (by the way, there's an Asian actress in white face) however if you pay attention, the Wachowskis bent over backward to create a sort of continuity of personae through the casting of the multiple characters brought together in different time streams.
Tom Hanks as the storyteller who begins and ends the movie is incredible with his scope of acting through many different characters. Kudos to him, the Wachowskis and all the other actors who came to this game. The film world is richer for it.
Isabeau Vollhardt, author, The Casebook of Elisha Grey e-book series