It keeps building and building until by film's end I was totally in love with it!

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2012)

'CLOUD ATLAS': Five Stars (Out of Five)
This enormously ambitious epic Sci-Fi masterpiece is the type of life changing experience that's so inspirational and emotionally moving that it will forever change the lives of anyone who views it. That's my opinion but that's how I feel about all of my favorite films. This movie, like a lot of great films, is adapted from a book (of the same name). The book was written by David Mitchell and released in 2004 to high critical praise. It was admired greatly by Natalie Portman and brought to the attention of directors Andy and Lana Wachowski on the set of 'V FOR VENDETTA', a film the three were working on together in 2005. The Wachowski siblings loved it so much that they bought the rights to the film adaptation and promised Portman a lead role as a character named Sonmi-451. Portman had to give up the role, to actress Doona Bae, at the last second due to her pregnancy. An all star cast including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Keith David, Susan Sarandon and Hugo Weaving (a Wachowski regular) joined Bae in the cast (all playing multiple characters of different races and sexes). The Wachowskis teamed with German director Tom Tykwer (of 'RUN LOLA RUN' fame) to both write and direct the film. It consists of six interwoven stories that span from the 1849 Chatham Islands all the way to a future post-apocalyptic Earth. The Wachowskis directed three stories and Tykwer directed the other three (from a co-written script) using entirely different crews on different sets but with the same actors. The stories play out simultaneously in the film jumping back and forth constantly while only developing each one for minutes at a time (if that).
In the earliest story Sturgess plays Adam Ewing, an American lawyer who travels to the Chatham Islands in 1849 (from San Francisco) to finish a business deal for his father-in-law (Weaving). While there his heart goes out to a tribe of slaves, especially one who stows away on his ship (David Gyasi). The second story focuses on Robert Frobisher (Whishaw), a poor English musician in love with another man (D'Arcy) who's hired by a famous composer (Broadbent), in Scotland in 1936, to serve as his amanuensis. While working for the composer he develops his own musical masterpiece he calls 'The Cloud Atlas Sextet'. The third story tells the story of a journalist named Luisa Rey (Berry) who's assigned a story on a nuclear power plant in San Francisco in 1975. With the help of a nuclear physicist (D'Arcy playing the same role from the prior story, when he's much older) she uncovers a conspiracy plot involving the power plant and is marked for murder. The fourth story stars Broadbent once again, this time as a publicist named Timothy Cavendish (in 2012 United Kingdom) who's on the run from the mob friends of an author he published (Hanks), recently incarcerated for murder. He flees to his brother (Grant) for help and ends up locked up in a nursing home against his will, which he's bent on escaping from. The fifth story is set in future Korea in 2144 focusing on a clone named Sonmi-451 (Bae). Clones like her are slaves genetically engineered to serve in fast-food restaurants until they're no longer needed and killed. With the help of a young rebel (Sturgess playing an Asian, which has drew controversy) she escapes and brings about a revolution. The last story has Hanks starring as a tribesman named Zachry living in a primitive post-apocalyptic future, on an island in Hawaii, after most life has been wiped out. One of the last of the technologically advanced past, named Meronym (Berry), visits his tribe and saves his niece from dying (of illness). He agrees to guide her through the mountains to a post known as Cloud Atlas, where she can communicate with others who have left the planet.
I at first did not like the way the stories jumped around so quickly. I didn't think it left the viewer enough time to get to know the characters and storyline of one story before jumping to another, making it much more confusing (than if it had been told in a more linear fashion). By the films end though the non-linear style was much more of an advantage to the movie in pacing, excitement as well as emotional involvement. For a good half of the movie I was disappointed in it because it was impossible to follow and a little boring. As it kept moving along though it got more and more interesting and exciting and kept building and building until by film's end I was totally in love with it. The conclusion is such an emotionally drenched and inspiring finish that it makes the entire, nearly three hour movie, pay off. You also understand the film a lot more, from beginning to end, once it's finished. It still requires multiple viewings and I'll probably see it at least a couple more times. I'm sure upon repeat viewing I'll appreciate the earlier, slower paced, scenes much more (that's the sign of a great movie). The acting, cinematography, makeup, set design, effects, directing and writing are all top notch. The score is also amazing (by one of the directors, Tykwer, as well as Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil) and probably the best I've heard all year. For me movies are all about moments (just like life is). I go to movies in search of great moments and that's what makes it stand out or not. Those moments also make everything else in between that much more important (just like life as well). This movie is full of many great and beautiful moments and that's why it's such a beautiful and important film!
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