One of 2013's best and most overlooked films

Rating: 10/10 (31 January 2014)

You probably didn't see this as while this underperformed at the box office, everyone else decided to go and see clichéd carbon copies which they have all seen 10 times before because no-one seems to want to be original anymore. Here however, this original and ground-breaking masterpiece emerges as the best movie of 2013 (Better than the best picture winner, 12 Years A Slave) and the 21st century's answer to 2001 A Space Odyssey. This takes 6 seemingly unconnected stories from different times and weaves them together into a tapestry of visual glory, emotional power, thrilling action and genuine humanity that will confuse and frustrate many, but it kicks the living daylights out of almost any other 2013 release. It might be one of the strangest viewing experiences you'll ever have as the film randomly cuts across the different narratives, different actors turn up in different make up and as different characters in the various story lines and all of the narratives seem almost unconnected. Yes the film is a marathon. Yes the film is baffling, indulgent, pretentious. But it is never, ever boring.
The film, in the end, is about humankind and how the past shapes the future. Amidst all the action, humour and bizarre stories, the film has a genuine soul and a sense of humanity which helps keep it afloat, and as it goes on it becomes more and more powerful and you start to care about all of the characters. Whether the film is focussing on a dying sailor's friendship with a slave on a ship in the 1800s, a musician's struggle to compose his masterpiece, a journalist (Halle Berry doing maybe the only thing worthy of note she's done since Monster Ball) stopping a conspiracy at a nuclear power plant, a publisher trying to escape a nursing home, a clone becoming involved in a revolution in the far future or a post apocalyptic storyline with 2 people trying to find a remote communication station, the film is characterized by great acting especially from Jim Broadbent, fantastic direction, a moving script and a never-ending sense of humanity. Even if you don't get it, it'll still be a great cinematic experience for all and truth be told, some may even shed tears.
10/10