Very Good: 8.0

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2019)

Many, when it was announced that the 2004 novel Cloud Atlas was getting a film, cried out how "unfilmable" said novel was. Well, unfilmable or not, it has happened. The Wachowskis have teamed up with famed German writer/director Tom Tykwer to deliver what is unquestionably one of the most ambitious films ever produced. It stretches a single ensemble cast across six separate stories, which run the gamut from comedy to horror, from romance to hard sci-fi, and take place from the late 19th century to the mid 24th. That sentence alone should give you some idea of what kind of film this is. What I could also tell you is that each of the six stories is absolutely enthralling, and the connections between them tenuous (with one exception, which makes itself obvious during the film). I could also say that somewhere along the way, I ceased my attempts to connect the dots, and slipped into a kind of trance, in which I simply witnessed the film in front of me rather than think about it. This is a movie of breathtaking scope and awesome imagination, of fine acting and seamless technical quality. Looking at it only skin deep, this is nothing less than a masterpiece. However, penetrate any further and you will need to think, and think hard, about what is transpiring on the screen before you. You will need to understand, though not believe, some fundamental qualities of spirituality to appreciate some of the film's many messages and ideas. This is a movie that begs to be interpreted, dissected, and analyzed. And the viewers who find it rich and artful will be matched only by those who see it as pretentious and impenetrable. However, whichever side you take, you will find something to enjoy, be it the sumptuous art direction, the thematic depth, or the commendable performances. Whether this film is good or bad is all but irrelevant. Once you leave the theater, know that you have witnessed what is possibly the most important film of the year. In a year when movies like Paranormal Activity 4, The Avengers, and Taken 2 are topping the box office, here is one blockbuster that dares to break new ground. And that is, indeed, something to be celebrated.