Cloud Atlas

I recently re-watched Cloud Atlas, which  hadn't seen since it was in theatres 2 years ago. Watching it a second time was a great experience as I noticed so much more than the first time around. The film follows several different stories that take place in distant times - the Pacific Ocean 1849, Cambridge 1936, San Francisco 1973, London 2012, Neo Seoul 2144, and far in the future 106 years after The Fall, an unnamed post-apocalyptic event.

Each story has interesting parallels within events, such as Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess) fighting to help a stowaway slave on board the ship contrasted with Sonmi (Doona Bae) learning about the plight of her existence as a a human clone and leading her people in a revolution against slavery. The stories plots run along with each other, demonstrating one of the main themes of the film, being how past lives can affect those of the future, no matter how far apart they seem.

The film does a tremendous job structuring all of the scenes together, often cutting between moments of parallel action, indicating the ties between these characters lives. The stories can sometimes seem jumbled and confusing, as it jumps around so often, but I found on a second viewing that the pace of the film works quite well and I never lost interest in any of the many stories. The characters are interesting and carry us through each world seamlessly, with the editing adding a great level of style to how the plot moves forward. By the end of the film, not everything feels tidied up, and there is a feeling of emptiness, like we didn't get the whole story - who is Somni really and how did she become a goddess in the eyes of Zachary's people? What happened to everyone after the events of the movie? Why did people abandon earth after the time of Neo Seoul? The answers may not be important, as the film ends like we were being told a campfire story of many eras, and leaves us with the simple answer that the story is still going on.

One final note I must make goes to the acting and the make-up effects. Each actor portrays several characters over the many timelines presented and some of them are barely noticeable. Tom Hanks is recognizable in almost every role, but did you see Halle Berry as Ovid, the Korean doctor or as Jocasta Ayrs, the wife of the famous composer? What about Hugh grant as the Kona chief? 

Halle Berry as Jocasta Ayrs, left

Hugh Grant as Kona chief

A large part of this credible to the wonderful make-up team, but I also have to hand it to the actors for taking on such a large project and learning all of these different roles for the film, some of the them being vastly different. Many of them even use different accents, dialects, and languages between roles, let alone changing their ethnicity. Questions of morality aside, it is a fun exercise when watching the film to spot as many cross-roles as you can, and since the film is very entertaining, I would definitely recommend giving it a view, if you can spare the 3 hours running time that is. Over all, the film is imaginative in all its visual splendour, offering a diverse look at time and destiny.