Cloud atlas 2012 released movie review 2023

As I watched "Cloud Atlas" for the first time, I knew that I would have to watch it again. And now, having seen it twice, I'm convinced that I need to watch it a third time. However, I no longer believe that repeated viewings will unravel the complexities of this film. To quote Churchill, "it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." It's mesmerizing in the moment, but getting from one moment to the next is a daunting task.

Undoubtedly, "Cloud Atlas" is one of the most ambitious films ever made. The little world of film criticism has been alive with interpretations of it, attempting to explain the inexplicable. But the explanation of a work of art must be found in it, not imposed upon it. As a film teacher, I was often told by students that a film by David Lynch or Werner Herzog was "a retelling of the life of Christ, say, or 'Moby Dick.'" My standard reply was: maybe it's simply the telling of itself.

However, "Cloud Atlas" demands an explanation, and I'm aware that I've been tap-dancing around one. I could explain that it's a collection of six stories that take place between the years 1849 and 2346. I could mention that the same actors appear in different roles, playing characters of different races, genders, and ages. Some aren't even human, but fabricants. I could tell you that the acting and makeup are so effective that I often didn't recognize Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, or Jim Broadbent. But what use is that?

I could inform you that each segment is a re-imagining of the story that came before it. That the same birthmark appears in each era. That a recurring motif is that all lives are connected by a thirst for freedom. That the film was inspired by David Mitchell's beloved novel of the same name, which told the stories chronologically, then circled back from end to beginning. That the film creates its connections through the actors' reappearances in different roles and references one story within another. But does that help?

I'm treading water, and I could write a lengthy paragraph introducing and describing the different characters played by the actors, but you'd still be lost because many of the performances and disguises are so deceptively effective. For instance, Halle Berry's portrayal of a mid-1970s investigative reporter works exceptionally well for me, and the gnarly wisdom of Tom Hanks as an old man telling stories is nearly impenetrable.

I'm stumped. I believe that you'll want to watch this daring and visionary film directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and Andy Wachowski. It will be discussed everywhere that movie people gather, and deep theories will be proposed. Someone will undoubtedly say, "I don't know what in the hell I saw." The names of Freud and Jung will come up. And now I'm supposed to unwrap the mystery from the enigma and offer you a shiny riddle?

Sometimes, one film can provide a clue to another. We know that the title refers to early drawings of the shapes and behavior of clouds. Not long ago, I watched a Swedish film, "Simon and the Oaks," about a day-dreaming boy who formed a bond with an oak tree. In its limbs, he would lie reading books of imagination and then allow his eyes to rest on the clouds overhead. As he read a book about desert wanderers, the clouds seemed to take shape as a ghostly caravan of camels in procession across the sky.

I was never, ever bored by "Cloud Atlas." On my second viewing, I abandoned my attempt