Cloud Atlas

That this film exists remains, even on second viewing, something of a mystery to me. It feels like a happy accident, that the Wachowski’s and Tom Twyker somehow managed to smuggle a film this ambitious, daring, bizarre and potentially ridiculous past the studio heads. That someone signed off on over $100m feels like a thing that doesn’t happen in modern Hollywood. But boy am I glad they did.

Yet what I like about Cloud Atlas isn’t just that it strives for something beyond the standard summer blockbuster. Not even that it takes a somewhat silly premise, actors playing multiple roles, often under layers of make-up, and runs with it beyond what you may reasonable think. No, what is so great about Cloud Atlas is that, for the most part, it works when it really shouldn’t. Comprising six separate and interlinked stories, over a timespan of hundreds of years from the 1800’s to the far flung future the film wastes no time in dropping the viewer into each of these situations without much explanation, but masterfully drawing you in. Whereas David Mitchell’s novel separated the narratives into a concertina structure, with the first half of each moving forwards then concluding in turn, the film mashes them all together, a tactic that, for such wildly different stylistic and tonal choices, again shouldn’t work and yet it does. One of the film’s biggest weapons is the editing which, as the best editing should, feels invisible and yet is unlike almost any film I’ve seen. Events and scenes in one story are given extra weight or meaning thanks to juxtapositions in others. Characters played by the same actor can give payoffs to setups they themselves offered up by way of another time period, and by layering montages of visuals over voiceover the directors manage to find a way of making the stories feel cohesive through their shared themes and ideas, rather than characters or plot.

It’s a remarkable feat all told, and one that feels effortless when you watch despite the complexity of design that sits behind the surface being almost unimaginable. Yet the film does stumble, some segments are better realised than other, some actors excel in some roles and feel horribly out of place in others, and some of the cross dressing / multiple roles are somewhat ill-advised. On occasion the overt earnestness of the story verges on camp, but it always pulls back from the brink to wow you with a sequence, or moment that feels revolutionary. The film should not be praised purely for having something to say, not treating the audience like an idiot and having ambition, though these are all positive things that surprisingly few big-budget films manage to achieve these days. But even outside of these Cloud Atlas just works, it is a thrilling, strange and constantly engaging piece of art that never lets its contemplation of more weighty themes get in the way of its primary purpose: to entertain. A world away from the maudlin philosophising of the Matrix sequels, this feels like the best of the Wachowski’s, the hyper-kinetic editing and playing with structure from Speed Racer (which I still think is a criminally underrated film), to the techno-noir cool that made their name. The addition of Tom Twyker to the pair can’t be dismissed either, directing half the segments himself he brings wonderful humanity to the picture with a deft touch, whilst his musical contributions bind the film together beautifully.

This is a film I’m sure I will revisit many times, and enjoy showing to unsuspecting friends and family. I can imagine seeing new connections and deft touches with each new viewing. It’s not perfect, but I love it flaws and all for its clear-eyed positivity, and its brazen desire to break all the rules. I’m still not sure how it got made, but I will always be grateful for its existence: a rush of pure cinema that was somehow let loose into the world.