This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
REVIEWS


Reviews edited by Mark Adams mark.adams@screendaily.com


Cloud Atlas Reviewed by Allan Hunter


Everything changes and everything stays the same over centuries of human existence in the kaleido- scopic Cloud Atlas. The sprawling, messy, undeni- ably ambitious screen adaptation of David Mitchell’s ‘unfilmable’ novel juggles a handful of seemingly disparate stories to illustrate a unifying theme that individual lives and actions can have profound consequences that echo through time. Moment to moment over the course of nearly


three hours, the film is amusing, surprising, excit- ing, absorbing, thrilling, frustrating, tiresome, ridiculous and much more but it is often more plat- itudinous than profound and never coheres into a moving statement on the meaning of life. The reputation of the novel and the pedigree of the


cast and directors should guarantee a generous level of curiosity but many viewers may conclude the rewards on offer are not necessarily worth the effort. Mitchell’s novel allowed a series of stories to


bleed into each other, revealing the connections that link even the most diverse individuals. The film takes the riskier approach of interweaving the stories, which ironically tends to break the emo- tional ties that might otherwise have developed. A dizzying opening stretch introduces the vari-


ous fragments as notary Adam Ewing (Sturgess) visits the Pacific islands in 1849. In 1930s Britain, Ewing’s journals of his voyages fascinate composer Robert Frobisher (Whishaw). In the San Francisco of 1973, journalist Luisa Rey (Berry) reads the let-


n 8 Screen International at Toronto September 10, 2012


SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS


Ger. 2012. 163mins Directors Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski Producers Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Grant Hill, Stefan Arndt Production companies Cloud Atlas Productions International sales Focus Features International, focusfeatures.com Screenplay Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski based on the novel by David Mitchell Cinematography John Toll, Frank Griebe Production designers Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup Editor Alexander Berner Main cast Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Bae Doona


ters Frobisher wrote to his lover. In the London of 2012, publisher Timothy Cavendish (Broadbent) finds his life tipping into a farcical nightmare after falling foul of a brutal author. In the New Seoul of the future, clone Sonmi-451 (Bae) faces execution for her part in a rebellion against the government. In a post-apocalyptic Hawaii, tribesman Zachary (Hanks) is visited by Meronym (Berry) who is one of the last survivors of a lost civilisation. There is a sense that any of these stories could


have made a successful film in its own right, from a high-seas adventure to a futuristic blockbuster, but when they are shuffled together they inevitably fragment and lose some of their impact. The Hawaiian tale is further hampered by the


use of a language that is often difficult to grasp. Just as you start to enjoy the comical fate of Caven- dish, you are whisked back to the ailing Ewing on the seven seas. Just as you really start to care about Frobisher (played with an aching tenderness by Ben Whishaw), you are off to the future and a fight against tyranny that comes close to the kind of ter- ritory already exhausted by the Wachowskis in The Matrix trilogy. There are also several moments of jarring violence and bloodshed along the way. The film underlines the way lives are connected


by using the stellar cast in a multiplicity of roles that requires them to change age, gender or ethnic- ity. Initially, the stunt casting seems little more than a gimmick with the stars given a chance to don dis- tracting layers of latex and dodgy accents. Later, it provides some outrageous sights as Tom Hanks is transformed into a vicious cockney geezer, Hugo


Weaving appears as the fearsome Nurse Noakes and Hugh Grant’s many appearances include a bloodthirsty cannibal warrior and Cavendish’s aged, vengeful brother. The film is a triumph for editor Alexander


Berner who shapes an epic amount of material into a fluid piece of cinematic narrative that at least suc- ceeds on the level of a bedtime story where you always want to know what happens next. Cloud Atlas is something of a glorious folly that


is sometimes appealing, sometimes unfathomable but always handsomely mounted. It is the crush- ingly banal conclusion that we are all bound to each other through the constantly repeating circles of history that really disappoints. Like the song once said — the world is a circle


without a beginning and nobody knows where the circle might end.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24