CLOUD ATLAS

Directed by: Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw
Run time: 171 min

How many books are deemed to be unfilmable? This year we had Life of Pi in 3D which is amazing and then this one. Cloud Atlas is a love it or hate it movie. Many will say; dafuk is this? and some will say; That was awesome. I personally loved it and mesmerized by the sheer ambition of this film in terms of information and details.

Not so many films are trying to give complicated story and themes all in one film. It relates six stories taking place between the 19th century and post-apocalyptic future of Earth. The relations are revealed as the film goes.

Here, all you need is just to concentrate to understand the whole thing. The make-up and effects are effective in helping the story off the ground and some points in the film are just thrilling. I cannot divulge you the detail of every story since it will ruin your pleasure. Most movies are better watched without any preparation at all or any spoilers.

Based by the novel from David Mitchell, same actors are acting as different characters in each segment. The make up can hide their true face and I am left wondering, was this Tom Hanks, Jim Sturgess, Halle Berry or Hugh Grant? This sort of choice is very good for this kind of film that propose 'everything is connected' as the tagline.

The acting is amazing, especially by Tom Hanks and Ben Whishaw. They can change characters so fast, aided by make up, and make you believe that they are completely different character from another segment. I cannot imagine how the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer cooperate to make this film. They have done the impossible, filming the unfilmable novel.

However those who just look at the poster might be fooled since the poster suggest as if Tom Hanks is Captain Kirk/Han Solo and Halle Berry is Uhura and it is just a space adventure. It is actually more deep than that and if you are still confused, you shall watch it again and again.

This is a daring and visionary film that tells stories of mankind. That love prevails, that oppression will always be there, that to fought for an injustice is an ongoing cause that shall not end, that mankind learns from history that they learns nothing. It is about interconnection, that although what we did could be just a drop of water in the ocean, one must not forgot that ocean itself are collections of drops of water.