Cloud Atlas (2012)
Country: GER/US/HK/SING
Technical: col/2.35:1 172m
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Susan Sarandon
Synopsis:
Six stories - and six birthmarks - ranging between 1849 and several hundreds of years in the future link together significant acts of courage and love between fellow human beings, showing that only then can there be any hope of protecting the weak from the depradations of the strong.
Review:
Flitting about between time frames as rapidly as this for nigh on three hours is bound to try the patience of a few, and the duplication of roles by an eclectic cast, to the point frankly of redundancy, adds to the air of tricksiness. Still, no film with Hanks and Broadbent could be entirely po-faced, and fortunately this one has a sense of humour, even if the grandiloquent settings bring to mind images of sledgehammers and walnuts at times. The appeal of the material can be guessed from the directors' previous work, and indeed the segment in a 'Neo' Seoul of the future bears more than that passing resemblance to The Matrix, but it is visually arresting enough, and the eyes of the performers gripping enough, to keep this viewer from looking at his watch.
Country: GER/US/HK/SING
Technical: col/2.35:1 172m
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Susan Sarandon
Synopsis:
Six stories - and six birthmarks - ranging between 1849 and several hundreds of years in the future link together significant acts of courage and love between fellow human beings, showing that only then can there be any hope of protecting the weak from the depradations of the strong.
Review:
Flitting about between time frames as rapidly as this for nigh on three hours is bound to try the patience of a few, and the duplication of roles by an eclectic cast, to the point frankly of redundancy, adds to the air of tricksiness. Still, no film with Hanks and Broadbent could be entirely po-faced, and fortunately this one has a sense of humour, even if the grandiloquent settings bring to mind images of sledgehammers and walnuts at times. The appeal of the material can be guessed from the directors' previous work, and indeed the segment in a 'Neo' Seoul of the future bears more than that passing resemblance to The Matrix, but it is visually arresting enough, and the eyes of the performers gripping enough, to keep this viewer from looking at his watch.
Country: GER/US/HK/SING
Technical: col/2.35:1 172m
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Susan Sarandon
Synopsis:
Six stories - and six birthmarks - ranging between 1849 and several hundreds of years in the future link together significant acts of courage and love between fellow human beings, showing that only then can there be any hope of protecting the weak from the depradations of the strong.
Review:
Flitting about between time frames as rapidly as this for nigh on three hours is bound to try the patience of a few, and the duplication of roles by an eclectic cast, to the point frankly of redundancy, adds to the air of tricksiness. Still, no film with Hanks and Broadbent could be entirely po-faced, and fortunately this one has a sense of humour, even if the grandiloquent settings bring to mind images of sledgehammers and walnuts at times. The appeal of the material can be guessed from the directors' previous work, and indeed the segment in a 'Neo' Seoul of the future bears more than that passing resemblance to The Matrix, but it is visually arresting enough, and the eyes of the performers gripping enough, to keep this viewer from looking at his watch.