This calendar year has seen the release of an unusual number of films based on celebrated and popular novels, from the pulp and cheese of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and “John Carter,” to classic literature, like the latest adaptations of “Anna Karenina” and “The Great Gatsby” (recently pushed to early 2013), up to adventure stories like “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and the upcoming “Life of Pi.”
There have also been a number of films about novelists and the creative process, from the charming “Ruby Sparks” to the pretentious and overblown “The Words.” With the release of “Cloud Atlas,” adapted from David Mitchell’s 2004 novel by the famed “Matrix” series mavens, the Wachowskis, we finally have an entry that combines both. “Cloud Atlas” aspires to be a sweeping epic with great philosophical depth, but while it has its moments, its reach far exceeds its grasp.
The film’s plot is difficult to summarize succinctly, as it involves a sextet of subplots nested within each other. We open with an old one-eyed man telling a story, then move, by turns, to a mid-nineteenth century trans-Pacific voyage, an early twentieth century composer who pens obsessive letters to his distant lover, a 1970s journalist tracking down documents that powerful people are willing to kill for, an elderly, present-day writer and publisher trapped in a strict convalescent home, a near-future cyberpunk dystopia in which a genetically-engineered laborer launches a revolution against a totalitarian government, and finally to a distant post-apocalyptic future rife with violent tribal struggle, and back to our aged storyteller. Certainly a lot of story to encompass in a single film, even with a nearly three-hour run-time.
First, the good: The film is well-presented, visually speaking (though “Matrix” fans will probably be disappointed on that score by all but the cyberpunk story-line the only one to feature plenty of gunplay and wire-fu). The production design from plot to plot is quite distinct, no doubt aided by having three directors (Andy and Lana Wachowski, along with Tom Tykwer, best known for writing and directing 1998’s “Run, Lola, Run”). The narrative is somewhat less linear than that of its source material, as each of the stories are relentlessly intercut with one another, but somehow the collection of narratives are never unclear (veteran editor Alexander Berner deserves much credit here, for managing to keep all of these snippets coherently aligned).
On the negative side, however, the film begins to wilt under close scrutiny. The six plot threads are given uneven dramatic weight and screen time, with the elderly publisher’s plot seemingly inconsequential and only good for some quick comic relief. But when each of the other plots are examined individually, it becomes clear that not one of them is capable of standing on its own, narratively speaking. They work well enough together because the constant switching back and forth forces us to fill in the gaps, but each is at best a humdrum genre piece when orphaned.
Further, the apparent threads between the stories, in which we learn that many of the characters are reincarnations of past selves, seem flat and artificial. In the novel, each successive central figure was reading a document created by or about one of the previous characters, but without the text, these hooks just don’t succeed in connecting the dots. Some of the work of connecting the plots is done by casting many of the actors in multiple roles, but this can be distracting. Tom Hanks is the worst offender here, devouring scenery whenever he is on-screen, with a passel of goofy patois and rhinophymic prostheses. Only his most ardent fans will make it through the film without groaning at his antics.
“Cloud Atlas” is a difficult film to recommend. For all its pretensions of speaking to a deep interconnectedness between all people, its payoff amounts to so much dime-store philosophizing, crammed into a schmaltzy, overlong dénouement. Anyone looking for a truly transcendent film about the meaning of life is better off with Terence Malick’s soaring “The Tree of Life,” and those hoping for anything more action-heavy will likely be bored to tears. You might be better entertained by staying home and flipping channels back and forth between a few different films, and letting your imagination fill in the gaps.
– by Demian Morrisroe
