“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future.” - Somni 451
My dear Sixsmith,
I witnessed a marvel today. A strange and beautiful movie called Cloud Atlas. At first it seemed too huge and unwieldy, ever in the danger of crumbling under its own weight. There was just so much to behold at once, and with a timeline that spanned centuries through six different stories it was almost inevitable that incoherence and confusion would somehow seep in. There is the story of friendship between Ewing and the black stowaway; the criminal mystery of Louisa Ray; the comical escapades of the elderly Mr. Cavendish; the inspiring uprising of Somni 431 - an android in a futuristic Seoul; a post-apocalyptic tale of a man searching for courage; and then there is our story Sixsmith, of love and loss, and inspiration that will forever define the future.
The movie constantly teetered on the edge of turning into a colossal mess, and to many people in the audience I realize that is just how it might have seemed judging by the vocal complaints flying during the show. It was at times incomprehensible, and to add to that many of the actors were cast in different roles in different stories. While Tom Hanks might be an innocuous doctor aiding with an investigation in one story, he would return as an Irish writer or a tribal goatherd in another. This just further added to the confusion. If you are not paying attention, it is easy to get lost in who is what and where.
But as it went on, as it wove six distinct and seemingly unconnected tales together, I began to fall in love with its imperfections and blemishes. Sure it was not perfect. Far from it. But, there are works of art, Sixsmith, and then there are labors of love, and Cloud Atlas is the latter. And like all true love it is not perfect - for all it struggles, it endures. Nobody can deny the heart that went into making this movie. Most such movies suffer because not enough though is put in though has been put into them. No one can say the same about Cloud Atlas. If anything, Cloud Atlas has too much thought out into, and with three directors all putting their all into it, you can almost literally see each of the separate stories battling it out on screen to be the better one. Each vignette seems like a hand-crafted story of different genres that will rarely be coupled together let alone be packed all six in one. A guarantee, that you have never seen anything quite like this before.
There is so much to say about this movie that I would never know where to begin. It is a movie with so much going on at once that it is sure to polarize audiences for decades to come. Like the rare few before it like Blade Runner, which have broken free of pre-existing moulds, there will be no person who comes out of the hall and say "it was ok". You will either love it or hate it. And like Blade Runner I might never fully understand grasp all the high ideals and concept that the movie concealed, but I do know this that yesterday, I believe I would never have done what I did today. I feel like something important has happened to me. Is this possible?
Watch Cloud Atlas.
Love,
Robert Frobisher
