Scene: Warner Brothers.
Characters: The Wachowski Twins, Tom Tykwer and Studio Exec:
Exec: OK. I didn't read the book. What's the pitch?
Wachowskis/Tykwer: It's Master and Commander meets Brideshead Revisited meets Silkwood meets Cocoon, meets Blade Runner meets The Hunger Games. In that order. . . more or less.
Well . . . Sounds a bit much, but since you guys did The Matrix and Run Lola Run, What the heck.
Cloud Atlas is one of my all-time favorite books. David Mitchell is a genius -- a brilliant writer whose deeply empathic characters are matched by his wonderfully diverse styles, his astounding range of knowledge and expertise and his glorious re-imagining of the structure of the novel. The book climbs a mountain-like path that ascends through time in six stories from past, present to future, and then back again through time, completing each story on its way back to the initial one. Each story contains subtle links to the others, and carries forward the themes of immortality, struggle and the transcendence of love and memory. The styles move effortlessly forward and back through time from epistolary to potboiler and whimsical, then to sci-fi and dystopian. It's thrilling, tragic and enlightening.
I just saw the film, and I was not disappointed, as happens with most adaptations. It was exciting, touching and spectacular, providing a stunning visual counterpart for the brilliant novel. I was transfixed through all 172 minutes, watching Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and others play up to six roles each across time. The film does alter the book's structure, changing from the "mountain," serial chronology, to cross-cutting frequently between the eras. A Mitchell purist might object, because that innovative design was one of the triumphs of the novel. But I imagine that the directors (the Wachowski twins and Tom Tykwer) made a decision that their design worked better dramatically than keeping the novel's more linear structure.
And it did work, without offending my Mitchell-philic sensitivities. With so much going on, perhaps having read the book provides an advantage, though I can't make that judgment. I am surprised at the lukewarm critical reception it's received. I rank it as one of the best films of the new century.