Everything Is Connected

Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Doona Bae, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Keith David, James D'Arcy, David Gyasi

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Our lives and our choices, like quantum trajectories, are understood moment to moment. At each point of intersection, each encounter suggests a new potential direction." - Isaac Sachs

Why watch this? This is a fantastic exploration of life - past, present and future, all connected - and how choices matter.

Plot Summary: This ambitious, time-spanning tale is crammed to the brim with filmdom's top talent, cutting-edge effects and race-altering make-up. Strap on your cranial seatbelts to explore six storylines, some in the past, some in possible futures. Most actors recur in each of the stories and reincarnation is apparent. Most characters, at their core, either evil or good, however, the main characters (Hanks, Berry and Broadbent) are on a journey, progressing. They begin as unlikable beings, displaying cowardice, callousness, even homicidal tendencies. But their paths, over the eras, are heading to a cosmic redemption, based on their growth, love and choices made. Is this not what we all face in real life?

Dad's Preview: The Wachowskis (The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer have adapted this incredible story into a film you will need to see more than once to fully appreciate. Cloud Atlas runs a little long at over two hours, and it certainly divided critics and fans. I am all-in for this creative, thought-provoking hidden gem. Turn your head upward to the clouds, give it a chance, and you may be profoundly impacted.

Cloud Atlas Productions, X Filme Creative Pool, Anarchos Productions; Warner Bros.