Cloud Atlas is a story of reincarnation. I wasn’t fully clear about that before I saw this film, but, afterwards, when it was more openly described as reincarnation, it makes sense. Warning: This film is almost three hours long, so, be ready to settle in once it gets going. Good news: It moves through the lifetimes with nimble ease – it didn’t really feel like three hours…

Story: This film is has renewed my faith in creativity and originality. There was nothing about this story that I had seen before. And the idea to have most of the actors portray different characters in each lifetime I found genius. It was also great that each story kept advancing through the lifetime – short segments that kept it moving to the next place.

In the creativity department, the most striking element was that the writer created a language for one of the lifetimes. It was hard to follow, but, fascinating to try and interesting to consider that, it seemed as though the language was a devolution of current language. It was in a future lifetime, but, sounded more primitive than our current language. Initially, I thought it was a lifetime based on the pre-historic caveman, but, cavemen didn’t have technology like laser guns. I later found out that it was a post-apocalyptic lifetime – that explains the break down of the language.

I’m also not a fan of science fiction or stories predicting the future. But, it was also interesting to see how these writers realize the future. I won’t be around to see if they’re right, but…

Performances: Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Ben Wishaw… All great performances, but, no one performance stood out as better than another. Each had moments when they were really going for it, but, then in the next lifetime, they were a bit more mild-mannered. When Oscar season rolls around, I would be surprised if any of the performances get a lot of talk – the talk will be about the story, the direction and the cinematography…

Visual: The travels between the lifetimes were presented quite starkly and left no room for mistake – you knew it was a new lifetime. The costumes were exact; The periods were clearly defined from the smallest details and the special effects were not overused. This is not a hollywood blockbuster that relies on blowing things up to create visual interest.

Rating: Cloud Atlas gets a B+ from me. I was so reluctant to see this film that I could only be pleasantly surprised. I actually had to force myself to go to the theatre, but, I’m glad I did. I had a lot of question marks and misconceptions about this film and they’ve all been satisfied. I walked away feeling good about filmmaking; I wait for original stories to come along and it truly renews me when they do. They don’t come along so often anymore, but, it’s a good day when they do.

Cloud Atlas is a good choice in the theatre or on video – no preference, but, for sure a film to see.