Director
The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer
Leading Actors/Actresses
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, and Hugo Weaving
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, and Keith David
Genre
Science Fiction
Language
English
Awards
Nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Score
Date of Release
October 26th, 2012
Producer
Grant Hill, Stefan Arndt, The Wachowskis, and the Wachowskis
Setting and Context
The film is set 6 different periods: the Pacific Islands in 1849, Cambridge / Edinburgh in 1936, San Francisco in 1973, London in 2012, Neo Seoul in 2144, and the Big Isle, 106 winters after The Fall (2321)
Narrator and Point of View
Told from a third person point of view
Tone and Mood
Solemn, Violent, Chaotic, Energetic, Scientific, and Disruptive
Protagonist and Antagonist
Each story has a different protagonist: Adam Ewing, Robert Frobisher, Luisa Rey, Timothy Cavendish, Sonmi~451, and Zachary. Antagonists include: Henry Goose, Mephi, and Bill Smoke.
Major Conflict
There are a number of major conflicts in the film. In the first story, for example, the major conflict involves Adam Ewing's fight against slavery
Climax
There is no single, discernible climax in the film.
Foreshadowing
In the San Francisco-based story: the indictment of the oil executives is foreshadowed early on in the story.
Understatement
The profound difficulty of each of the actors playing a half dozen characters is understated throughout the film.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Cloud Atlas is one of the few films to have three directors who share credit with each other - the Wachowskis, in fact, directed half of the film and Tom Tykwer directed the other half.
Allusions
The book of the same name on which the film is based, Fahrenheit 451, Bullitt, Soylent Green, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (both the book and the film), Logan's Run, Akira, Battle Royale, history, and popular culture.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
Some of the events in each of the stories are paralleled in the film.
