Head in the Cloud

In theaters Friday: Celeste and Jesse Forever [limited], Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Total Recall
New on Blu-ray/DVD: Damsels in Distress, Hijacked, LOL

Few recent novels have been as ambitious as young English author David Mitchell’s 2004 time-hopper Cloud Atlas. Featuring six narratives that are nested within its pages before looping back on each other for a succession of century-spanning climaxes, the book was a meditation on Mitchell’s idea of one soul inhabiting several bodies from 1850 to a distant, post-apocalyptic future.

If there are any filmmakers who can match Mitchell’s ambition, The Matrix creators the Wachowskis and Run Lola Run auteur Tom Tykwer are certainly among them. On Oct. 26, this trio of filmmakers deliver their adaptation of Cloud Atlas led by stars Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, and the first trailer has arrived. Even this initial clip has an epic 6-minute length, hinting and the magnitude of the story at hand. Watch the trailer here.