Cloud Atlas

Not the least of Cloud Atlas‘s various accomplishments is that, over nearly three hours of moderately unconventional storytelling, it sustains itself as steadily engaging dramatic entertainment. This collaborative hybrid comes from a trio of writer-directors—Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) and the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix). Tykwer directed the modern-day sections—the romantic and professional travails of a young, gay composer (Ben Whishaw) in the Britain of the 1930s; the efforts of an investigative reporter (Halle Berry) to expose a corporate energy scandal in 1973; and the present-day misadventures of a slightly addled literary editor (Jim Broadbent) trying to escape confinement in a prison-like nursing home. The Wachowskis directed the 19th Century segment, the shipboard drama of a young businessman (Jim Sturgess) who comes to the aid of a stowaway slave, as well as the two episodes set in the future—in Korea in 2144, a young “fabricant” (Doona Bae) rebels against the socially-engineered regimentation imposed by a high-tech oligarchy; and in 2346 two very different survivor/refugees (Berry and Tom Hanks) try to sort out their respective heritages and destinies. Following those motifs and echoes is one of the quiet pleasures offered by this occasionally clamorous movie. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R.