Cloud Atlas

On the heels of yesterday's photographic proof that there will actually be a Cloud Atlas movie, here is a trailer offering further testimony—nearly six minutes of footage, in fact, which only seems like overkill until you consider just how much ground this movie is trying to cover. Directors Tom Tykwer and Andy and Lana Wachowski have taken the six century-spanning storylines of David Mitchell's sprawling bestseller and crammed them into a single film, with the hope that the end result will be a flowing meditation on destiny, and not a ponderous, incomprehensible jumble.

It's too soon to judge that, but this preview confirms Cloud Atlas will certainly be something: It's bursting with sweeping shots of 19th-century wooden ships crashing up against futuristic cityscapes, freaky post-apocalyptic tribesmen commingling with eccentric old composers, and plenty of shots of people with huge sideburns wearing chunky turtlenecks, so you know it's the '70s. Among a huge ensemble cast that also features people like Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Hugo Weaving, the connecting thread seems to be the déjà vu love story between Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, who meet time and again only to have the universe attempt to destroy them. Perhaps they'll prove to be a similar constant for an audience overwhelmed by so much waves of stuff.