Clouds Atlas was a massive, densely plotted movie that took viewers through different time frames spanning six different eras of time. It featured some big-name actors, and they all played different roles in the different eras of the film. It was a movie that polarized audiences, with many unable to make sense of the story.
Despite that, Cloud Atlas retains an intense fanbase, both from fans of the David Mitchell novel and those who loved the grand aspirations that the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer took with the source material. With such a rich and dense movie, there are many others that fans should check out once they finish Cloud Atlas.
V For Vendetta (2005)
Cloud Atlas wasn't the first time the Wachowski siblings teamed up with another director for a high-concept collaboration. In 2005, they teamed up with James McTeigue to adapt the Alan Moore and David Lloyd comic book V for Vendetta.
This movie was an alternate worlds story that saw a neo-fascist supremacist regime take over the United Kingdom government. As a result, an anarchist known as V takes on a girl as a protege and plans a terrorist act to try to win the U.K.'s freedom back.
The Matrix (1999)
Of course, for anyone who loves the work of the Wachowskis, the movie they broke out with is still one of the best sci-fi action movies ever made. In 1999, they made The Matrix, and while the sequels went off the rails somewhat, the original is still a modern masterpiece.
Computers have conquered the world, and the rebellion rising against it believes that Keanu Reeves's Neo is The One, the man who can help free them from captivity.
Run Lola Run (1998)
The other director of Cloud Atlas is Tom Tykwer. He is a German director who caught everyone's attention with his breakout movie, Run Lola Run.
Released in 1998, this movie starred Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity) as a girl who has to raise 100,000 Deutschmarks in 20 minutes or her boyfriend will die. The movie shows various results where small things change her course and, therefore, change her and her boyfriend's fate.
Magnolia (1999)
When it comes to the idea of fate determining the lives of people, even when they don't see the strings at work, there isn't a better movie than Magnolia. This is an ensemble movie by mastermind filmmaker P.T. Anderson about a group of people connected by one thing or another.
From a self-help guru (Tom Cruise) and a game show host (Philip Baker Hall) to a cop (John C. Reilly) and a home care nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman), these stories interconnect throughout the running time and what results is a brilliant puzzle of a movie where every piece fits perfectly.
The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
The Double Life of Veronique is another movie that shows that one person's life could affect another in ways that neither person will ever fully understand.
Directed by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, this tells the story of two women who do not know each other but are a sort of doppelganger for each other, somehow connected despite never meeting. One is Weronika, a singer, and the other is Veronique, a music teacher.
The Fountain (2006)
If people thought that Cloud Atlas was difficult to understand due to its plot's complexity, there is almost no chance they could ever hope to understand The Fountain.
This movie is from auteur director Darren Aronofsky and stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as two characters who share a love and bond across time and space. They play different characters at different points in time but somehow always maintained their connection.
The Nines (2007)
The Nines is a movie that slipped by many mainstream audiences, but it deserves a second look. Ryan Reynolds stars in this movie, which allows him to by his comic tendencies and take on a more serious role. Much like Cloud Atlas, it takes different characters and shows how they connect.
Reynolds plays three different men, all of which try to discover the purpose behind things happening in their lives. One is an actor named Gary, the second a television writer named Gavin, and the third a video game designer named Gabriel.
The Prestige (2006)
In between making his movies in the Dark Knight Trilogy, Christopher Nolan took a break to make a smaller film called The Prestige. Based on the novel by Christopher Priest, the movie follows two rival stage magicians in London in the 19th century.
They are former friends with an intense hatred for each other due to a woman's death in the past. They end up wanting nothing more than to destroy the other and go beyond basic magic to achieve that goal.
Mr. Nobody (2009)
The one movie most similar to Cloud Atlas is the 2009 sci-fi film Mr. Nobody. In this movie, Jared Leto stars as Nemo Nobody, a 118-year-old man who is the last mortal on Earth after the rest of humanity has achieved immortality.
The movie has Mr. Nobody ing points in his past, where decisions he made drastically changed his future. Thanks to its philosophical plotline, the movie has become a cult classic despite its relative obscurity to mainstream audiences.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
In 2004, Jim Carrey took on a role in what might be his best non-comedy movie. French director Michel Gondry and brilliant screenwriter Charlie Kaufman created Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie that deconstructs the ideas of love and memories.
In the film, a procedure exists that allows a person to remove specific memories from their minds. When Carey's girlfriend chooses to remove him from her memory, he does the same, and the movie shows the memories of his love disappearing one by one.
