Ambitious Cloud Atlas and Lana Wachowski Debut With First Trailer and Images

October's Cloud Atlas is as dense and ambitious as it sounds from what I hear, and the newly unveiled five-minute trailer is almost as confounding as it is beautiful to look at. But regardless of how vaguely The Fountain-ish the nested story feels — jumping through time and various incarnations of cast mates (including Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Jim Sturgess) as they repeat life in six different eras from the 19th century Pacific to the post-apocalyptic future — the trio of directors at the helm, including Lana Wachowski in her first post-Larry feature credit, should make things very interesting.

Fittingly, Cloud Atlas explores themes like rebirth and transformation, so in a way the adaptation of David Mitchell's award-winning novel feels like a perfect project for Lana's debut. (She directs alongside brother Andy and Tom Tykwer.) One of the storylines involves a seafarer, a futuristic clone, and another Tom Hanks in the wild; all of them, and all of us, are connected, according to the trailer.

But Tykwer and the Wachowskis know theirs is a tough movie to sell, so they put together an adorable director's commentary to introduce their trailer:

"I think it started as a joke," the trio begin, finishing each others' sentences. "'Why don’t we make a movie together?' But it became this ongoing fantasy. It had to be something we’d never seen before, but it had to remind us of the kind of movies we watched over and over, the kind of movies that made us want to watch movies. Big screen movies! Massive in scope! But relevant to a normal life, to human beings. It would have drama and comedy. Romance! But it had to be political, philosophical. Lots of action, set in the past and the future, every genre."

Verdict: Iiiiinteresting. Still a tough sell for most audiences, but interesting... gorgeous imagery, a somewhat unwieldy trailer, but Lana and Tom and Andy won me over with their giggly enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, new images from the film have debuted, showing more of the cast and their divergent (but connected, somehow) stories. Click on the image below for more and leave your impressions below.