Director Spotlight - Tom Tykwer

When asked to watch three films by the same director, I chose to look into Tom Tykwer’s work. Out of his films, I chose to watch Cloud Atlas, and Paris, Je’Taime (even though he only directed one segment of this particular film), and Run Lola Run.  Cloud Atlas was the first film of his that I viewed, and I have to say it was not the experience that I expected (although that is certainly not a bad thing)! It set the stage well for the feeling that the rest of his work would convey.

I feel that the most prominent recurring element in each film is their theme of connectedness between the past, present and future. Cloud Atlas consisted of many different storylines - taking place at very different periods of time. What tied these together, although not apparent until small recurring elements were revealed as each individual plot progressed, was how one person’s actions, whether significant or seemingly minor, linked each character to another in some way, shape or form. Adam Ewing’s journal was read by Robert, the composer of “Cloud Atlas”. His letters to his lover, Rufus, were in turn read by the reporter Luisa Rey after a now much older Rufus is killed. She also goes to a record store and hears the Cloud Atlas sextet. The book that Luisa Rey writes about her ordeals with the nuclear power scandal is read by Timothy Cavendish. The film created about his life is watched by Sonmi after she escapes the diner. And lastly, Zachry watches Sonmi’s final video message, after she had essentially become a deity figure to his people. What ties these together further is the implication that they are all reincarnations of each other (shown by a very specific birthmark found somewhere on each individual).  What seems to be a very confusing and unrelated construction of multiple storylines at first turns out to be a comment on how everything is connected, and even the smallest of actions can alter the paths of events to follow.

Run Lola Run is also a good example of this, because the film itself consists of three separate versions of the same story, all influenced by altering small elements. What seems like the most insignificant action, such as whether she is tripped by a man with a dog, runs past them, or runs faster because of them, sets off a chain of other small events that in turn influence the event in a greater way as a whole and lead to significantly different endings, such as Lola’s death, Manni being hit by an ambulance, or the acquisition of even more money and avoiding death altogether. Even passersbys can be seen with altered futures due to changing events. 

Tykwer’s piece in Paris, Je’Taime, which centered on a blind man’s relationship with his actress girlfriend, also plays on this theme, although in a much smaller and less critical way.  The man’s shortcut leads to the woman getting to her audition on time, and this small action leads their lives to progress together from that point on. His perception of the collective experiences of the relationship leads us to his train of thought when he receives a misleading phone call from her and shows us in a very short period of time the rise and downfall of a relationship.

Another important theme of Tykwer’s films is that although everything is connected through action, each story is extremely character-centric. We get up close to each individual’s own experience, and in turn learn that every individual’s story is both significant and extremely unique in it’s own way. Relationships are also prominent element in almost every storyline.  Paris Je’Taime  was based solely on the experience of a relationship, Cloud Atlas payed close attention to relationships in each of it’s separate time periods, and Run Lola Run is in itself the result of the consequences of being in a particular a relationship.

There are other recurring elements of Tykwer’s films, but I feel that these are the most prominent. Each piece seemed to center on tense and uncomfortable emotions, capturing the raw uncertainty of life. The actions and experiences of individuals were shown to be greater than the individuals themselves. All in all, it seems to be less about clarity and more about showing the connectedness and importance of every action, and conveying a train of thought rather than a straight-forward plot.