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Across
the Universe
(2007)
Visionary director Julie Taymor (Titus, Frida,
and Broadway's The Lion King) has worked magic again,
and this time it's with the high-concept visual and musical
masterpiece
Across the Universe. Incorporating over thirty
songs spanning the entire career of the Beatles, Taymor weaves
a powerful and engrossing fable of love and cultural change
in the volatile 1960's. The storytelling itself is basic
at best but the emotional impact of some of the sequences and
the film as a whole benefit from this simplicity, and the total
result is easily one of the best films of the year.
Unlike most films, plot and character aren't the frame on which Across
the Universe is fleshed out. Instead, the simplistic progression
of events is but a manifestation of the true core of the film—1960s
America. It's a love story we've seen a million times, but
in this case it works so much better than the countless films
which try to be more than what they are, and in doing so Across the
Universe succeeds
far beyond other films like it (if there even are any). The
audience follows Jude (Jim
Sturgess) as he journeys from his home as a dockworker in Liverpool
to the United States in search of his father. There he befriends
rebelious Max (Joe Anderson), falls in love with his sister
Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and gets himself caught up in the political
and artistic revolutions of the decade.
And the references to Beatles songs don't stop with names
like Jude and Lucy; Their flatmates are a singer named Sadie
(Dana Fuchs), a midwestern runaway named Prudence (T.V. Carpio),
and a Detroit guitarist named JoJo (Martin Luther). The brilliance
of the films is that, though it is rife with clear homages
to The Beatles and contains one of their songs in nearly every
scene, almost everything feels completely organic, and the
references stretch beyond the Fab Four to Janis Joplin, Jimi
Hendrix, and the decade as a whole. The tone evokes the same
sense of nostalgia as did Forrest Gump, just without the thick satire and
sometimes overpowering melodrama.
Taymor is obviously completely in her element here. Often criticized
as being more style than substance, she has found a niche wherein
she can give us just that and the music and style itself is the subtance. There are times when the direction seems to be too overtly influenced by existing artistic styles and trends, especially the solarized psychedelia bus trip, but she nevertheless makes a clear statement of originality with almost every scene and song. I was incredibly impressed by her ability to use some well-known songs, by arguably the most well-known band of all time, in completely unpredictable ways. Sure, "Dear Prudence", "Revolution" and "Hey Jude" aren't placed in a context other than those you'd guess, but wait until you see how she juxtoposes "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Let It Be", and "I Want You" with scenes you'd never expect.
Though much of the primary cast are little known actors, Taymor
places quite a few A-listers in smaller roles withperfect panache,
so that they never quite become cameos per se, but their presence
is enough to make most perceptive viewers turn to the person
next to them and ask, "is that Bono?" Yes,
it is. And Slama Hayek, Eddie Izzard, and Joe Cocker.
It's a testament to the quality of the performances by Sturgess,
Wood and Anderson that they are ones you remember, and
who carry the weight of the film even with the potentially
show-stealing appearances by the above listed celebrities. Their
subtle yet effective portrayals of youths in a time decades
before their own births are both impressive and extremely powerful. Their
casting is very strong evidence to support the claim that non-movie
stars provide better characters simply because they aren't
concerned with their own egos. No one here seems to be
anything but their character in every way, and isn't that the
ultimate goal of a film? In addition to their rousing
portrayals, everyone did their own vocals live, on-set during
the takes, and the soundtrack is as powerful and original as
the Beatles own recordings.
As great as the film is, it nevertheless feels somewhat incomplete.
Taymor's dispute with the studio over the runtime of the film
was well documented, and there are plot holes that scream "forced
edit." It might seem a cheap shot to include "Sexy
Sadie" and "Get Back" the same way "Hey Jude" and "Dear Prudence" are
used for plot progression, but I can see the spots where they
must have, at some earlier point, existed. I guess this is
why we have special edition director's cut DVD releases.
Despite these moments of wanting, the film is still the best film of 2007 I've seen to date. It made me smile with ecstacy, contemplate the intense amount of social change that took place in a decade twenty years before my birth, and at times cry like few films have ever caused me to. While I won't deny the truth
in the statement "All you need is love," I will also add the
following at its end: "and to see Across
the Universe.
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Julie
Taymor
Writer: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Julie Taymor
Starring: Evan
Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio, Martin Luther
Distributor: Revolution
Studios
Runtime: 131
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: September
14, 2007
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