 STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
 Classic
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| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
PG | | Cast
Jim Sturgess
Evan Rachel Wood
Joe Anderson
Dana Fuchs
Bono. | | Directors
Julie Taymor. | | Screenwriters
Dick Clement
Ian La Frenais. | | Running Time
140 minutes |
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Across The Universe (PG) Plot
When Liverpool ship builder Jude (Sturgess) travels to America, he’s embroiled in the New York boho scene and rise of the peace movement, and falls in love with a girl called Lucy (Wood). As told through the medium of The Beatles’ greatest hits.Review
Here’s the bad news: Julie Taymor’s madly ambitious concept is
a musical built out of Beatles songs, which charts both the turbulent history of the ‘60s and the band’s place within in. Not that the band figure in the movie at all, just their songs.
Taymor does this with bags of visual flamboyance but very little restraint, utilising the scripting talents of the duo behind TV’s Porridge, a gang of unknown actors (excepting Marilyn Manson’s current squeeze Evan Rachel Wood) and an appearance from U2’s frontman in a very silly moustache singing I Am The Walrus.
To depict all the tumbling psychedelic parties and political upheavals, Taymor goes in for trippy, surreal jamborees splurged in primary colours, as if Willy Wonka had taken over. She also fully reserves the right to play it gentle and romantic, letting the leads softly croon Let It Be or Blackbird right there on the streets of the real world.
It’s haphazard, at times demented, entirely overreaching, and has experienced a tumultuous conflict over the final cut. Nothing about this film should work.
Here’s the good news: it’s wonderful.
A testament to both the enduring emotional power of the Fab Four’s music, vividly reworked by Elliot Goldenthal, T-Bone Burnett and Teese Gohl, and Taymor’s unbridled artistic brio in taking such a dizzyingly daft idea and enriching it with such soul it’ll reconfirm your faith that film can provide comfort and solace.
Taymor’s triumph, whatever the turmoil in the edit suite, is how sublimely she aligns the sensibility of the individual songs to their place in the narrative. As While My Guitar Gently Weeps beautifully describes a note of heartbreak; Dear Prudence playfully underscores a lesbian coming out (naturally named Prudence), while the slow, aching build into the inevitable Hey Jude joyously tugs our hero from despondency.
The young cast of near-unknowns are up to the challenge, each of them ‘suggesting’ rock ‘n’ roll heroes and heroines of the era. Lead Jim Sturgess is a sort-of John Lennon; vibrant Dana Fuchs a quasi-Janice Joplin; Martin Luther a near Jimi Hendrix; while skinny, intense Joe Anderson even echoes Kurt Cobain in a kind of meta-rock crossover.
All the while it remains an old-fashioned story where boy gets girl, with the silly-perfect message that all you need is love.
Verdict
A load of kids singing Beatles tunes? You better believe it.
Reviewer: Ian Nathan
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Average user rating for Across The Universe
| All You Need Is Love | | | Being a fan of the Beatles I was worried that this story woudn't do justice to the band but having decided to watch it with an open mind I absolutely loved it. For me this film never gets boring. Across the Universe submerses you into sixties America and the variety of Beatles hits combine perfectly with the story. ... Read More
| | | Luck Dragon About me | | 23:14, 11 February 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | All you need is love. | | | I watched this at the weekend and its awakened my love for the Beatles Ive now re watched the anthology dvds and passed this film onto friends who have loved it just as much. you know what im gonna go watch it again now. ... Read More
| | | sledgehammer1 About me | | 14:22, 14 January 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Patchy at best | | | Everything that's bad about musicals really; its too long, self-indulgent, predictable (plot wise anyway) and pretentious. But the leads give their all and one or two bits are great. Very patchy. ... Read More
| | | Caster About me | | 12:25, 15 June 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Across the Universe | | | Somewhat overly theatrical and stagy, but still great. Performances are sometimes wooden and too stagy, but the music and visuals save the film. ... Read More
| | | lynnshep About me | | 00:23, 26 March 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | The best musical ever made. | | | Across the Universe is the best musical movie ever made. I love every single song about the Beatles. Terrific. A masterpiece. Great Movie. ... Read More
| | | nc_jj About me | | 01:15, 09 March 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | not for me. | | | I was actually really disappointed with this venture and found it, whilst very pretty, little more than an excercise to see how many beatles songs can be crammed in no matter how tenuous the link is. The acting was handling lightly and well by the actors, but some aspects were simply bizzare. Was there any need to have the character of Maxwell randomly bashing about with a silver hammer in one scene? Yes, there is a song by The Beatles of that name but did it really further the plot or character... Read More
| | | fayesw About me | | 17:05, 04 March 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: a load of beatles - | | A tricky one this ...
With the rash of musicals in the West End and on Broadway based on the songs of one artist and attempting to meld them into a story (i.e. Mamma Mia!, We Will Rock You etc), it was surely only a matter of time before we saw the phenomeneon hit the big screen, and here it is. Taking 33 songs of The Beatles, Julie Taymor can at least be content that she is getting quality lyrics and melodies throughout.
The film starts simultaneously in Liverpool and in an ... Read More
| | | Groovy Mule About me | | 14:28, 10 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: a load of beatles - | | L: jimbo909
I saw this at the weekend and really loved it. It's a definitely a film made by Beatles fans for Beatles fans. Director Julie Taymor clearly has great affection for the Beatles' music and the spirit of the sixties.
The story follows a young working class Liverpool lad on his journey through sixties America where he falls in love with a middle class daddy's little girl type. And as always happens in Hollywood she loves him back. This wouldn't happen in real life, at least... Read More
| | | HitchHiker About me | | 17:25, 03 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: a load of beatles - | | | I saw this at the weekend and really loved it. It's a definitely a film made by Beatles fans for Beatles fans. Director Julie Taymor clearly has great affection for the Beatles' music and the spirit of the sixties.
The story follows a young working class Liverpool lad on his journey through sixties America where he falls in love with a middle class daddy's little girl type. And as always happens in Hollywood she loves him back. This wouldn't happen in real life, at least not to me. On a p... Read More
| | | jimbo909 About me | | 08:09, 03 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
| | | | a load of beatles - | | | A musical inspired by the tunes of The Beatles sounds like a great idea- Wrong. Across The Universe is a useless exercise and seems to only exist for no other reason than curiosity - what could they do with The Beatles? Turns out not a lot. Set in the '60s, the story follows Liverpudlian dockworker Jude as he leaves his native city and travels to America in search of his father. There he meets Max a rich student, and the two move into a New York apartment owned by musician Sadie . While Max dec... Read More
| | | moviemaniac2 About me | | 20:53, 01 October 2007 | Report This Post | |
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