Movie Review: Across the Universe (2007, Julie Taymor)

* * * * *

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy, T.V. Caprio, Bono, Eddie Izzard, Lisa Hogg, Harry J. Lennix, Selma Hayek
Screenplay: Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais
131 minutes / Color

Julie Taymor’s beautiful, visual feast “Across the Universe” wasn’t only a complete dream for me, but a dream for any Beatles fan. As a musical set to the lovely tunes of 31 Beatles songs, the whole film and the music fits together like the beauty of jam and bread. The whole cast hits the right notes and so did female director Taymor.

Set in the 1960s during pre and post Vietnam War, we are introduced to the two main characters: the rich American High School student Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and British steel worker Jude (Jim Sturgess). Jude leaves England and his girlfriend and goes to the shores of America to look for his long-lost father.

When he arrives there, Jude gets fairly disappointed when he learns his father is already married to another woman and is nothing but a janitor at Princeton College, New Jersey. As Jude temporarily bunks in his father’s janitor room, he meets Max (Joe Anderson) and the two misfits hit it off real fast. The two become the closest of friends and he later invites Jude over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Lucy, Max’s sister, who is depressed at the moment because of her boyfriend fighting the war in Vietnam, meets Jude during the dinner and they grow a connection. Jude quickly falls for her but the two get separated when Max drops out a college and persuades Jude to move with him to New York.

The two go on to New York and start their new life of art (Jude’s new profession), weed, and sex and rock n roll. They rent a duplex with Sadie (Dana Fuchs), their landlord and singer by night. Lesbian Prudence (T.V. Carpio) and estranged guitarist Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy) lives with them in the apartment too.

When Lucy’s boyfriend dies, she feels she can’t take her surroundings and asks her parents if she can live in New York for awhile with her brother Max. They agree, with hesitation. As she gets to New York, she also gives Max a letter saying that he has to go to war as soon as possible. Lucy’s spark with Jude also gets turned on again and they end up being together.

As Max goes off to the fight, Lucy gets to “affected” by the pointless war, joins The Radicals, a group of peace rebellions who want the war to stop and never goes back to school. As Jude and Lucy’s beautiful relationship starts getting torn apart due to her work, the two face a dark zone in their lives.

During a strike demonstration in Columbia University that Jude gets forced to go to, he is caught up in the “helter-skelter” crowd and is instantly deported. As Max arrives home from the war, war-torn, him and Lucy try to restart their lives again…without Jude.

As Jude lives in England, he misses his friends so much that he hallucinates Max (song “Hey Jude”) and the hallucinations tell him to go back to America, back to the girl he loves. Jude follows and travels back to the States the right way to get back with Lucy, making everyone know that “All You Need is Love”.

Though there are plenty of sub stories and events in the film, the movie is basically “boy gets girl-boy losses girl-boy gets girl again”, but with all this Beatles music and lovely visuals and an great ensemble cast, “Across the Universe” becomes more then a simple tale but also the best movie musical of the year. Best Movie? Maybe…it’s a secret.

I do consider “Across the Universe” as one of my guilty pleasure. Already I’ve seen it probably more then 10 times. If there was a cult, I’d love to be their leader. With a movie like this, there’s bound to be one.

As much as I love the cast (most of them did okay, better in singing however), two people really stuck out acting and singing wise: performance wise. These are the young newcomers Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson.

Sturgess explodes onto the screen as a wonderful, wonderful leading man with an amazing voice to match. His covers and renditions of many Beatles songs were amazing and his untrained acting and voice was beyond brilliant. He did so well for a first movie. I can’t wait to see his future projects.

Joe Anderson’s supporting performance for Max is already classic for me. He was so natural-like and did not only show-off some great singing skills, but also some wonderful dramatic and comedic scenes as well. All his scenes were done with a naïve but wanna-be strong sense which really worked for the performance. He was wonderful and did a great job. This is his break: good enough for awards consideration!

The breathtaking musical numbers are accompanied by the beautiful voices of the 6 principal cast members and truly amazing direction by Julie Taymor. Almost all the songs in the movie were absolutely beautifully done. Out of the 30 songs, their were only 2 songs that didn’t compare to their originals (“Let it Be” and “Come Together”). The rest were equal and most were even better.

My favorite song was sung by my two favorite cast member and two favorite singers in the film. “Strawberry Fields Forever” was too extraordinary and Sturgess and Anderson in it were absolutely incredible. The whole song and sequence was a masterpiece and extremely done well.

Other notable songs with great vocals and staging were “All My Loving” (cool Jim Sturgess solo beginning), “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” (great slow version), “It Won’t Be Long” (exciting song, Wood’s high-low vocals was the shiznick), “I’ve Just Seen a Face” (First big production number in the bowling alley), “If I Fell” (romantic, Wood’s best songs), “I Want You” (great Viet Nam soldiers Production Number starring Anderson), “Dear Prudence” (“look around” part is the best), “I Am the Walrus” (twisted Bono cameo), “Because” (Uber cool number when their singing in the water naked – beautifully staged and amazingly sang), “Something” (so good that it’s haunting), “Oh! Darling” (fun “breakup song”), “Across the Universe” (lovely title tune), “Helter Skelter” (really rocking, Dana Fuchs is an amazing performer), “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (delirious and daring, loved it), “Hey Jude” (the climax of wonder) “Don’t Let Me Down” (rested but splendid), “All You Need is Love” (one of the best finale’s ever, corny in a sense-but altogether amazing).

Julie Taymor’s direction and concepts were so good that she has done the Best Female directing all decade. If I’m not mistaken, girls only started directing this decade so do we have a Best Female Director of All Time? Possibly…She is pure genius.

The techs were just so wonderful. The costume design (rightly earned Oscar nomination on this one), the art direction and especially the visual effects were stunning. I’d love to see the making of this movie to see how they did some of those beautiful effects. To top it all off, the movie had miraculous cinematography.

To rap it up, “Across the Universe” was sheer wonder from beginning to end. It was a blast of exuberant colors, lightings, visuals and songs and was really enjoyable (especially if you’re an enormous Beatles fan like me). I’m not sure if I’m just in pure “Beatles” shock, but “Across the Universe” is a must-see film experience and waiting for the movie for nearly two years was really worth it. All I can give to this movie and it’s entire cast is LOVE.