It is the 1960s. Jude (Sturgess) illegally comes to America from England to look for his father. He ends up befriending the wealthy "play-boy" (which I use for lack of a better word) Max (Anderson). The two move to New York and move in with Sadie (Fuchs) a singer, her guitarist / boyfriend Jo-Jo (McCoy), and the bisexual Prudence (Carpio), and are eventually joined by Max's sister Lucy (Wood) who Jude falls for. They go through a hippie phase, and when Max is drafted they encounter the peace movement, all while finding themselves and falling in love.
That was a brief synopsis of the plot, but revealing anything else would be telling too much of the story. The film is beautiful...there is no doubt about that. Director Julie Taymor (who directed "The Lion King" on Broadway) brings an artistic vision to the film... however I haven't quite decided how I feel about the film.
There were essentially 3 acts to the film: innocence / fun, psychedelic drug use / war, the downward spiral. The film starts out well bringing in the characters and allowing the songs to feel new (who knew "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was a sad song?). I love the song choices and performances from this part of the film.... Then the group goes to a "book reading" by Dr. Robert (Bono) which starts the trippy portion of the film. It was interesting, but I'm not really sure what happened. And then they encounter Mr. Kite (Eddie Izzard)... I love Izzard (his standup routine "Dress to Kill" is amazing), but this was another section that was weird / unnecessary. The rest of the film is alright, but it is way too long, and there are too many songs used (32 in the whole film...32! wtf?).
I'm not a die hard Beatles fan, in fact I didn't even know they performed some of those songs. I think the premise was good...and overall I have positive feelings towards the film, however I am much more excited about other "jukebox" musicals (I saw "All Shook Up" recently and enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing "Mamma Mia" in theaters) than I am about this one. The transitions are pretty awesome, and the big picture works...it is some of the execution that I have problems with. I like that the cast is relatively unknown, and that the majority of the songs are not the BIG ones that everyone knows. Ultimately I would say, give it a try, but watch it with an open mind.
Rent it: The music is good, in fact I have downloaded a few of the versions of the songs from the film. I read that people who loved the Beatles prior to seeing the film weren't impressed, but lukewarm fans enjoyed the film... Also, watch out for the cameos. I think I found most of them...didn't know who one was until after the film, but I guessed he was famous so I think that should count.
Dude, it's quotable: and by quotable I mean catchy...I'm still singing the songs (could be because I'm listening to them right now).
Across the Universe (2007) 133 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some drug content, nudity, sexuality, violence and language.
Director: Julie Taymor
Starring: Jim Sturgess as Jude
Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy Carrigan
Joe Anderson as Maxwell Carrigan
Dana Fuchs as Sadie
Martin Luther McCoy as Jo-Jo
T.V. Carpio as Prudence
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