Across the Universe
October 4, 2007This past weekend I went to see Across the Universe. Across the Universe is a film that showcases the music of the Beatles created by Julie Taymore, the imaginative genius who is also behind The Lion King stage production.
This story is about a boy named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who works on the docks in Britain. He comes to America in the ’60s to find his father, and in turn meets Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and her brother Max (Joe Anderson). Jude and Lucy fall in love, but soon Max is drafted to go to fight in Vietnam. This gets them all involved with peace activism pulling their lives in a new direction.
I absolutely loved this movie! It was so unique and different from any movie I’ve ever seen before. It was a musical (obviously!) which I think is partly the reason I enjoyed it so much. I love musicals, and this one in particular had great music (the Beatles… hello!) and the voices and talents were exceptional! As well as that it was similar to a musical on stage only better because of the fact that since it was a movie they could do so many special effects and crazy sequences for the songs. There were some very trippy scenes. Some I didn’t even understand the purpose of, but it all just added to the mood and power of the movie.
This movie isn’t for everyone. You definitely have to have an open mind and more importantly enjoy musicals. I’m looking forward to buying the soundtrack for this and cannot wait to see it again!
I love musicals and the Beatles. I’m SO Excited to see this movie. I think that the trippy scences are sort of like drug enduced hallucinations, but put into a movie for those of us who don’t take these drugs and get the real experience. From what I’ve heard from everyone who has seen it, it’s an amazing movie.
From the brief story outline you gave, it seems a bit far fetched. A boy on the docks falls in love and his friend has to go off to war, yeah yeah, we’ve heard it all before. I think that if they tried to make the movie all about this story it wouldn’t be very effective. I think that they’ll have that as just a bit of story;line to support the music and theme of the Beatles’ music.
Nice review, I want to see it even more now!
-Amy
I agree that the story line or plot was pretty weak, but I think I sort of expected that, it being a musical and all. They just had to do SOMETHING to fit it all together. Overall though I think it did the job, and obviously its point was to highlight the music, which it did an outstanding job of.
BAHH!! I want to see it so badly. i fell like a nob though, becasue I have the soundtrack but I havent even it yet! :S I think be a good movie, even with all the trippy and/or questionable scenes.