ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

MOVIE REVIEW...

If you are a film and music junkie, then Across the Universe is the perfect little movie for you. This musical drama is artfully directed by the supertalented Julie Taymor and stars a likeable bunch of youngsters who take the audience along on their journey as they grow up in life and love during the tumultuos 60s when freedom of expression (and free love!) was burgeoning in the U.S.
Taymor expertly tracks the empowerment of American youth as they gain a voice against the establishment at that time.
Taymor is the woman who helmed the visually rich spectacles Frida (2002) and Titus (1999), starring Salma Hayek and Anthony Hopkins, respectively. She also designed and directed the breathtaking stage musical The Lion King, which was staged successfully in the U.S. and in England.
At its core, Across the Universe is a whimsical film that is an ode to The Beatles. As such, the film features about 30 songs from The Beatles, which the young leads sing and dance to throughout the film.
Between the musical numbers, there is a story, though. The narrative that threads the songs is a sweet love story between English boy Jude (Jim Sturgess) and his American girlfriend Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).
Fed up of working at the docks in England, Jude decides to leave his mother (played by Angela Mounsey) in England and go in search of his father (played by Robert Clohessy) in the U.S.
Jude does not have lofty reasons for doing so other than to let his old man know that he exists. His father, having gone stateside in his youth did not know that he’d left a pregnant woman behind. The old man had decided to live in the U.S. and start a new family there.
Father and son are very adult in their dealings with one another and the story proceeds in an agreeable manner without any unnecessary emotional theatrics.
Taymor is firm in keeping the pace of her movie brisk and progressive. Which does not mean that serious issues are not dealth with, like the civil rights movement and the anti Vietnam War movement. She does this in the film with a measure of panache, zest and maturity that hindsight affords liberals, which I am sure she is.
What is engaging about the movie is the sharp eye with which Taymor captures life in England and America: the former is dull, bleak and dreary while the latter is sunny and full of hope and possibilities. At the start of the film, Taymor shows a band at Lucy’s prom night performing The Beatles’ “Hold Me Tight” while at the same time another band in England is performing the same song in a pub where Jude and his girlfriend are dancing. The two completely different feel of the songs and the way each captures the spirit of the mopey English and the scrubbed-clean Americans is impressive.
It is no coincidence that in Taymor’s universe, Jude’s father works in the university where Max (Jon Anderson), Lucy’s brother, studies. Soon enough, Max and Jude become fast friends after Jude rescues the other boy from angry students after Max’s spot of frat-boy hooliganism at the university.
Jude is invited to Max’s house for the holidays by the grateful lad, and that’s when Jude and Lucy first meet. The two young leads then part ways (each having a love waiting for them) when Max and Jude leave for New York.
(Lucy’s boyfriend is at war in Vietnam and Jude’s girlfriend is waiting for him in England.)
Before long, Lucy’s and Jude’s paths cross again and the sparks fly and combust the young lovers.
Sure, there is a weirdly Bollywood element to the story on the surface and, in fact, at one point, the films veers dangerously towards Bollywood overdrive during a song and dance routine at a bowling alley. Thankfully, the movie pulls itself out of that over-the-top groove and goes back to its pop sensibilities.
If you really want to get a sense of Across the Universe, let’s just say that it does not have the dramatic heft or dread of Baz Luhrmann’s tragic Moulin Rouge (2001).
Taymor’s work is more breezy, lightweight and highly stylised, all the way from the whimsical renderings of the war recruitment scenes to the battle actions in Vietnam and the heady flower-power protests in the U.S.
Adding punch to Across the Universe are the singer Sadie (Dana Fuchs) and guitarist JoJo (Martin Luther), two bohemian New Yorkers, who are always engaging when they appear on screen. Think of them as the sensational Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, if you will.
Across the Universe is pure escapist fare and a top notch one in that respect.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Directed by Julie Taymor
Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther, T.V. Carpio, Angela Mounsey, Robert Clohessy