Review of Across the Universe

Review: Across The Universe

The idea of a musical featuring the songs of the Beatles might give you pause, if either because of the atrocious 1970’s attempt at just that (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Harts Club Band starring the Bee Gees) or because it sounds like a timely cash-in. Thankfully, director Julie Taymor approaches the material with a taste for visual flare, which in turn sets a bar for the story to match. That story—boy meets girl, girl’s brother/boy’s friend goes to fight in Vietnam—has been done, but it can be taken two ways: audiences will either find the story satisfying enough or take pleasure in the clever references to Ken Kesey, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who. And then there’s those 33 Beatles songs, which also have a dual meaning for the audience. In a typical scene, a character named JoJo is introduced while another, named Prudence, climbs in through the bathroom window; the whole affair is entertaining enough at face value and even more rewarding to those fluent in the Beatles mythology. Either way though the film stretches itself thin by running too long. A psychedelic romp set to “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!” feels like padding tailored to its celebrity cameo. At the same time, however, the rendition of “Strawberry Fields Forever” set against images of “strawberry bombs” (their actual name) being dropped in Vietnam, while red paint splashes in a Greenwich Village apartment is an inspired moment in a film that boasts several. After 40 years it’s a rare treat that these songs can be reinterpreted without making you cringe or long for the original, and in Across The Universe the good far outweighs the bad.

Posted on 09/13/07 by: calmac 08:56 PM