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October 5, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Universe appeals to Oh girl, This boy

Universe appeals to Oh girl, This boy

By Claire Newman and Brian Reinhart | For the Thresher

It can be hard to find a dating event sometimes, especially after an awkward night at Screw Your Roommate. Across the Universe, a film that is loved by many college students, seemed like a great idea for a movie night with that special someone. To make sure this hunch was right, we asked two writers, a guy and a gal, to give their perspectives on what makes the Beatles-rich flick worthwhile.

Claire loves the emotion

It is totally normal to shed a tear just from watching a preview for Across the Universe — Beatles fan or not, the beauty of their music alongside such a beautiful love story is overwhelming. The film’s forte is its ability to convey emotion — whether passion, fear or sensuality, director Julie Taymor (Frida) ensures that every audience member feels exactly what her characters experience. And it is this connection between the film and viewer that makes Across the Universe remarkable.

Across the Universe is a musical that does not feel like a musical. It takes old Beatles songs and weaves them into a plot focused around

the Vietnam War in an ever-popular neo-musical.

The tale begins on different continents, with Jude (Mouth to Mouth’s Jim Sturgess) working in Liverpool as a sailor and Lucy (Running with Scissor’s Evan Rachel Wood) attending high school in upper middle class America. Jude travels across the pond, and after meeting Lucy’s brother, Max (Becoming Jane’s Joe Anderson), a love interest between Jude and Lucy develops in a refreshingly realistic style. Lucy’s naivete allows her to be swept up in the war resistance movement, leaving Jude struggling to find his own cause to fight for.

Taymor uses the combination of Lucy and Jude’s relationship and sensory visual effects to elicit powerful emotions. Viewers cannot gaze upon the surreal, porcelain bodies of Jude and Lucy floating underwater, naked and entwined without believing that they are falling in love, too.

One of the most impressive aspects of the film is that the actors perform the songs themselves. Although Taymor gets off easy by casting the likes of Bono and Broadway regular Carol Woods in small roles, the other actors are just as convincing. No one who saw Thirteen would ever believe that Wood has such a strong voice, which drives such songs as “It Won’t Be Long” and “Blackbird.” Anderson is a crowd-pleaser with “Hey Jude,” and viewers will find themselves covered in goosebumps when Sturgess starts wistfully singing “All You Need is Love.”

The dialogue is occasionally awkward, but the stunning visual effects make these moments easy to ignore. The love story often takes a backseat to the musical sequences that give the movie a phantasmal quality that sets it apart from other movies in its genre, such as the flat Rent. Sometimes haunting, these scenes are the consequence of Taymor’s attention to the detail of every visual element. While this usually works, certain sequences seem to be the product of one bong hit too many, making the film overlong.

The bottom line is that audiences will not be able to take their eyes off the screen. Across the Universe is the kind of film that will stay in a viewer’s head days after seeing it. Those who are not usually attracted to musicals should not be turned off by this aspect of the film, as the familiarity of the songs has audience members stifling their urges to sing along.

Brian loves the insanity

Across the Universe is a big, absurd Beatles tribute and a way to wedge 30 of the greatest songs of all time into movie theatres. It may not be profound, but few movies are so joyful and fun.

The movie, not surprisingly, takes place in the 1960s, complete with the race riots in Detroit and war zones in Vietnam. A young dockworker from Liverpool named Jude travels to America, making friends who introduce him to the hippie paradise of New York’s Greenwich Village. There he works as an artist and falls in love with Lucy.

However, the plot is little more than an excuse to sing Beatles songs. A girl named Prudence appears in the movie so that everyone else can sing “Dear Prudence.” Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard shows up to perform, gloriously, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” although his sequence is completely pointless.

Fortunately, the meaningless performances are rather terrific. Wood is a particularly beautiful singer, as is Martin Luther McCoy of the Roots, whose character, JoJo, is basically a Jimi Hendrix clone. Many of the interpretations are truly arresting. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is played as a melancholy song, and now it’s hard to imagine it any other way. “Let it Be” comes to life in the voices of a black gospel choir.

The whole movie has an over-the-top psychedelic aura, especially evident in a scene with naked painted bodies falling into the ocean, as well as Mr. Kite’s maniacal circus of blue people. Most of the songs make clear the fact that they are detached from objective reality — they are so weird they cannot be true, like when walls disappear during “Dear Prudence.” They exist only in the characters’ heads. However, some scenes take the excess too far; the dance with an Orthodox priest and five clone Salma Hayeks (Frida) is just plain stupid, and Jude’s rendition of “Revolution” is annoying and senseless.

Director Julie Taymor is clearly imaginative but a little insane. Many of her ideas are absolutely brilliant, like the weird Army recruitment office or the musical duel between two random, conceited performers. Even when her scenes become ludicrous, they are still tons of fun to watch.

The best thing going for the movie, of course, is the music. It is a rare moment — like in the rudely interrupted “Across the Universe” — when the viewer actually misses the original Beatles takes. Still, Across the Universe is a delight to watch because of its constant, pointless pursuit of pleasure.

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