{"id":28581,"date":"2018-07-26T13:20:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T17:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28581"},"modified":"2018-07-26T13:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T17:23:05","slug":"across-the-universe-an-underrated-tribute-to-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/26\/across-the-universe-an-underrated-tribute-to-the-beatles\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAcross the Universe\u201d: An Underrated Tribute to the Beatles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Coming Back to theaters July 29, July 31 and Aug. 1. For Showtimes and Tickets check Fathom Events<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I still remember going online back in 2006 and watching the trailer for \u201cAcross the Universe.\u201d As a budding Beatles fan making himself familiar with their catalogue at the time, the prospect of a movie built around their music made me excited and over joyous. I mean if they can build a whole storyline around ABBA, they can surely do the same with the Beatles, whose music tell stories of their very own and even had interesting commentaries on where the group were at the time. I was quite crestfallen when the movie landed with a thud and was generally dismissed by audiences.<\/p>\n

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When I finally got the DVD I for one loved it, and I thought \u201cAcross the Universe\u201d was a beautiful, vibrant and touching tale about a bunch of people trying to find their way through the changing landscape of America in the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, and more. Julie Taymor is a very visually amazing director who delivered films like \u201cTitus,\u201d and the brilliant \u201cFrida\u201d for movie lovers years prior, so \u201cAcross the Universe\u201d should have been a slam dunk.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the Universe\u201d uses over thirty songs from the Beatles repertoire and tells the story of people that find one another in the changing American landscape. Jude is a lad from Liverpool who comes to America to find his long lost father. While seeking work at a college as a custodian, he meets college man Max, a raucous partying frat boy from the Midwest who he forms a bond with. Max invites Jude over to his house for a Thanksgiving dinner wrought with tension and while there he meets Max\u2019s younger sister Lucy, a young bright eyed girl reeling from her own tragedy after her high school boyfriend dies while serving in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Almost immediately Jude and Lucy fall in love, and Max and Jude flee to New York, where they rent an apartment in a Bohemian neighborhood, run by the gorgeous, sexy Sadie (The enormous Dana Fuchs). While there they also meet the aspiring guitarist Jojo, and Prudence a runaway from home who is coming to terms with her own homosexuality. When Max is given a draft notice to serve in the army, the group venture out to discover themselves and crash in to various sights and sounds wholly inspired by the Beatles and their excellent music.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very happy that years later movie audiences seem to be gradually catching up with the movie and are appreciating it for being so vivid, surreal, and goddamn imaginative. I\u2019m not saying it doesn\u2019t have flaws. The narrative is a tad trite, but that\u2019s also kind of its charms, too. It\u2019s like \u201cForrest Gump,\u201d a movie about the chronicle of different people taking different paths in the world, except its set to \u201cHold Me Tight.\u201d We\u2019ve seen the whole Vietnam storyline in various iterations over the years, but the delivery is what makes it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the Universe\u201d is a tribute to the Beatles that also wildly re-imagines a lot of their music for the purposes of the narrative. So when we meet Prudence she\u2019s singing \u201cI Wanna Hold Your Hand\u201d from afar to a cheerleader she\u2019s in love with, and \u201cOh! Darling\u201d is turned in to an angry argument between characters\/lovers Jojo and Sadie, when she\u2019s offered a big gig that causes her to leave her original band behind. My personal favorites are \u201cDear Prudence\u201d and \u201cI Want You (She\u2019s So Heavy)\u201d which mark major turning points for the characters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are even a slew of excellent and surprising cameos from big celebrities that enhance the experience. Bono plays Dr. Roberts who sings \u201cI Am the Walrus,\u201d Joe Cocker appears to sing a few bars of \u201cCome Together,\u201d Salma Hayek appears in multiple forms as a nurse\/hallucination singing \u201cHappiness is a Warm Gun\u201d to a drug fueled Max, and, in my favorite, Eddie Izzard appears with his own carnival to perform \u201cBeing for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.\u201d With such a diverse cast (Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Evan Rachel Wood, T.V. Carpio, Martin Luther McCoy, and Dana Fuchs) and excellent sense of imagination, \u201cAcross the Universe\u201d breaks all sense of reality and even the fourth wall on occasion.<\/p>\n

Taymor changes the tones and color palettes quite often, depicting a wonderful circular sing along to \u201cBecause,\u201d while a stream of swimmers is transformed in to a sea of corpses with Max now in battle in Vietnam. While Taymor\u2019s visuals are impressive, \u201cAcross the Universe\u201d is never afraid to settle down every once in a while and elaborate on a lot of the conflict among the characters and what\u2019s driving a wedge between them. In particular Jude and Lucy\u2019s turmoil is compelling as she loses herself in activism for the sake of Max, as if screaming louder will bring him home alive. All the while Jude can barely must enough inspiration as he\u2019s so entrenched in his love for Lucy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The performances all around are dynamic with Evan Rachel Wood providing some strong vocals, and Jim Sturgess keep up with Dana Fuchs whose presence is gigantic on-screen. Although she\u2019s a supporting character, it\u2019s not difficult to figure out why she\u2019s an object of affection for most of the characters. Granted the PG-13 rating doesn\u2019t allow the film to completely embrace the grit and viciousness of the sixties, but it still comes out on top in the end with some great takes on iconic music, nonetheless. It\u2019s a cult classic now, but I hope it eventually re-emerges as an tragically overlooked musical gem.<\/p>\n