Across the Universe

"Across the Universe" (2007)

Directed by Julie Taymor

Two years ago, a play opened at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego called “The Times They Are A-Changin'” that mixed Bob Dylan tunes with a story about a guy falling in love with a clown at a circus. The result was a disappointing play that did not use Dylan's great songs to creative effect; my main criticism stemmed from the fact that these characters were defined by the songs, rather than vice-versa. Across The Universe reminds me of this play, though to give it credit, the film is much prettier.

Like “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, Across The Universe draws inspiration from a catalogue of a famous band's songs in order to represent the social turmoil of a certain time period. The film's style is exciting and may seem, to some Beatles aficionados, as revolutionary, but this is, at its roots, a conventional and unoriginal story concerning a group of friends who happen to meet, through a series of contrived chance encounters, during the 1960s.

In musicals, the songs usually serve as a reflection of the characters' interior state, an exteriorization of their exuberance or of their sorrow. Instead of reflecting the characters' interior state, the songs, by The Beatles, in Across the Universe serve as a representation of the overarching time period that envelops and affects these people. This may have worked if the film were not so irresolute with its presentation of the characters.

On one level, the film attempts to create characters that are interesting and require emotional investment on our part. Many of the characters are named - occasionally to groan-inducing effect - from the title of Beatles songs. There is Jude (Jim Sturgess), a handsome ship welder from Liverpool who visits the United States in search of his father. This search is taken care of almost instantaneously and the film moves on to other, more important - or at least, in the filmmakers' eyes, more interesting - areas, such as Jude running into Max (Joe Anderson), a soon-to-be dropout at Princeton. Jude is then introduced to Max's friend, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), and they predictably fall in love. There are also a number of side characters, including Prudence, a completely unnecessary and boring character who merely serves as an excuse to use that song, and the musicians Sadie (Dana Fuchs) and JoJo (Martin Luther).

On another level, the film attempts to show how the larger time period, the 1960s, affects these characters. Max is drafted - as seen in a badly over-the-top sequence that is played to the song "I Want You" - and sent into Vietnam, Lucy works for a group of revolutionaries who are protesting the war, while Jude, whose frustrations, which seem to occur spontaneously, cause him much angst, is left working alone in his studio making visually-enticing artwork made of bleeding strawberries (the symbolism can be heavy-handed, to say the least).

From song to song, the film shifts between attempting to show how these characters are a part of larger events that are out of their control, as seen in the spontaneous, forced nature of most of the songs, and using the songs as a way to illustrate who these characters are and what they are feeling at a particular moment. The result is an inconsistent film that fails to satisfactorily explore, beyond the conceit of using Beatles songs, both the time period and the individuals.

The visuals, with the exception of a few poorly-rendered computer-generated shots, are certainly aesthetically pleasing, relying on very saturated colors to provide an almost rose-tinted view of the world, which is surprising considering the social upheaval the film is trying to depict. The songs themselves are mostly catchy, but they are often used as gimmicks, as seen in the “Dear Prudence” sequence, which lessens their effectiveness.

Across the Universe is a visually and aurally pleasing film that does not delve deeply into the characters or the time period. It is an uneven and completely superficial affair that fails to derive true inspiration from the Beatles' extensive catalogue of songs.

Rating: 5

First Viewed: 5/27/08
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