When first faced with the fact that Julie Taymor was helming a musical using the Beatles songbook, there’s one common reaction from the world: she must be out of her mind. This madly ambitious project must be daunting task to go through, combining an unusual pastiche of musical, drama, love story, social commentary, and part history lesson, all told through the lyrics of the greatest band in history, The Beatles.


Now here’s the result – a flawed masterpiece. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a wonderful cinematic experience that engages the heart, the mind, and the eyes in a visually exhilarating feast of creativity and art in motion. If you’re wondering how the hell in the world the Beatles songs would fit in the film, coming out from most unknown actors (except the lovely Evan Rachel Wood, who’s probably the most established in the scope of fame), well you better start believing it. The rendition is beautiful, the message is bold, the music so meaningful, and the pyrotechnics of cinematography and visuals are like nothing to what you’ve seen before.


The story is nothing too complex: a lad named Jude (played by fledgling actor Jim Sturgess), who works in a port in Liverpool, set his sails to America, leaving his girlfriend and mother behind, in search for his father. He founds him in Princeton University, a former military officer now a janitor in the renowned college, where he also meets the blonde suburbian beauty Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, such a stunner of a lady), whose boyfriend had gone to Vietnam War with hopes of coming back. But not too long, the boyfriend dies in the war, leaving Lucy broken-hearted and afraid to fall in love again. However, when Jude meets Lucy, the universes collide.


Then they realised that they have fallen in love in the wrong time. With the Vietnam War raging on, America on the brink of madness during the era, Lucy’s brother, Max (Joe Anderson) was forced to get recruited in the army to fight in the war, while Lucy resolves to become an activist in political rallies against the government. Jude, on the other hand, remains to be an artist, drawing and painting what he believes in. “Doodles and cartoons” is what he does, says Lucy, while the world is falling apart. Torn by the revolution, and the era of destruction, the two parted – he went back to Liverpool while she carried on with her activist work. But because “All We Need Is Love”, they are brought again together by the Beatles’ heartwarming song between the gap of two high buildings.


There are also backdrop stories here, with the character of Prudence (T. V. Carpio) brilliantly introduced in the beginning, musing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” with great affection, letting us know that she’s a frustrated and furtive lesbian oppressed by her world. There’s Sadie (Dana Fusch), a thirty-something landlady in New York, who’s a struggling singer, who fell in love with Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), a soul guitarist, who came to the Big Apple for a big break.


While the story tugs some strings, the visual razzle-dazzle is breathtaking to behold. The cinematography and visual editing of this film is a magnificent feat. Taymor blends visual storytelling with cutting-edge editing, like the scenes in the beginning, in the beach, the waves crash and rolls like newspaper pages flipping and scenes of the revolution; the strawberry fields scene, as Jude sings “Strawberry Fields Forever”, with Max in Vietnam, shows fantastic panoply of rich chaotic beauty, strawberries dropping like bombs and spluttering red everywhere mixed with warfare. It’s a scene almost too unforgettable. There’s also the histrionics of the military recruitment scene as Uncle Sam started singing “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, showing Max in a staged and choreographed sequence with masked military officers; the surprising homage to the pop art culture of Andy Warhol, a scene overflowing with colours; the adventure to circus wonderland in Willy Wonka-ish absurdity; the gentle motions of the actors in the lake and so much more.


Taymor also succeeds in her concept of using The Beatles as a medium to tell this story of love torn apart by revolution and brought together by fate and willpower. The songs that were used highly infuse the message and the story, as though the songs themselves were telling the story of the film and feelings of the characters. From the opening of Jude’s “Girl” to the campy old-school feel of Lucy’s “Hold Me Tight”, from the breadth of Jude’s “All My Loving” to the silent cry of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” by Prudence – it all evoked different emotions from the songs. Although the appearance of U2’s Bono was a tad ridiculous with his moustache, piping “I Am The Walrus” as Dr. Robert, and the silly rendition of “Come Together”, there are a couple of musical standouts. One of which is Evan Rachel Wood’s heart-tugging “If I Fell”, another, the majestic soul of “Let It Be” coming out of a black child’s mouth stuck in the middle of panic and killing of black people and the funeral that followed after, also the compassionate “Dear Prudence” as coming out of the closet and having a look at the world outside. The quietly sweeping “Because” as sung by many characters as they lay on the grasses and swam in the lake, the irony of “Strawberry Field Forever”, the anger of “Revolution”, the pain of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Wood’s “Blackbird”, Max’s poignant “Hey Jude”, and the ending’s reverberating “All You Need Is Love”. Indeed, the Beatles have come a long way of telling the whole planet what this world needs, and using their music is the perfect way to tell this story.


It’s also blessed with appreciable performances, most plaudits go to the two leads, Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood (nice voices, I didn’t expect they could sing well, and oh boy, they do sing really well).


VERDICT:

Not the greatest film on Earth, but surely knows what this world needs: a down-to-earth story, a revolutionary visual resplendence, an artistic vision, a hope for peace, and a flavourful music from the greatest band on history, coming out from the actors’ mouths and voices. Surely, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE delivers that ubiquitous message that all we need is love. The Beatles could never have been prouder.



RATING: A