I was expecting the masterful summation of the 60s, set to a backdrop of cleverly reinterpreted Beatles songs like the trailers promised me.
Upon leaving the theatre however, I was extremely disappointed with the movie’s inability to live up to its promises.
In short, Across The Universe is one of the worst films I’ve spent money on in a long time. While it had it’s redeeming qualities, I spent the majority of this movie wishing for it to end. Perhaps this is intentional: at times I felt like I was in the Vietnam War, with no hope of withdrawal any time soon.
The film is a bizarre, surreal musical, though often it straddles the line between a legitimate musical film and an hours-long music video. The movie combines a colossal 33 Beatles songs and director Julie Taymor’s unique visual style to simultaneously illustrate a love story and the overall conflict of the 60s.
The film’s concept is original and ambitious, but is hindered by Taymor’s self-indulgent filmmaking. Two of her other films, Frida and Titus, have some of the same issues as Across The Universe, but in a movie lacking a traditional narrative, these shortcomings become glaringly obvious. Some of the songs are perfectly chosen and fit masterfully into the story, like “Let It Be”, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, and “Come Together”, but many more feel obvious, predictable, or thematically forced just so the director can cram in another song or surreal visual. On several occasions, even those with only a cursory knowledge of the Beatles’ library can predict precisely what song is coming next, and precisely the context in which it will be sung.
The film also suffers from a sever lack of characterization. Relationships between characters appear and dissolve without any warning, actions are left unexplained, and several characters serve only to set up one superfluous song after another. Case in point, the character of “Prudence” exists in the film solely so the director can jam another unnecessary song into the movie. She’s introduced in an unintentionally silly, er, I mean “artsy” scene wherein she sings perhaps the worst rendition of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” I’ve ever heard. She is introduced to the leads after she comes into their apartment through the bathroom window, one of the numerous Beatles “in-jokes” that try so desperately to be clever, but end up being roll-your-eyes obvious (for an explanation, see the album Abbey Road, side two, track seven). Later in the film, she’s suddenly and inexplicably depressed and locks herself in a closet, prompting the other characters to sing “Dear Prudence” (Prudence is also a lesbian for absolutely no reason at all, ergo, the literal “coming out of the closet” at the conclusion of this tune makes it a trite, heavy-handed metaphor). After the song, she effectively disappears entirely from the movie, which isn’t immediately obvious, since the audience doesn’t really get to know her in the first place. Overall, like many “characters” in the film, she acts as more of prop than a personality actively contributing to the story.
The staging of Across The Universe is a mess, there’s no denying that. It is poorly structured, and its barely-there plot and contrived musical sequences quickly become tedious. Taymor chose to include 33 songs, making the movie feel slow, bloated, and plodding. Many of the song choices also leave the film feeling like a hastily planned Greatest Hits album .The movie clocks in at 131 minutes, but the poorly-planned construction make it feel twice that long. Beyond its structural issues, the movie constantly gains and loses momentum. One scene will immerse you in stunning visuals and brilliant style, and then a forced number will distance you again. Many of the songs leave the audience wondering whether to applaud and cheer or cynically roll their eyes. Even so, with all of these issues, there are several moments that completely took my breath away. Several songs are staged and reinterpreted so brilliantly that they completely made me forget all of the film’s problems, even if just for a moment. However, I’ve been told that if one simply stops thinking too hard about what’s happening on the screen and allows oneself to be swept up in the trippy visuals and surreal puppetry, most of the film is quite enjoyable.
Many of the people I’ve spoken to who have seen this film vehemently disagree with my point of view, so I encourage you to go see it and decide for yourself. I’ve spoken to people with a laundry list of flaws to lament about, but I’ve also met some who were completely smitten with the film’s sheer audacity. The only constant I’ve found is that there is no middle ground; you either love it or hate it. The plot is extremely na’ve and thematically simple: you could find that endearing or irritating, but you will feel something, that’s for certain.
All in all, it is my opinion that if you really want to get the “Beatles experience,” you’d be better off listening to one of their albums, many of which have ten times the plot of this film. I personally recommend Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, or The Beatles (better known as The White Album). If you really need a film media for your Beatles fix, go ahead and rent Help!, A Hard Day’s Night, or Yellow Submarine.