2008 Woodie Awards
the reel critic
Josh Wessler
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Arts
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SHOW |Across the Universe
DIRECTOR | Julie Taymor
STARRING | Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood
It is official - the Beatles are the patron saints of the1960s. Instead of fading with time, their glow has brightened and now outshines all other cultural artifacts. In "Across the Universe," they serve the wide-ranging needs of the film's director, Julie Taymor, who also dreamed up the spectacular stage production of "The Lion King." In the movie, mourning rises into anger; boredom seeps into revolt. And all of it happens at the behest of a Beatles tune. Even the characters acting as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin achieve stardom as disciples within the Beatles cult. Everyone would still be at home dancing the lindy hop if a bumbling group of shaggy-haired Brits had not made their pilgrimage West. In Taymor's world, for all intents and purposes, the titular universe extends no further than England and its younger sibling across the sea.
The movie is an original musical in the spirit of "Moulin Rouge." The film begins with Jude (newcomer Jim Sturgess), a young Liverpudlian who ditches the shipyard and crosses the pond to find his father in America. The plot then meanders through Middle America, stopping at the classic locales to pick up lonely hitchhikers: Max, the rebellious Ivy-leaguer; Lucy, Max's blossoming sister; Prudence, the angst-ridden cheerleader; JoJo, the wandering musical prodigy; Sadie, the reluctant diva. They all end up together in an apartment - imagine the offspring of the casts of "Almost Famous" and "L'Auberge Espagnole." As they lose themselves in idealism and heartbreak, psychedelic apathy and violent protests, they find that making a difference is not as easy as they had hoped.
A close, credible source - who found a striking resemblance to his own story in the 60s - was quite moved by the film. Unfortunately, I was not moved in the same way. I found the sheen of the choreographed pieces at dangerous odds with the complexity of the 60s. To be sure, there is something valuable in this juxtaposition, but the banality of the supposedly psychedelic and abstract visualizations is also disturbing. It is suburbanized for the aging boomers - psychodelia for hippies that now get their (prescription) drugs from Canada.
DIRECTOR | Julie Taymor
STARRING | Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood
It is official - the Beatles are the patron saints of the1960s. Instead of fading with time, their glow has brightened and now outshines all other cultural artifacts. In "Across the Universe," they serve the wide-ranging needs of the film's director, Julie Taymor, who also dreamed up the spectacular stage production of "The Lion King." In the movie, mourning rises into anger; boredom seeps into revolt. And all of it happens at the behest of a Beatles tune. Even the characters acting as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin achieve stardom as disciples within the Beatles cult. Everyone would still be at home dancing the lindy hop if a bumbling group of shaggy-haired Brits had not made their pilgrimage West. In Taymor's world, for all intents and purposes, the titular universe extends no further than England and its younger sibling across the sea.
The movie is an original musical in the spirit of "Moulin Rouge." The film begins with Jude (newcomer Jim Sturgess), a young Liverpudlian who ditches the shipyard and crosses the pond to find his father in America. The plot then meanders through Middle America, stopping at the classic locales to pick up lonely hitchhikers: Max, the rebellious Ivy-leaguer; Lucy, Max's blossoming sister; Prudence, the angst-ridden cheerleader; JoJo, the wandering musical prodigy; Sadie, the reluctant diva. They all end up together in an apartment - imagine the offspring of the casts of "Almost Famous" and "L'Auberge Espagnole." As they lose themselves in idealism and heartbreak, psychedelic apathy and violent protests, they find that making a difference is not as easy as they had hoped.
A close, credible source - who found a striking resemblance to his own story in the 60s - was quite moved by the film. Unfortunately, I was not moved in the same way. I found the sheen of the choreographed pieces at dangerous odds with the complexity of the 60s. To be sure, there is something valuable in this juxtaposition, but the banality of the supposedly psychedelic and abstract visualizations is also disturbing. It is suburbanized for the aging boomers - psychodelia for hippies that now get their (prescription) drugs from Canada.
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