Across The Universe
Director Julie Taymor made a splash with her wildly popular and visually original stage production of the Lion King. She brought her hyperreal artistic sensibilities successfully to Titus and Frida on screen. In Across the Universe, Taymor makes a sort of movie musical out of Beatles songs, sung live by the characters. Their music (or is the quote about John Lennon’s music?) has been described as the “soundtrack of our lives” by Baby Boomers, with some justification. It definitely bridges the first and second halves of the 20th century perfectly, from perfect head in the sand “status quo is nifty” to the cultural revolution that started in the 1960’s. So it makes sense to take the lives of some people who are straddling that divide and score it with Beatles songs; and it is delightful to have Taymor in charge of visually interpreting the bridge.
My companion turned to me after the movie and said, “How much of that film did you like?” I said 2/3 without even thinking. He said, with some amazement, “Me too! I first thought a half but then I found it was 2/3.” What third did we not like? A complaint I have frequently leveled against the Boomer generation is their astounding (and, admittedly, precedence- and trend-setting) narcissism, In the drug-addled 1960’s, this was played out by trying to change the world by doing drugs and “opening their minds” and changing perceptions, man. How self-involved is that? From their miraculous post-war natation to their being of age when minority children are being gunned down for wanting equal rights, they have been a focus of attention. What does this have to do with Across the Universe? Everything.
For the very first time, after all the Big Chills and Born on the Fourth of Julys and all these Boomer movies, Across the Universe really gave me a glimpse into that era so close before my own. I felt connected with the post-Korean, pre-Vietnam anxiety, the horrors of Kent State and the riots – the passions which have since been buried by apathy and numbness. It was thrilling to peek into this window that had been shown to me so many times but never engaged me in such a way. After “A Little Help From My Friends” (annoyingly, not on the soundtrack album), I made the decision to buy the DVD. Huzzah!
And a little while passed and it was good, I was loving it. Then, the dropout period started – the psychedelia, Dr. Robert-worshipping painted-love-bus-riding, commune-crashing insane pointless clowny circus tripping happened. It was too long, too pointless, too boring, and not even as visually rewarding as the other segments. It was agonizingly self-involved and dreadful, infuriating. I cringed with regret to tell my friend, an Eddie Izzard devotee, that he was the main event of the “worst” part of the movie. They had me, for the first time I had been captured by the Boomer experience, and then they lost me in a swirl of ridiculous boredom. Plot, time, place, anything was lost. At the beginning of the movie I had felt we were being forced to care about people we hardly knew, but then they grabbed us all at once; after the wild purposelessness of Act II, they had to start again from scratch.
They did get me back, with or after “Happiness is a Warm Gun” (my notes were hard to read) and the rest of the movie was back to very good. But man, am I mad about Act II! I like musicals, I enjoy crazy abstraction done with a purpose like Moulin Rouge, but this lengthy and aimless segment really tried my patience.
Taymor’s art direction and staging is awesome. The arrangements of these songs are super-rich and full without being “modernized.” I thought these arrangements really showcased the complexities and interest of the Beatles’ melodies beautifully. The singing and acting is great, the army section was fantastic. It’s a good movie – but when the LSD bus comes to town, you won’t regret a trip to the lobby.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 9/14/07 (limited)
Time in minutes 131
Director Julie Taymor
Studio Columbia Pictures
