Review of Across the Universe (2007) by Logan A — 30 Sep 2011

Amazing film. Just the whole concept of crafting a film based around the songs of The Beatles, and having characters named after characters from their songs seems really cool and unique to me. There's shades of autobiographical stuff in here, but it's mostly about capturing the 60s through the music of that decade's (probably) most representative band.

Essentialyl it's the story of a Brit named Jude who comes to the States, becoems friends with a guy named Max, and falls in love with his suster, all the while experienceing many of the highs and lows that went on such as VIetnam, war protests, the counterculture, and what not.

Ordinarily the story wouldn't be that impressive, as a musical or not, but the way this film is done, mostly thanks to Julie Taymor's brilliant visionary directing (some incredible artsy sequences) and some great renditions of classic Beatles tunes (complete with many injokes and references throughout in general) make this truly something special.

You don't HAVE to be a Beatles fan to enjoy this, but it would certainly help. As long as you can appreciate the music and the time period, and don't mind lots of musical numbers (some of them very trippy and surreal), you should be fine.