Review of Across the Universe (2007) by James W — 24 Jun 2013

It's pretty much "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band II: Yet Another Day in the Life", only, you know, not nearly as cheesy as 1978's "Sgt. Pepper". Oh, don't be too surprised, because we're talking about a jukebox musical interpretation of Beatles songs that features Bono doing "I Am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", Joe Cocker returning to the world of Beatles tributes with a cover of "Come Together", and Eddie Izzard doing "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite", and is directed by the woman who did "Titus", "Frida" and 2010's "The Tempest", and how could you possibly make that cheesy? Hey, I'm just glad that Evan Rachel Wood didn't get her boyfriend at the time involved in this film, because my morbid curiosity over what a Beatles song covered by Marilyn Manson would sound like is not great enough for me to actually want to suffer through something like that, and I've heard Bill Shatner cover "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", so I've got some tolerance to spare. Yeah, Brian Warner may be the new Alice Cooper, but I doubt he's capable of calming his crazy self down, and Cooper cooled down so much when he did "Because" for the soundtrack of "Sgt. Pepper" than he was collaborating with the Bee Gees. Well, in all fairness, Cooper, while a pioneer of shock rock, came at a time when all of the heavy rock and metal were watered down and, of course, immensely more appealing, sometimes even more so than, well, Cooper's aforementioned cover of "Because". Yeah, the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" film wasn't exactly consistent with decent tunes, and its soundtrack was all but solely in charge of providing the film with something decent, as opposed to this film's soundtrack, which does not work alone as something likable about this effort. That being said, no matter how much things "come together" well enough in this film for the final product to reward, it hardly soars "across the universe", and for a number of reasons.

A more traditionalist musical that breaks up spoken word dialogue and a straightforward proper narrative with some fun little ditties, this film doesn't have to worry about the overbearing natural shortcomings within musical storytelling as much as something as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and yet, in the context of storytelling, not all of this film's musical numbers work, generally because the film has a tendency to stray away from musical storytelling for such a long time that the eventual return proves to be jarring, - especially when you consider how much the relatability within the naturalist storytelling is contradicted by the over-the-top fluffiness of the song numbers - and sometimes because the musical storytelling, by its own right, unsubtly overemphasizes the narrative's tone at times, while tightening up the progression of the narrative until meditative depth falls slave to the brief length of the songs. The flaws within musical storytelling aren't as severe as I feared they would be, but whether they're tainting the film with a certain inconsistency in narrative structure or bombarding you with certain conceptually deeper aspects, mishaps spawned from a bit of musical misusage are bound to emerge, and it doesn't help that some of the musical numbers outstay their welcome. As much as the film will often stay away from its musical touches a bit too long for the return to feel terribly organic, some of the songs find themselves almost just as dragged out, though rarely, if ever to an exhausting extent, thus, this film achieves its somewhat overlong runtime of two hours and a quarter more through mere excess material, which becomes easier to meditate upon when atmospheric momentum starts to limp out and leave things to momentarily bland up. Okay, perhaps this film isn't too overlong, as it often uses its fair deal of time wisely to flesh out the layers of its reasonably compelling story, or at least until musical storytelling ensues and tightens up expository depth a bit too much for its own good, but the point is that there are slow spots that drag the final product out and leave you to notice, not necessarily notice the depths to this story that go brought to life by the tighter meditative spots, but the shortcomings that actually rest within the concept level of this story. There is certainly quite a bit that is compelling about this film, as the inspiration within the storytelling will tell you, but our characters and their story stand to be a bit meatier and more interesting, or at least more refreshing, because in spite of its being kind of worthy, this story is a formulaic one that hits age-old romantic tropes, coming-of-age tropes, rise-to-stardom tropes and plenty of other tropes that could have actually combined into something unique, but just end up combining into one big blow of familiarity that hamstrings the final product a bit. Unrefreshing or not, this film is rewarding enough to stand out a bit within its formulaic genre, but the final product is more familiar than it should be, leaving you so desperate to find something unique that you end up gravitating towards the unusual storytelling problems, thus leaving this pretty promising effort to fall short of its full potential. That being said, again, this film is a rewarding one, having its fair share of shortcomings, but still keeping you surprisingly well-compelled with a great deal of strengths, including stylistic ones.

Photographically, the film isn't exactly a stunner, or at least especially unique looking, but the efforts of Bruno Delbonnel, the great cinematographer of such dazzlers as "The Half-Blood Prince", "A Very Long Engagement" and, last but not least, "Amélie", are crisp and subtly lush enough to catch your eye time and again, and sometimes even claim your breath when it gorgeously emphasizes the good looks of visuals within the film. If Julie Taymor has always received justified praise for nothing else, it has been visual style, and sure enough, while this film isn't as filled with delightful visuals as some might leave you to believe, it delivers on plenty of artistic style, with art director Peter Rogness playing up Mark Friedberg's production designs in a playful fashion that, time and again, delivers on distinct and memorable visuals that range from nifty to dazzling, and breathe a lot of life into the style of this experimental project. While not too refreshing when it comes to substance, this artistic tribute to and interpretation of timeless classics in music is unique on a stylistic level, and when it comes to visual artistry, this film delivers, yet is, of course, primarily concerned about its musical style, which it cannot afford to slip up on. While this jukebox musical love letter to the Beatles does not go the way of "Sgt. Pepper" and sometimes get so overstylized that you really start to notice the cheesiness of the Beatles' tunes as more bothersome than ever, not all of the songs work as well as they probably should, largely because this very modern film all too often succumbs to contemporaneous overstylizing in score and vocals (Only modern music can make terrifically clean-voiced and boastful singing irritating beyond belief; too much flavor and not enough command, Jim Sturgess), but on the whole, this musical pleasantly surprises by delivering remarkably well, delivering on takes on Beatles classics that are generally unique and thoroughly entertaining, as well as dynamic enough to reflect the tonal layers of this drama, whose resonance is sometimes actually complimented by the soul of the musicality that just as often makes things a touch too unsubtle. Musically, the film excels, and with such musical sharpness being accompanied by visual sharpness, you end up with a final product that succeeds as an artistically unique tribute to one of the most recognizable and celebrated forces in modern music history, probably more than it succeeds as a drama by its own right, which isn't to say that this film wouldn't be as rewarding as it very much is without substance that does, in fact, compel, for although this story isn't an especially refreshing or meaty one, it has layers and depths that create quite a bit of potential, which isn't as well-explored as it should be, but brought to life enough to earn your investment with anything from a script by Julie Taymor, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais that delivers on about as much well-rounded, if mildly stereotypical characterization as it delivers on plenty of fun nods to the history and music of the Beatles, to heartfelt directorial storytelling by Taymor that thoroughly charms, if not wins you over. The heart put into this film carries the final product a long way, having an effective inspiration that helps in defining the depths of this film about as much as the performers who subtly, but surely and firmly earn your investment by doing more than sing good songs, with the here-then-gone Eddie Izzard being delightful as the over-the-top personification of Mr. Kite, and the almost just as briefly seen Bono charismatically nailing both the groovy, ragged philosopher and, believe it or not, an American accent, while such more major supporting players as Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy and so on and so forth define their secondary performers as distinct and memorable, and when it comes to our leads, the handsome and actually Beatle-esque-looking Jim Sturgess and the lovely Evan Rachel Wood, their charm and occasional piece of subtle dramatic range, complimented by sharp chemistry, help in making the characters of Jude and Lucy compelling, in spite of the moderate degree of limitations within interesting characterization. There's not too much especially intriguing about the characters in concept, but thanks to the color and heart of the strong performances, you end up with memorable and compelling leads who stand among the many things worthy of praise within this film, which is too flawed to be too outstanding, but feels rather underappreciated, being well-done enough to entertain, move and reward.

Once the universe is crossed, you leave behind a film that sometimes jars when it leaps from traditionalist storytelling to musical storytelling that, by its own right, thins out some subtlety and hurries some areas in exposition, and goes accompanied by slow spots, lapses in consistent intrigue, and conventionalism in holding the final product, though not so much so that the lovely cinematography, unique visual style, remarkable unique, diverse and all around strong soundtrack, and compelling story - brought to life by well-rounded writing and heartfelt, sometimes emotionally resonant direction, and carried by across-the-board memorably charismatic, if not dramatically moving performances - are unable to make Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe" thoroughly enjoyable and ultimately rewarding as both a stylish ode to the Beatles and engaging romantic drama.

3/5 - Good.