Across The Universe

When I heard that Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus) had directed a film taking place in the 1960’s set to the music of the Beatles I was anticipating great things. The opportunity for Taymor to bring her unique visual style to such a vibrant historical period as well as the freedom provided via access to the Beatles back catalogue could have led to an amazing film experience. Unfortunately, the directionless and confused, Across The Universe is unsatisfying fluff.

The film centres around a Liverpool shipyard worker, named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who goes to America to find his father. He becomes entwined in the lives of Princeton drop-out Max (Joe Anderson) and his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The film follows their adventures as they deal with life in 1960’s New York and encounter an array of counter-culture figures.

The problem that emerges in Across The Universe is that rather than focusing on any kind of storyline, the only thing really keeping you watching the film is the music. That said, the musical numbers, while often lots of fun, do tend to turn the film into a mish mash of visual bombardment and distract from what thin thread of storyline there is. The over-ambition portrayed by these lavish numbers is echoed in the decision to typecast each character into a recognizable mould in an attempt to span the variety of 1960’s landmark events. We have the idealistic war activist, the artistic dropout, the youth sent unwillingly to Vietnam, the Janis Joplin-esque musician and the list goes on. Additionally, for a movie which attempts to encompass so much of this era what is noticeable are those things which are excluded. The references to the civil war movement are fleeting and seem thrown in at the last minute, especially a scene set during the Detroit riots which appears to come from nowhere and has little or no impact on the film as a whole. This is something which occurs throughout the movie. Characters and situations are revealed and then left for dead or given a brief and unsatisfying wrap up before we move on to the next cliché. What we are left with are visual cliff notes that exist purely on the surface.

It is however a largely attractive surface. While some of the scenes suffer from visuals that do not seem to have any real context or purpose, there are moments of extreme beauty and coupled with the soundtrack these elements make the film an enjoyable if forgettable experience.

Those scenes that do resonate do so purely because of the excitement and talent of two of the lead characters. Jim Sturgess as Jude and Joe Anderson as Max steal every scene they are in and manage to give renewed energy to classic Beatles tunes. Sturgess in particular lends an authenticity to his role while Anderson provides a playful yet grounded portrayal of a directionless young man. It is a shame that these obviously talented newcomers are not given much to work with in the way of character and storyline. Evan Rachel Wood as the love interest is given the worst role of all but does her best with it. However, there is not much she can do to give life to this character - an anti-war idealist who you may recognise from any number of films or telemovies made about this era.

Across The Universe is a film musical that is made for the stage. The musical numbers, which on screen are used in lieu of a strong storyline and in many cases, interrupt the narrative flow, would work much better in a theatre setting as would many of the visual concepts. Everything about this movie is over the top - too much singing, too many characters, too many disparate visual effect and too many distracting cameos (from Eddie Izzard, Bono and Joe Cocker among others). It appears to be a case of extreme overcompensation to make up for the lack of cohesive narrative. Across The Universe is at heart an extended video clip, it amounts in the end to lighthearted and mindless entertainment which provides a few spectacular moments amidst the chaos.