ACROSS THE UNIVERSE | Her, Film, His, Jude, Universe

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ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Written by Emily Axelson

FILM: Across the Universe
FILM COMPANY: Sony Pictures Releasing, Team Todd, Gross Entertainment, Revolution Studios.
DIRECTOR: Julie Taymor
PRINCIPAL ACTORS: Evan Rachel Wood, Martin Luther, Dana Fuchs, Jim Sturgess, T.V. Carpio
DATE OF RELEASE: September 14th 2007.
GENRE: Musical/ Romance
FILM LENGTH: 2 hr. 13 minutes.
RATING: PG-13
WEBSITE: www.acrosstheuniverse.com

5 Stars

Reviewed By: Emily Axelson
After seeing the fascinating trailer of Across the Universe over three months ago, I have been dying to see it ever since. I tried very hard not to raise my expectations too high so that I wouldn’t be disappointed, and I feared this would be the case as it often is. Well, I had incredibly high expectations for this film, but the brilliance of it went far beyond them.

Jude (Jim Sturgess) is a humble small town artist from Liverpool, England. He’s happy with a girlfriend but he dreams of life outside Liverpool and of someday meeting his father. Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a wealthy city girl deeply in love with her boyfriend who has just recently been shipped off to war in Vietnam. She also happens to be the sister of an irresponsible, spontaneous student at Princeton named Max (Joe Anderson). One day Jude finally leaves his small town to experience life on a larger scale. His first stop is Princeton University to meet his long lost father, who works there. Expecting a sophisticated, intelligent professor, Jude is thrilled to finally be meeting him. When he arrives to Princeton, he discovers that his father is not a smart, intellectual professor, but a janitor. After being told that he is not wanted in the life of his father, Jude leaves only to meet Max. They become friends almost instantly, and in hardly no time at all, they move in together with a singer named Sadie (Dana Fuchs). Through Sadie, they meet a number of people including a lost, lesbian named Prudence. Soon enough Jude is introduced to Lucy as well. Sparks fly and chemistry develops, but with Jude's girlfriend back home and Lucy's boyfriend at war they try to ignore it. Then, one tragic day Lucy receives the news that her beloved boyfriend has been killed. Heartbroken, she turns to Jude for support and their attempts to ignore their love for each other are diminished. They have the perfect relationship at first, until Max receives the shocking news that he has been sent to Vietnam. Lucy is overcome with grief and worry, dreading the thought that her dear brother could end up like her deceased boyfriend. Lucy spends her time protesting the war in the peace activism as a desperate attempt to save her brother from a bloody fate. Lucy and Jude's relationship runs into conflicts as they begin to grow apart, but will they come back together?

Across The Universe is a musical with music entirely from the legendary band The Beatles. The way the story fit flawlessly within the songs was immensely impressive. Being an ENORMOUS fan of The Beatles, naturally I didn't get bored with any of the songs, but if you're not a fan of The Beatles, I'm not sure if you'd enjoy the music to the same extent as me. However, the person I went to the movie with was never a fan of The Beatles, but this movie changed her mind. It reminds everyone of how remarkable The Beatles are and why we love them. The way the film was done in the imaginative, exhilarating way that it blew my mind. It's so incredibly strange and out there that you can't call it anything but astounding. The acting was generally good, and there were no bad performances by anyone, but one thing I will say is that at times I had expected more from Evan Rachel Wood. She was great, don't get me wrong, but after seeing her other films (Thirteen, Running With Scissors), I felt as though she could have done more. Overall however, the acting was excellent.

With most musicals, if there is hardly any dialogue and just non-stop music, it can get tiresome and dull. With Across The Universe, there was barely any dialogue, but the way they expressed the song in that artsy, far-fetched way made it impossible to be boring. This film reminded me very much of a more modern version of Moulin Rouge. I had this opinion ever since I saw the trailer, and I figured it wouldn’t be quite as good as Moulin Rouge, but I can honestly say that Across The Universe was much, much better than its predecessor.

Across the Universe truly has everything that makes a great movie, but it's not crammed. It was delivered radiantly and director, Julie Taymor (Frida) made it possible to posses the many aspects in it without being overdone. It's musical, dramatic, romantic, funny, dark, incredibly artsy, entertaining, thrilling, psychedelic, upbeat yet heartbreaking, and just extraordinary. It is definitely something I’d see again many, many times. It was perfect, and much more. Without a doubt the best film of the year.