Across the Universe (2007) Directed by Julie Taymor

”Music's the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough, it keeps the demons away.” JoJo.

This movie is a story about Jude, a Liverpudilian who comes to the United States to discover his father, and discovers America, about the same time America was discovering America. Set between 1963 and 1969, it actually spans two years.

Jude meets his father, Wes Hubert, who is a janitor at Princeton. It is just a meeting so they will both know the other one exists. He also meets Max, rescuing him from just punishment. They become friends, and Max takes Jude home for Thanksgiving. Jude meets Max’s sister Lucy, and suddenly his girlfriend back home, Molly, doesn’t seem so important.

Max drops out of Princeton, and he and Jude move to New York. They rent rooms in a pad with Sadie, a sultry smoky voiced singer, and begin to live the counter culture.

This movie is rife with Beatles references; look at the names. Jude (Hey Jude) Max (Maxwell’s Silver Hammer) ((And for the record, Max is accused of possibly killing granny with a hammer, and he uses one on a fan)) Molly, (Obladee, obladah, Life goes on!) Sadie, who is designed after Janis Joplin takes her name from Sexy Sadie on the White Album. Her Guitarist, Jojo (Jojo was man who thought he was a loner, but he knew it wouldn’t last….Get Back) is designed around Jimi Hendrix, even wearing the purple silk and bandana, and playing a fender.

Lucy’s boyfriend went off to war, and never came home; Lucy went to New York for the summer before College, but traded college for Jude and political activism. They are very happy. Lucy protests and waits tables, Jude practices art, even sells a piece or two, and Max, for his short time…well, I’m not really sure what Max did.

The music is all Beatles. None of it is sung by the Boys from Liverpool, but it is one hundred percent English Invasion. And the movie takes some very interesting turns with the music; uses it in interesting ways. Prudence, introduced early on, is an Asian cheerleader in Ohio. She begins to sing “I want to hold your hand” with heartbreaking poignancy; not the peppy little love song but an anthem of longing. She is looking at another cheerleader, and suddenly, the song is changed. “Let it be” is the song for the race riots…and it is unspeakably sad and sorrowful, and absolutely perfect for what they were doing.

The rendition of “Come Together” is phenomenal. Performed by the legendary Joe Cocker in three rolls, as bum, pimp and hippy, it shows the two cultures, the counter culture with the hooker back up singers and the madly twirling dancer spinning like a dervish on acid, and the business men in their suits, and the women in their pastel pillbox hats, doing a close ordered drill, moving in lockstep as they move through their day. Towards the end, one suit cuts loose. And that is how things were in our society.
Prudence comes into the apartment through the bathroom window (referencing the song, “She came in through the bathroom window”) escaping an abusive relationship, and is folded into the family.

When Max goes for induction the Beatles song “I Want You” takes on a whole new meaning. It also serves as Prudence’s anthem for her quite unrequited crush on Sadie. Even the number “Dear Prudence” does not keep her there. The little family is breaking apart.

Max is drafted, and Lucy is becoming ever more involved with Paco and his antiwar protest group. They give max a send off, hopping aboard Dr. Robert’s psychedelic bus, and heading across America towards a meeting of the minds…Dr. Robert and Dr. Gary.

The Kirelean Photography video of the bus trip is a perfect metaphor for an Acid Trip, and Bono is Dr. Robert singing “I am the Walrus.” However, things do not go as planned.

Prankster: Hey doc, he says he won't see you, man.
Dr. Robert: Why, is he sick?
Prankster: He just said he's busy.
Dr. Robert: Did you tell that sonofab*tch that we drove 3,000 miles to see him? Alright, everybody back on the bus. We're going home, to California.
Max: Doc, California isn't home to all of us.
Dr. Robert: What can I say? You're either on the bus, or off the bus.

The quote "you're either on the bus, or off the bus" is taken from the book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," by Tom Wolfe.

Stuck there, they get into to see Dr Gary and his Lifecenter for Spiritual Deliverance (LSD) for a different, somehow more English Acid Trip. Eddie Izzard is phenomenal; though the song, “Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite” does not require much singing ability.

Jude and Lucy are drifting further apart as more of Lucy’s life in consumed in activism. Jude understands the cause, but not her fanatical devotion to it…. What is really going on, I think, is she feels guilty about her boyfriend who died in Vietnam. The song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Becomes the war song; the imagery, as Jude practices radical art to counterpoint the radical turn of activism, is compelling; the strawberry as bomb, as heart, as hand grenade, all make brilliant bright impressions. The red of the strawberry is the red of blood.

Then, Jude is passing a demonstration, is arrested, and deported. Can this be all?

No, I assure you, it is not.
This movie like the times is hard to qualify; is it a musical? Is it a war movie? Perhaps a social drama? Acid trip on film? The answer is, it is a bit of all these things. I think that often the very best art is that which defies easy definition.

The fact that the Beatles are never once referred to does not detract from their impact on the movie; it is in every frame, from the apple that Jude slices, a granny smith, which harks to Apple Record label, to the poster of Brigitte Bardot in the Cavern Club, evoking John Lennon’s life long obsession with the actress.

Further, this is more than just a gimmick. The story is Jude’s, Lucy’s and Max’s and it stands on its own, well written, tight plot, and yet it embraces the music, and lovingly builds the story with it.

The Cast
Jim Sturgess ... Jude Feeny
Evan Rachel Wood ... Lucy Carrigan
Joe Anderson ... Maxwell Carrigan
Dana Fuchs ... Sadie
Martin Luther ... Jo-Jo
T.V. Carpio ... Prudence
Joe Cocker ... Bum / Pimp / Mad Hippie
James Urbaniak ... Sadie's Manager
Eddie Izzard ... Mr. Kite
Salma Hayek ... Singing Nurse (all five)
Timmy Mitchum ... Jo-Jo's Brother
Carol Woods ... Gospel Singer

There is not a name on this list that did not turn in a memorable performance; not only can these people act, they can sing. Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther in particular have voices that belong on a label. I was blown away.

Here is the bottom line. Even if by some weird chance you don’t love this movie as much as I did, it is still better than 90% of all the schlock out there, so sit back, tune in, and groove out.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older