Julie Taymor
Across The Universe

I declare myself straight away as someone devoted to the Beatles' cult (with a tendency towards obsession, according to many). Thus, you can understand with what apprehension (mixed with curiosity) I awaited this film. And obviously, how biased I was. I had already prepared some scathing remarks with which to attack the film and intimidate my unfortunate companions at the cinema, naturally ignorant in fab matters. And by ignorant, I mean my friends are unable to list the names of Ringo's relatives up to the fifth degree. I watched the film twice, at the cinema. The first time I left the screening confused, without an opinion, annoyed by my fellow cinema-goers' empty discussions about the "artistic value" of this project, and I abandoned them.
The next day I decided, without telling anyone, to seclude myself from the world to attend the afternoon screening. I was alone in the theater. The second viewing allowed me to sort out the confused ideas from the night before and finally see clearly. It's a good movie. It's not groundbreaking, but it's a good movie. Primarily because it’s the practical application of an old theory of mine: you can converse with the Beatles' songs.
The plot is obviously a bit predictable, but I don't think the plot is the main aspect of a musical. The musical performances generally leave me satisfied, with peaks of "great satisfaction" regarding certain scenes: "I've Just Seen A Face" at the bowling alley, Jim Sturgess's voice is truly lively and reignites the song; "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" which manages to coherently connect two distant scenes. Delightful, really (although the adjective is annoying, sorry) are some ideas that renew the songs, making them properly part of the narrative: from the "ohh" in "With A Little Help From My Friends" rendered as a slip by Max who is singing, to the "she loves you" at the end of "All You Need Is Love" which, from a playful self-reference in the original, becomes an expression of Jude's happiness seeing that his beloved Lucy has reached him.
There are also various hidden or obvious references: the most obvious (the rooftop concert at the record company, Prudence entering through the bathroom window) to the sly winks at the viewer regarding Max and his silver hammer (Sadie's line welcoming Max and Jude; Max hammering a fan "Bang! Bang!"). There are also suggestions (from the beginning: Jude on the beach reminiscent of a scene from "Magical Mystery Tour", just as his coat collar is raised just like Paul's in the "The Fool On The Hill" sequence). But perhaps it's my eye, now corrupted by excessive Beatles listening and viewing, exaggerating. Unmistakable some weaknesses: regarding the interpretation, the songs sung by Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) tend to be brutally flattened by the strictly acoustic version, the ear begs for the intervention of a drum, a bass after the first verse (one above all "If I Fell!").

The plot is a weave of different stories that recombine in New York, all characters finally gather in Sadie's apartment. The handling of all these threads (Jude, Lucy, Max, Prudence, Jojo) has some effective Ariostean moments (like when the narrative moves from Jude and Max’s story to Prudence’s story with a lane change on the highway), in other instances the different narratives are carried forward with juxtapositions (Jude's evening in Liverpool and Lucy's evening in America, at extremes but united by the accompaniment of "Hold Me Tight"; the two funerals to the notes of "Let It Be"). Among all, it's Prudence's story that turns out the weakest because it's not well thought out, the character itself is superficially described with just a few cues; it almost seems unnecessary, leaving the doubt that it’s a "convenient" insertion to allow the inclusion of other songs. Prudence is also related to the worst scene in the entire film, the circus scene. Not only is the song (it's "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite") terribly performed, devoid of all its musicality, but the scene itself is not even aesthetically pleasing; somewhat clumsy. Besides, the entire central sequence, dedicated to the discovery of psychedelia, is, as such, devoid of narrative functionality, but also lacks the support of interesting visual representation: the play on color tires the viewer after 10 minutes.

Thus, a good film, a product by Beatles lovers for Beatles lovers (who cannot fail to appreciate some ideas realized with a smile and especially the overall project of giving voice to a story exclusively through their songs), but also for those who simply appreciate a love story in music. Those who find themselves in between these two extremes will welcome the film with difficulty, attributing to it ambitions that I do not believe were the authors' intentions (for example: narrating the story of a generation). One last thing: the Italian version of the film is very questionable, the most glaring problem is the subtitles, in a musical (where by definition one speaks with music) you cannot afford to translate only the first verse of the song.