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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 10/03/2007 : 15:48:47
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Apparently, apocryphally when Jean Cocteau was commissioned by the great impresario Diaghilev to create a ballet, he asked what was wanted. Surprise me! said Diaghilev.
Which is just what Julie Taymore does with Across The Universe. She proves, if more proof were needed, that she's one of the most imaginative and assured directors around.
To say that, after her glittering international stage career, she understands musicals is a given. That she makes them her own is a blessing. She combines an expertise at staging with true wit and a trust that human emotion opens different doors to an appreciation of cultural concepts and political truths. She knows when to be flamboyant and when to whisper.
She's in the movie-musical room with Busby Berkeley, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, and Bob Fosse. She's aided by a far more sophisticated box of cinematic tricks than any of them, and she uses them not to show off, but to share with you the relevance of her choices about character and something as amorphous as the tenor of the times.
She's aided, too, by some fine performances. In an ensemble cast Jim Sturgess stands out, not because he's better than anyone, but because he's clearly going to be a huge star. The core team are solid, and backed up by unexpected cameos from people as disparate as Salma Hayek, Joe Cocker and Eddie Izzard.
The look of the film, delivered across the boards by Production Design, Lighting, and Camera Work, dips you into the nuances of the era. If you lived through it, it's bound to evoke the feel of that 1960s transition from post-war to post-modern.
And it does it far better than any other film I've ever seen. If you only know the 60s second-hand, this is the film that will let you breathe the air. It will help you see why The Beatles - who don't feature in the film - were the perfect soundtrack to the times.
Maybe it is only now, some 40 years on, that an era so celebrated in the Western collective consciousness, can transcend its callow detractors or hyped-up celebrants. We've had interesting tries lately with films such as Factory Girl and Dreamgirls.
True, contemporary films of the era such as A Hard Day's Night and The Knack - both by Richard Lester - were as aware of the times as the story, but there was that something self-referential about both. Same with Pookie [The Sterile Cuckoo] and to a lesser extent, Darling. And Blake Edwards' The Party just got it wrong! The later film Hair never achieved the frisson which the Broadway and West End theatre versions had - mostly as a result of inept producers kow-towing to ill-informed money men.
Across the Universe has made amends.
Born in 1952 Taymor is just that tad too young to have experienced the transition that her film deals with, though she benefited from the wave of optimism that encouraged different kinds of careers in the arts. She also lived through the souring effects of the Vietnam War and the commodification of the love generation.
Bolstering her understanding in the film [which she co-devised] is a screenplay by British television stalwarts Dick Clement and Ian Le Fresnais, both of whom certainly were products of the 60's. This writing duo have produced exactly the kind of atypical treatment to serve the story. Which is simple enough.
Like Hair before it, there's no real plot, and the songs - all Beatles tracks, and characters - all named after people in Beatles songs - fuse together in an expressionistic whole. It's different from other film musicals because it celebrates the commonality of experience.
We follow several people each of whom evokes a familiar cultural presence. There's Jude, a working class Liverpudlian [Sturgess] desperate to trace the war-time American dad who impregnated his mum. A midwest mixed-race high school cheerleader called Prudence, gradually becoming aware of her unorthodox nascent sexuality. They both drift through New York's East Village hipppie explosion, sharing digs with Sadie, a sensual soul singer, Jo-Jo, her black guitarist lover with the talent and presence of a Hendrix, and Maxwell, a clever white-bread college kid who drops out, gets drafted and is as changed by the war as his equally preppy sister Lucy who balances her growing radicalism with her love for Jude.
Apart from a few maudlin moments, Taymor provides much more than illustration for wave after wave of songs. She delivers Diaghilev's dreams.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 10/04/2007 07:27:49 |
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silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 02:09:32
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I've wanted to see this since the first trailer (probably almost a year ago, I can't remember exactly).
So far, I've acquired the soundtrack, and I really hope to find a couple hours to go see it this weekend. Thanks for the report.
(for the record, since I was born in '65, I really didn't know the sixties) |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 07:28:30
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quote:
Originally posted by silly
I've wanted to see this since the first trailer (probably almost a year ago, I can't remember exactly).
So far, I've acquired the soundtrack, and I really hope to find a couple hours to go see it this weekend. Thanks for the report.
(for the record, since I was born in '65, I really didn't know the sixties)
I think you will after you see this 
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silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 13:55:12
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I was thinking of taking my son to see it - he's 10. I'm a little cautious, but basically because he might start in with "this is boring."
Years ago, I took my nephew (who was fourteen or so) to see Wayne's World 2, and while we had tears on our cheeks (from laughing) he was busy hatching an escape plan. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 13:59:11
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quote:
Originally posted by silly
I was thinking of taking my son to see it - he's 10. I'm a little cautious, but basically because he might start in with "this is boring."
Years ago, I took my nephew (who was fourteen or so) to see Wayne's World 2, and while we had tears on our cheeks (from laughing) he was busy hatching an escape plan.
Ten, hmm ... tricky. Do you have any Beatles tracks? If so, why not play him a few and see if he likes the music. Also, show him some online images of hippies and stuff and see if that interests him. There is some explicit drug stuff - just so you know. Don't know how it's rated in the US ... if PG or equivalent - try to gauge his interest in the era, otherwise get a babysitter!
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Animal Mutha 
"Who would've thunk it?"
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 14:48:56
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| I would really like to see this movie too, My only reservation being, that I've seen the clip of Bono doing 'I Am The Walrus'. Bono's a %@*$!!! (Sorry to all you U2 fans, he just makes my blood boil) |
Edited by - Animal Mutha on 10/04/2007 14:49:22 |
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 15:09:46
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| This sounds terribly interesting. And it reminds me of something. Last time we were in New York we went to see Billy Joel's musical "Movin' Out", which seems to have been done exactly like this - taking a bunch of Joel's songs and putting them together in a stream which makes a story out of them. Although it wasn't perfect, we did enjoy it (and Alon saw Joel himself going into the theatre when he went to get our tickets). Of course, with Twyla Tharp's choreography, you can imagine the combination was pretty special. Both are set in the 1960s (despite Joel's music being more 70-80s), deal with Vietnam and confused youth. I'd love to compare them, so I hope this movie gets here! |
Edited by - ChocolateLady on 10/04/2007 15:11:35 |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 10/04/2007 : 19:50:38
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quote:
Originally posted by Animal Mutha
I would really like to see this movie too, My only reservation being, that I've seen the clip of Bono doing 'I Am The Walrus'. Bono's a %@*$!!! (Sorry to all you U2 fans, he just makes my blood boil)
Don't worry, AM - he's not onscreen that long -- perfect time to pop out for popcorn  You may not even recognize him - shock horror 
Actually - I've just realized that my own assessment of this film is in the minority here in the UK, though many more American critics rate it as highly as I do. It is very much a film of style - the substance is kind of implied. And while I don't always react favorably to that when - e.g. when it's pasted over an otherwise wham-bam action film -- here there really is so much in the collective consciousness that it matters less.
Of course, I may be totally self-deluded - and a different generation won't be nearly so engaged. I hope not, though, because it's rare to see such terrific image-imagination onscreen.
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 10/04/2007 19:51:33 |
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Salopian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 09:15:15
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
dad who impregnated his mum
That's kinda how dads and mums become dads and mums!
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A midwest mixed-race high school cheerleader called Prudence
Is she?! I thought she was just supposed to be ethnically from the Far East.
Anyway, this film gets off to a poor start. The full-on opening was a good idea, though it should still have been simplified, but then we are more properly introduced to an array of 2D stock characters. As Bafta suggests, Jude is admittedly the most realistic of these. I thought the film was going to be a 2/5 (my baseline score) or at most 3/5, but it improves significantly as the characters and stories are fleshed out, as we see more of the unconventional scenes and because most of the better songs are saved for the back end of the film. And the anticipation of certain songs (such as obviously Hey Jude, although strangely Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is not in the film proper), based on for example the presence of character names or the appearance of strawberries, is somehow quite delicious. So it was a 4/5 for me in the end. |
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Salopian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 09:19:02
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Originally posted by BaftaBabe
There is some explicit drug stuff - just so you know.
There are also a few scenes with nudity (just breasts and arses). I would think there could be occasional swearing but am not sure. |
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Salopian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 09:21:13
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Originally posted by Animal Mutha
Bono's a %@*$!!!
I couldn't agree more. What a tosser. However, I didn't mind him in this - the singing's fine and his character is only briefly present and also quite a tosser (thus not painting Bono in an inaccurately positive light). |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 09:34:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
dad who impregnated his mum
That's kinda how dads and mums become dads and mums!
oops -- meant to say impregnated then abandoned 
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A midwest mixed-race high school cheerleader called Prudence
Is she?! I thought she was just supposed to be ethnically from the Far East.
[/quote]
Well T.V Carpio is part Chinese and part Filipina, and as there's no real info on the character I figured they'd cast a mixed-race Asian for a reason. But it really isn't relevant to the film.
I'm so glad you were won round in the end. I agree there's plenty to pick holes in this, but I wanted to convey an enthusiasm for Taymor's originality.
Nice to get your p.o.v.!
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Salopian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 09:55:51
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Well T.V Carpio is part Chinese and part Filipina, and as there's no real info on the character I figured they'd cast a mixed-race Asian for a reason. But it really isn't relevant to the film.
I think they just would have felt that Prudence was more likely as a Far Eastern English name than a white one by that time. I'd be surprised if they specifically wanted someone of mixed race. I agree that her race is not particularly relevant at all, but it's possible that it's supposed to be in terms of her high-school alienation and trouble hitching a ride - and she also refers to it with regard to the Vietnam War. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 10/05/2007 : 10:44:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
Well T.V Carpio is part Chinese and part Filipina, and as there's no real info on the character I figured they'd cast a mixed-race Asian for a reason. But it really isn't relevant to the film.
I think they just would have felt that Prudence was more likely as a Far Eastern English name than a white one by that time. I'd be surprised if they specifically wanted someone of mixed race. I agree that her race is not particularly relevant at all, but it's possible that it's supposed to be in terms of her high-school alienation and trouble hitching a ride - and she also refers to it with regard to the Vietnam War.
Well, yes, but I suspect calling her Prudence had a lot to do with an ironic use of the word considering her journey through the story. After all, there are many other female Beatle song names.
There's also the visual effect of the mixed-race group of core characters in the Village being socially "accepted" [at least in those artsy NY and SF neighbourhoods]- which is certainly true as I can personally attest. Even just 4-5 years previously the very notion of a mixed-race couple was almost unthinkable.
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 02/09/2008 : 21:53:11
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I have waited for this film to be released on DVD, it seems like forever and played it as soon as Netflix came through. I agree that it did seem to start a very bit slow, but it did pick up nicely. My friend Roger is much better at analysis and criticism of films than I, so I guess this is more of a consumer reaction than a real review.
When I saw clips for this, I kept thinking of Moulin Rouge, but I could never really get my head around Moulin Rouge. As BaftaBabe said, the use of Beatles songs is a soundtrack for the times, which is where Moulin Rouge broke down for me. The juxtaposition of the era and the modern songs came off as too arbitrary for my taste.
The musical arrangements and performances for Across the Universe were stellar and beautiful. For me, one of the true highlights of the film came when the plaintive and pure voice of Timothy Mitchum began singing Let It Be in that very moving sequence, with Carol Wood. It was somber, breathtaking and heartbreaking.
Seeing Joe Cocker pop up was a delight, though I'd have been even happier had he sung With a Little Help From My Friends. The musicality of the I Want You/She's So Heavy number, and the symbolism involved, was wonderful, and captured the zeitgeist of the counterculture viewpoint of US involvement in Vietnam.
I didn't mind Bono (yes he was well disguised). His semi-Dennis Hopper-Easy Rider-meets-Doctor-Hook character (yes, I know it was a Ken Kesey-based character) was appropriate for its purpose. What I wasn't in love with was the Eddie Izzard-Mr. Kite sequence. It was a bit too dark for me, and the Monty Python-ness of it seemed a bit out of time synch for me, though I confess I can't recall whether Python was well known in the US prior to the 1970s, but if the timeline of the film was in the least bit adhered to, this film was set in 1967-1968 (Martin Luther King was killed in the film), the summer of love giving way to more violent war protest and confrontations. I suppose that's being too picky. I really liked the rooftop concert nod and I wonder why Dana Fuchs wasn't being considered to play Janis Joplin.
All notes aside, I was loving this film, it was an honest look at the era, with all its warts, and how a generation could move from hopefulness and idealism to cynicism and disillusionment. I'm fairly certain when I can, I'll buy it for my collection. |
Edited by - w22dheartlivie on 02/09/2008 22:16:12 |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 02/11/2008 : 23:11:00
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Aauuggh, as Charlie Brown used to say. I've finally caught up with this one on DVD. The music, beautiful, Taymor, beautiful, and so are you, Dear Prudence.
But I was let down. By my pre-screening aspirations.
IMHO, the movie is far too earthbound. I'm sorry, the story is too tiny to actually care about, but I thought in the end it might finally have done for the Beatles what the QATSI trilogy tried to do for the planet.
More of that fervor happened in Vegas last Mar when I saw Cirque perform LOVE. The cheesy stage show: Wow! The movie: sadly, not. |
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Across The Universe - not really spoilers
