Movie Review for Across The Universe

Helter Skelter

by Philbert Ortiz Dy
posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 in Movie Reviews

Across the Universe is fast and flashy, at times fun and fresh, and taken in chunks, there’s stuff to enjoy. The sum, however, is less than its parts. Across the Universe makes the mistake of forgetting to tell a story well, and while it stands as a testament to how great the music of the Beatles really is, it just doesn’t add up to a good cinematic experience.

Jude is a dock worker from Liverpool. He hops on a boat headed to America on a quest to find his father. In America, he makes fast friends with Max, a carefree college student and falls in love with Max’s sister Lucy. Jude and Max head to New York City, where they begin to live a Bohemian existence in a small apartment with a group of musicians. Lucy makes it to New York as well, and when Max gets drafted, they all take part in the growing peace movement of the day.

That summary doesn’t even really begin to describe what happens in the film. Notice I said “what happens in” and “the story of,” or “the plot of” because really, Across the Universe doesn’t have much of a story or a plot. It feels like a random collection of scenes stuck together by Beatles songs. Or sometimes, an anthology of music videos for Beatles songs. There’s just no cohesive narrative holding the film together. We move from point to point without any real rhyme or reason, other than the tenuous relationship of the songs with what’s happening on screen. In doing so, the film robs us of any genuine character development or dramatic moments. Characters change suddenly, as if the previous song number magically transformed their entire world view.

The music is tremendous, of course. This is The Beatles we’re talking about, arguably the greatest band to have ever lived, but making a bunch of music videos for a bunch of Beatles covers doesn’t add up to a film. It feels self-indulgent, and entire segments of the movie feel completely unnecessary. One of the characters, Prudence, adds nothing at all to the film’s plot other than the opportunity to sing “Dear Prudence.” She could be completely removed from the film, and nothing at all would have changed. The story takes a long, unnecessary turn into the absurd, it seems, just for a chance to sing some of the Beatles’ crazier songs. The music comes first, I suppose, and that can be a good thing, but some narrative restraint would’ve made for a much better film.

To its credit, the film is often utterly gorgeous. Across the Universe assails the audience with all sorts of visuals, ranging from truly dramatic frames to just crazy, psychedelic eye candy. If the film was held together by an actual story, then we may have something here. The film gets it right sometimes: the scene where Jude sings “Something,” is particularly memorable, but overall, the film just foregoes telling a story in favor of the convenience of very literal, extended and theatrical visual interpretations of the songs peppered with unneeded cameos.

The cast has talent. Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood are talented singers, and they have a lot of chemistry on screen. Their pairing is pretty fantastic, and it’s the one thing that really sticks out in the film as something worth remembering. Joe Anderson is on the verge of being a ham, but he reins it in enough to make it work. Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy are great singers, but their acting is hardly tested in this film.

I really wanted to like this film, but the non-existent narrative just bothers me to no end. There’s just no movie here. The music is fantastic, but that’s a no-brainer, and if the film can’t offer a decent narrative to go with the songs, then we’re better off staying in our homes and listening the Beatles’ vast and brilliant discography while flipping through an art book.

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