ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

A trick. But it works. Using Beatles songs to tell a story of “the sixties” in a way that conveys the spirit and drama, the political and emotional roller coaster of those times, as well, or better, than any other movie ever made about them.

I dug it. Sure, there’s perspectives that were left out, or could have been expressed better in terms of story and character. But along the lines of Baz Lurman’s MOULIN ROUGE, this is a seriously successful movie musical—in acting, music, and cinematography.

Bono proves he could easily have a great career as a comic character actor, and Joe Cocker hasn’t sounded this good in years. But they just have cameo roles (as some other surprising stars do as well).

What makes the film work is the talented unknowns, or relative unknowns, who play the major roles. They sing the songs better than any other actors I can think of could do, and they act the songs and their lines and scenes, better than any other singers and musical performers I can think of.

I laughed, I cried, I thought for a minute there’s no way an audience that hadn’t been there could appreciate the emotional depth of this flick, and wondered if even I could identify emotionally, and become emotionally involved with people named after characters in Beatles songs and titles, who sing and speak lines from almost random Beatles tunes, and then I suddenly found myself sniffing away deep tears from just that kind of emotional connection I thought this kind of clever creative exercise wouldn’t provoke.

It looks like it was probably cut down from a longer version, since some of the tunes involving the characters, at least in terms of names—Maxwell, Sadie, etc.—don’t ever get sung. And it’s a pretty white perspective, with a few exceptions. But you can’t get everything into a two hour movie.

Of the movies I’ve seen so far this Fall, when the serious award contenders are brought out for our response, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and TWO DAYS IN PARIS are my favorites so far.

And interestingly, maybe even surprisingly, given the state of “the business”—both were directed and created by women, who also both happen to be named Julie: Taymor and Delpy respectively. You go girls.