Joe Cocker is in it, and it's great!

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2008)

Julie Taymor is one of the most talented persons alive today. Luckily for us, she is also able to perform and expose her work as the head of a collection of wonderful artists who are part of her crew whom I am not personally acquainted with, but in a metaphysical way, I respect them truthfully.
Across is a great musical which is not restrained only in focusing on the main couple love story and actually reaches towards more "universal" subjects with seriousness and competence. The non-literal interpretation of the lyrics meaning is linked perfectly with the script as John Carney's Once is being one of the best things in both. Perhaps the downfall is the acting of the main couple. I was surprisingly disappointed with Wood and Sturgess lack of continuity. The shine in their eyes are blurred by weak dialogs specially in the jealousy scenes preceding their temporarily break-up.
The technical aspects as a musical and a psychedelic tribute achieve masterful results making it a must see for fans of the genre, not to mention if you're a Beatles freak. The film reaches its peak in With a Little Help, Come Together, Happiness is a Warm Gun, and the "Salvador Dali" surrealistic homage superbly performed by Eddie Izzard (who you might remember as Charles Chaplin in Peter Bogdanovich The Cat's Meow).
Following Milos Forman's Hair mixed with James Cameron's Titanic love affair, the formula inevitably works, for the songs and Julie are part of human patrimony.