A baroque phantasmagoria in music, dance and flower power era nostalgia

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2018)

I saw this film with mixed feelings. Of course, it sparkles with virtuosity all the way, and the lyrics and music of the Beatles shine all the way, the actors are good, even the story is good, returning to the roaring 60s with the Vietnam controversy, the hippie explosion, the political turbulence under Johnson with chaos demonstrations going constantly from bad to worse, and so on, all this is good, but this film has received so much positive acclaim, that someone also should have some objections.
It's like a gigantic cinematic patchwork, many ideas put together inspired by Richard Lester (of the first Beatles films), Monty Python, Hair (of 1979, which this film could be seen as an update and modern version of), and even a bit of Apocalypse Now and Catherine Bigelow. There are outstanding scenes, especially all the ballet scenes, even Salma Hayek appearing as a number of nurses, but the music gets a bit screamy sometimes, it is overdone, the psychedlic explosions get repetitive, and the film is too long. Technically it's expertly made all the way, it's a marathon feast to the eyes, but the dialogue is lost in mumbling, articulation is missing, they speak neither clearly nor intelligently, since they don't need to, since there is the music, the colours, the parties, the demonstrations and even action at war. It's a grandiose film but suffers from some degree of superficiality - splendid firerworks that just blow over, and after the party there is nothing left.