Another Splendid Tamor Film

Rating: 6/10 (24 January 2008)

I have to admit that I am quite a big fan of Julie Tamor, so what instantly made me fell at home was her very unique (very) visual style. Her psychedelic and bizarre presentation in films fits perfectly into the transitory period in which the Beatles were writing. Transition was the name of the game here, and I think the movie ultimately captures this very well, and its only faults come when it loses this edge.
So firstly, the songs are obviously fantastic; I particularly love them being a big Beatles fan. However, I much prefer the Beatles latter works to their earlier, more commercial stuff. That worked out well in the end, because Tamor mostly focused on Rubber Soul onwards, which is where I think the Beatles catapulted themselves into eternity. These are the songs that fit best into the film. The start of the movie focused on explaining who the characters were, often through songs. I thought that these were the least effective part of the films, because the songs, though good, felt the most patched on. After the move to New York, and the rise and fall of the characters, we get into their more serious, political and social songs, and this is where the music and the plot blend wonderfully. The ultimate success of this film is showing a new generation how the Beatles encapsulated a mindset of a huge part of the population, and are such a great band because they spoke for the times.
As for the singing itself, this is where I always get irritated at such films. The Beatles couldn't really sing in tune, but I love them anyway. The question is why Tamor asked the sound technicians to make every note right on key. I prefer a few wrong notes, because it makes the experience more real and immanent. It really keeps me at an emotional distance, as well. The best songs, therefore, were the angry songs, like Helter Skelter and Why Don't We Do It In The Road, because you could feel the emotion. But Joe Cocker's rendition of Come Together was easily the best song in the movie, as his raw energy shined through, and they didn't do much to his voice.
As for the way they fit the music and the action together, the use of names was twee, and I giggled a bit, but ultimately I thought it worked quite well. Some of the songs like Mr Kite seemed a bit useless, and I think some other songs did as well. Across the Universe, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Strawberry Fields and All You Need is Love were incredibly powerful.
As for the characters, I thought the acting was very good, and everyone did a very admirable job. However there were simply too many characters, and there was just too much going on. I would have preferred if Sadie, Prudence and Jojo were more peripheral, not because they did a bad job, but because they ultimately made the movie drag; as did much of the early scenes about Evan Rachel Wood's family.
But what this movie ultimately showed was change. Nothing from that period could exist. The bizarre extreme nationalism of the governments who went through Vietnam, as well as the anarchistic counter-movement were both creatures that could not live on. As were the lifestyles of those engaged, particularly the hippie movement. So what irritated me slightly was the ending, when the main characters got back together. But, as I reflected a bit more, the ultimate message of the Beatles was one of hope in dangerous and transitory times, when love can be abandoned for heartless ideals like nationalism, capitalism, revolution and even freedom. What the Beatles said, and what this movie showed well, was that love grounds life, and redeems us of our faults.
I thought this was a very wonderful movie, and I think I may enjoy it even more on a second viewing.