A visual, aural and emotional feast

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2007)

I grew up with the Beatles. I remember when Magical Mystery Tour came out - my brother bought it and played it non-stop. I remember the riots of the 60s, the horror of the Viet Nam war and the feeling of hope that saturated this time in history. This movie captures all of it: the look, the sound, the feel, the hair (Lucy's mother's hair in this movie is PERFECT) I got full-body chills about twenty times during this movie. It was like I was living those moments again: the fear, the joy, the hope, the wonder. And the music. Once again I am filled with gratitude for the Beatles and the miraculous songs they wrote. Just these disparate elements would have been enough, but Julie Taymor (and the writers of the screenplay) weaves it all together with a cast of believable characters caught in the throes of youth and revolution. I left the theater feeling like I was walking on air. A wonderful, wonderful film.
I am relatively hard to please when it comes to movies - a bad script, bad directing, careless attention to details can all damage my enjoyment of a film. Hollywood seems to crank out steaming crap pile after steaming crap pile these days. But Across the Universe is a revelation. In my opinion, it is a masterpiece.