The Dangers of Pre-judging

Rating: 9/10 (15 November 2008)

When "Across The Universe" was released in 2007, my immediate reaction was that this would be a picture I would not go near. A bunch of clean living "High School Musical" 20- somethings going through synthetic emotional angst and destroying some great Beatles songs in the process. All in all this would make the karaoke wannabees of American Idol and X-Factor seem almost acceptable.
No, I thought. You may be old and decrepit, but at least you were there. Let today's children wallow in their melisma crazed mediocrity and you leave well alone.
Cut to November 2008. "Across The Universe" is showing on a British movie channel this weekend. The house is quiet, I am by myself; OK let's just watch ten minutes and have all my prejudices confirmed.
Two hours plus later I have been utterly transfixed and beguiled by one of the most enjoyable and compelling movies I have seen in a long while.
Right from "the off" I thought this might be better than I thought, when I saw it was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, probably the best TV and movie writing team that The UK has ever produced, and whose work goes back over 40 years and right up to The Bank Job with Jason Statham. (For younger American movie goers they script doctored practically the whole of "The Rock".)
And the story, developed as well by Julie Taymor, the director, was very compelling and very well told. Instead of some vacuous piece of teen nonsense, we are given a very believable story of young people struggling with their own beliefs and sense of identity and self worth in a very tumultuous and world changing time. And I can tell you, even though this is ultimately a fairy story, and uses some very stylised set pieces, the sense of reality and truth was very strong. (Although I don't know why Ian and Dick had Jude working in a ship yard; there was precious little ship building in Liverpool in 1964.)
And the set pieces were wonderfully done. The Induction scene was quite simply a tour de force of creative imagination, and even the Mr Kite extravaganza was a real hoot.
The way the songs and the fairy tale fantasy was integrated into a very real and poignant story was excellent and a testimony to director, set designers and, above all, the actors. I had a real sense of time and place and never for one moment did I think that "these people are trying to create something they know nothing about".
But ultimately it was the songs. The way they were used was superb and the arrangements were almost without exception imaginative, even breathtaking. Indeed the biggest compliment I can pay the music is that often the treatments gave greater depth to the songs than to be honest the originals actually deserved. Even as I am writing this I can't believe what I am saying, but it's true you know. I would actually like to get Prudence's version of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".
All in all treat this as a salutary reminder for old has-beens like myself. There are great things still happening out there; make sure your prejudices don't make you miss them.