Strawberry Jams

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2015)

There are and will always be musical diehards who adamantly oppose these types of musical tributes. Who steadfastly believe in maintaining the integrity and artistry of the original Beatles. Those people are missing out on something quite wonderful (and if they listened to Joe Cocker's rendition of With a Little Help from My Friends they would be quite surprised). Across the Universe is a scrambled story, at times valuing its music ahead of its characters or its narrative, and sometimes suffering from the Glee syndrome. That is the mistake of overstuffing the screen-time with as many relevant titles as possible, or in some cases, not exactly valuing the meaning of the song. Both commit the same error with Blackbird, and there are others that seem unnecessary in ATU and hastily speed up the story; Something and Across the Universe come to mind, and Sturgess and Carpio's character names seem there for that sole purpose. But for every one of these there are three others that seem to perfectly encapsulate what our characters are thinking, and what the period is trying to force onto them.
There are a few twists on the Beatles classics. Across the backdrop of towering rusty mills, a football team and cheerleader frolic on a turf that is so perfectly torched yellow it must have been Delbonnel's work in post production. Prudence sings I Want To Hold Your Hand in a wistful way, and the object of affection's gender is flipped, and it becomes tragic. Hold Me Tight switches between two aesthetics - the brightly lit and synchronised dancing of a prom, and the grungy underground den of a dance club in Liverpool. Evan Rachel Wood's version manages to capture that young love and one last night feeling much better than the original could.
Julie Taymor brings along her expertise as director of the stage musical The Lion King and ATU doesn't hold back an ounce of its theatricality. I've often referred to this film as an assortment of beautiful music videos, and the costuming, production design and eye-poppingly colourful cinematography from Delbonnel certainly speak for themselves. Bono's I Am the Walrus is run through a psychedelic rainbow filter, there are hauntingly slow underwater ballets, strawberries leak red juice and crimson splashes are superimposed with the Vietnam bombings while Anderson and Sturgess harmonise tightly from afar. There are some audacious stylistic set choices. As Jojo (modelled after Jimi Hendrix) arrives in New York, the city lights turns cold and blue-green, beggars and prostitutes serenade him from the street, neon signs buzz from all directions, and hundreds of corporate suits dance rhythmically while he is left out. The group stumble upon a bizarre travelling circus whose costumes and colours pop out in the countryside background. And Max returning injured from war is subject to a dizzyingly absurd dream sequence where the hospital beds churn like a Round Up amusement ride and identical seductive nurses provide the only relief: painkillers.
The narrative is one of love first and foremost, and the revolution of the 60s, the counter-culture, the protest of the Vietnam War, all secondary objectives. Taymor prefers to present this via songs rather than exposition or scenes, which is sometimes rushed due to the amount of them (34 separate musical numbers!) Yes it is a little cheesy, the hippie protest not really taken seriously, and the love story one we've seen before, but it is easy to get swept up in the journey. There are some fantastic little touches that scream Beatles love letter rather than a period piece. One is the upbeat timing on Max's frenzied Jude cry that Paul made iconic, which matches perfectly with the moment he sees his dear old friend again in America. Another is the end of Jeff Beck's A Day in the Life, where we frantically zoom in on Jude's discovery of what he thinks is Lucy's death, and the famous long note which took four pianos explodes with the newspapers scraps to reveal him sitting along on the beach, in mourning.
It culminates in a roof-top rendition of the ultimate make love not war song of the 60s. Sure, it's a global message but it's much more important for the lovestruck pair than it is for the political and contextual backdrop. Flaws can be found if you are persistent. The story lines are rather shallow; Max comes and goes and never really ends up anywhere after serving, relationship dynamics see-saw in 213 minutes, it's a little sappy at times...there are other problems that could be pointed out with closer analysis. But Across the Universe is stunning to look at, and easy to sing along with.