Beatles are the soundtrack of the times

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2008)

I have waited for this film to be released on DVD, it seems like forever and played it as soon as Netflix came through. Although I felt that the film started a very bit slow, it did pick up nicely. My friend Roger is much better at analysis and criticism of films than I, so this is more of a consumer reaction than a real review.
When I saw clips for this, I kept thinking of Moulin Rouge, but I could never really get my head around Moulin Rouge. The use of Beatles songs is a soundtrack for the times, which is where Moulin Rouge broke down for me: the juxtaposition of the era and the modern songs came off as too arbitrary for my taste.
The musical arrangements and performances for Across the Universe were stellar and beautiful. For me, one of the true highlights of the film came when the plaintive and pure voice of Timothy Mitchum began singing Let It Be in that very moving sequence, with Carol Wood. It was somber, breathtaking and heartbreaking.
Seeing Joe Cocker pop up was a delight, though I'd have been even happier had he sung With a Little Help From My Friends. The musicality of the I Want You/She's So Heavy number, and the symbolism involved, was wonderful, and captured the zeitgeist of the counterculture viewpoint of US involvement in Vietnam.
I didn't mind Bono, though I've read some criticism of him in this (yes he was well disguised). His semi-Dennis-Hopper-Easy-Rider-meets-Doctor-Hook character was appropriate for its purpose. What I wasn't in love with was the Eddie Izzard-Mr. Kite sequence. It was a bit too dark for me, and the Monty Python-ness of it seemed a bit out of time synch for me, though I confess I can't recall whether Python was well known in the US prior to the 1970s, but if the time line of the film was in the least bit adhered to, this film was set in 1967-1968 (Martin Luther King was killed in the film), the summer of love giving way to more violent war protest and confrontations. I suppose that's being too picky. I really liked the rooftop concert nod and I wonder why Dana Fuchs wasn't being considered to play Janis Joplin.
All notes aside, I was loving this film, it was an honest look at the era, with all its warts, and how a generation could move from hopefulness and idealism to cynicism and disillusionment. I'm fairly certain when I can, I'll buy it for my collection.