Reminded me that Cinema is indeed an art form

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2008)

Remember? Cinema is an art form. Somewhere between the hollywoodish sky high explosions and walking talking 3D animals it seems we forgot about this. Movie-magic was somehow just limited to entertainment, rarely transcending into art. "Across the universe" makes this journey. And completes it in style.
The movie is beautiful. The lives and times of a bunch of young new yorkers living in a troubled era in American history is beautifully captured on canvas and then pulled on the movie screen. The colors liven up the psychedelic images that so truly defines an era that I've only read about. The music makes the time period come alive in a way that - well only Beatles could.
A young lad named Jude from across the Atlantic searching for his dad. A beautiful teenager named Lucy who loses her first love to a war that few understood (Bonus points if you made the connections on the names with the lyrics of those boys from Liverpool). A Princeton dropout. An up and coming singer. A troubled guitarist whose music is fueled by angst. The characters are rich and deep. The interconnections that happen between these individuals seems magical and real at the same time. Music is mastered and voiced adding a layer of beauty of the Beatles' tunes that defined a generation. In many ways the movie is reflective of current reality of war and violence, and in some ways vastly different than the world we live in today - somehow the energy of the grassroots power that existed back then (both in good and bad elements of society) seems to be lacking today.
Epochal events like Vietnam, Dr. King's death, Hippie movement are all so beautifully presented, that sometimes I felt it is almost a shame that those kids didn't change the world. Or maybe they did.
The only wiggling question I had at the end of the movie: was it a tad too long? At times, imagery became too abstract and livid to effectively contribute to the narrative. But it's just a brushing thought that in no way dilutes the beauty of the final product.
The movie was a delightful treat. It's a perfect movie for one of those lukewarm afternoons when it's raining outside and normally you'd grab a CD to listen to some good ol' rock n' roll. Pop this DVD in. You just might be pleasantly surprised.