Across the Universe (2007)

Julie Taymor's 1999 film Titus put me off; I found her iconoclastic use of mixed media and her apparent lust for violence somehow too extreme for Shakespeare's musical and elegant language. In contrast, her current release, Across the Universe, an original movie musical, designed around more than thirty songs written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon as members of the Beatles, captivated, inspired, and moved me. Born in 1952, Taymor, like me, grew up on the Beatles and cut her cultural teeth on the tumultuous years of the war in Vietnam. I imagine that any red-blooded American born in the same era will find points of resonance in this film too numerous to express. Having heard the original versions of these songs for the past over three decades, before seeing Across the Universe I had always taken for granted their ageless appeal. The movie presents a wide cross-section of the Beatles' compositions, ranging from the very early "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (shot in muted pastels) to the later and more cutting-edge "I Am a Walrus" (shot with wildly imaginative psychedelic colors and images). Of particular note is the stunning gospel choir rendition of "Let It Be," but detailed musical and choreographic attention is given to every cover, to magnificent effect.

This is the story of love between Jude and Lucy, told against the backdrop of war, protest, and youthful disillusionment with authority. Jim Sturgess is Jude, the working-class Liverpool lad, who travels to America (Princeton University, to be exact) in search of his biological dad, who flew the coop while Jude was still a "bun in the oven." In the process, he meets Max (Joe Anderson), a disaffected student, who argues over fancy family dinners with his conservative father about making meaning of his life. Max introduces Jude to his sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), the blonde prep-school girl who evolves from a complacent patriot into a zealous antiwar activist when her high school sweetheart becomes one of the thousands of American casualties of that long, bloody, and ultimately wasted war. When Max is drafted promptly after dropping out of Princeton, the plot is off and running, from the bloody riots on the streets of Detroit to the bloody jungles of Vietnam, with our three heroes trapped in the vortex.

Perhaps we Beatles-loving baby boomers can appreciate the historical and artistic impact of Across the Universe more fully than audiences of a different generation. For us graying Americans, this movie will certainly take its place among the classics.