Monday, October 29, 2007

Across the Universe

Across the Universe is an ambitious project: A musical in which every single song was originally recorded by The Beatles. That ambition allows director Julie Taymor to create some particularly memorable moments, but it also ends up being her undoing.

Here's the story, set in the late sixties: An English lad named Jude (Jim Sturgess) travels from Liverpool to America (Princeton, specifically) to find his biological father, who he has never met. While on the Princeton premises, he meets Max (Joe Anderson) a lovable scamp who's part Ferris Bueller and part Zach Morris. Max brings Jude home with him for Thanksgiving, where two momentous things happen: 1. Max announces to his family his intention drop out of Princeton and move to New York City (his parents are understandably nonplussed), and 2. Jude meets and falls for Max's li'l sis, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Max and Jude move to the Big Apple, followed shortly thereafter by Lucy, where they meet Bohemians Sadie, Jo-Jo, and Prudence. Trouble ensues when Max gets drafted, and their differing reactions to this unpleasant reality drive a wedge between Jude and Lucy.

It all sounds pretty well put-together, but it's actually kind of a underdeveloped mess. It's underdeveloped because of the framework Taymor imposed on herself, and it's a mess because of some of the choices she made. We'll deal with each of these in turn.

First of all, there's the problem that, in a musical, most of the dialogue is lyrics, and in this musical, most of the lyrics are Beatles songs. This is not to disparage The Beatles, whom I hold in the highest esteem, but a lot of their early songs weren't that deep and a lot of their later songs weren't that comprehensible. Add to that the fact that some songs just don't perfectly fit, and Taymor is left trying to build a structure out of some combination of Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and melted Legos.

I'll give a case in point for each. First, the early songs actually work the best (and it's probably telling that the musical loses focus part way through, when Taymor eschews everything pre-Revolver). And while "I Want To Hold Your Hand" looks and sounds beautiful when sung by Prudence (T.V. Carpio), it soon becomes apparent that the person she's singing it about will not appear again in the film. At that point, the song can only act as exposition for the character of Prudence, so--while Taymor does manage to add a bit of context through her visuals--all we really get is the fact that Prudence likes to hold hands.

The later Beatles corpus (post-Sgt. Pepper) does not hold up as well. The general abstractness of the lyrics of these songs is effective in evoking a mood or painting a picture, but does very little to move a story along, and the audience is just left scratching their heads as to why one of the characters is singing about, for example, "a soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the National Trust."

And then there are songs that work in part but not in whole. When Jim goes to confront a communist-leaning mentor/friend of Lucy's, the choice of the song "Revolution" seems perfectly apt. The verses do work beautifully at building the tension, but then Jim gets to the chorus and has to sing "Don't you know it's going to be all right" when he clearly does not believe this to be the case, and the whole thing just falls apart.

I don't want to give the impression that each and every musical number is an unmitigated failure, however. Lucy singing "It Won't Be Long" as she waits for her boyfriend's return works brilliantly, as does Jim's "I've Just Seen A Face" upon meeting (and falling for) Lucy. The greatest feather in Taymor's cap, however, is her handling of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." Since the song has very few lyrics that go beyond the title, Taymor doesn't have too much directorial gymnastics to do, but she lands the small backflip she does perfectly: The "I Want You" of the song is sung to the just-drafted Max by posters of the finger-pointing Uncle Sam bearing the same three-word slogan, and the "She's So Heavy" is mournfully wailed by Max and his fellow new recruits as they carry the Statue of Liberty through the jungles of Vietnam. It's heady and symbolic and a bit trippy and somewhat reminiscent of Moulin Rouge, but it works.

The same cannot be said about the absolute nadir of this film, a two-song montage tag-teamed by Bono and Eddie Izzard. For reasons never adequately explained, the gang gets onto a very Magical-Mystery-Tour-looking bus driven by Dr. Robert (Bono). Dr. Robert is on a mission to meet with a fellow counter-culture shaman, and he takes the gang along with him, stopping along the way to sing "I Am the Walrus" (which sounds cool, but adds nothing to the story). When Dr. Bono actually makes it to his destination, however, the person who is the entire reason he took this freaking trip won't meet with him. So Bono, inexplicably, just turns his bus around and drives away, leaving the main characters wherever they are. Wherever they are turns out to be the domain of Mr. Kite (Eddie Izzard), who shows the gang what I suppose could be construed as a circus performance set to the song "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." This number, however, is both trippy and dull. It's musically somewhat cacophonous ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is far from the Beatles' best work, and Eddie Izzard pretty much just craps all over it). And on top of that, the entire episode is even more pointless than Bono's pointless "I Am the Walrus" episode.

For all this mess, however, Across the Universe is still a memorable movie, and still a rewatchable movie (provided that the rewatching is done with the knowledge that you'll be viewing a series of Beatles' covers music videos, and not a totally coherent film). The numerical result of this unevenness is a 2, but it's not a 2 borne out of apathy. Rather, it's an averaging of the very good with a very bad, with a couple bonus points thrown on for the ambition of the project and its usefulness as an intro to the Beatles for those few human souls who don't know much of their work (as it was for my colleague, Wicked Little Critta).

16 comments:

Moshe Reuveni said...

First I would like to state that colleagues of mine who don't know much about the Beatles' work would not be colleagues of mine for long.
Bad joke #1 behind me, I would move on to bad joke #2 and say - having not watched the film (and after this review this status might last) that the guy singing about the soap impressions probably did so because he was going down and needed a fix.

But what I really wanted to say is that I disagree with you on Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite, which I consider to be a very original song: Basically, John Lennon took an old retro poster and made it into a song; given the starting point and the novel idea, the result is not bad at all. You might want to look out for the Billy Connelly version of the song, which he performs the way it may have been originally intended when the poster came out - as in, by a street announcer reading the text aloud (albeit with some music). Paul Simon tried for a similar stunt with his song Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War, where he sets off by basically describing a painting.

Mike said...

Outstanding review, DW. Interesting point aobut Mr. Kite, Moshe. Personally, I think the Beatles are so overrated it's absurd. Their later
work is pretty good, but I could really leave anything before Revolver. I Limed both versions of the song, and this is what I think: Though there are much worse Beatles songs, Kite is easily the most crap song on Sgt Peppers, which I'm not much of a fan to begin with, admittedly. I listened to the Eddie Izzard version, and it sounds like he's taking the piss. Plus, it's Eddie Izzard. The guy could be at his dying mother's bedside, and it would sound like a larf.

Dr. Worm said...

Many thanks to both of you for your comments, but if I may turn to the matter of "Mr. Kite."

I don't dislike the song at all; I actually agree with the terms Moshe uses to describe it: "very original" and "not bad at all." All that said, however, if I had to rank every Beatles song, I doubt Mr. Kite would crack the top 100.

And that's relevant, since Taymor can only squeeze so many songs into a movie (she managed to squeeze in 32). Any song she chooses has to be either really relevant or really good. I was more ready to accept the also-irrelevant "I Am The Walrus" because that, if you ask me, is a top-10 Beatles song. She can be forgiven for trying to shoehorn it in. Mr. Kite, on the other hand, is by no means a "must-include" song, and its irrelevance in the movie only serves to highlight that point.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rank every Beatles song.

Wicked Little Critta said...

A pitch-perfect review, DW. I couldn't have said any of it better myself. I agree that it is definitely memorable, and also definitely re-watchable. One plus was the fact that two or three of the songs have been in my head since I saw it over a week ago, which were very well done.

But I agree. Overly ambitious, quite creative, but also sloppy and at times irrelevant.

If I must comment about Mr. Kite, I actually kind of liked that part...granted, it was pretty much firmly planted in left field, but still, it was a spectacle. But they definitely could have done without it.

My favorite songs were: "Something," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "I Want You," and ...I think it's called "Falling."

Neal Paradise said...

YRF, let's not forget "When I'm Sixty-Four," which makes me want to squash field mice under my boot.

if anybody can do this material, Julie Taymor can. this seems right up her alley. i saw The Lion King in London and got a new definition of the word "innovative." i was VERY curious about this movie since i first heard about it. sadly, like with World Trade Center, none of my friends wanted to go see it with me. your lukewarm review of it, DW, just makes me want to see it more. the fact that it's not really a coherent movie, and shouldn't be viewed as such, is definitely not a problem for me. BUT, it's very good i now know that going in to it. if i were to walk into Across the Universe expecting an actual story, as i would have, i would feel very dissatisfied.

Dr. Worm said...

PM: Totally agreed. See the film, but see it for spectacle and not for story.

WLC: Thanks for the the kind words, and the song "Falling" is actually titled "I've Just Seen a Face."

Mike said...

"YRF, let's not forget "When I'm Sixty-Four," which makes me want to squash field mice under my boot."

*laughing like a hyena* I heartily agree. I do think that the movie sounds like an interesting trainwreck. It's a very mercenary idea, and you could apply it to multiple bands. Lock me in my study for a day, and I could write, say, the Black Sabbath musical.

Neal Paradise said...

i would give my left arm (my right arm isn't worth very much) to see a Black Sabbath musical!

Dr. Worm said...

"Interesting trainwreck." Now that's a word-pairing I should've used in my review.

And I find it odd that YRF and PM are disparaging "When I'm Sixty-Four" so much--which is probably overly cutesy but acceptable in the right mood--and mentioning nothing about "Within You Without You," which is basically just George Harrison self-indulgently goofing off on a sitar.

In fact, to provoke further debate, I'll offer my ranking of Sgt. Pepper songs. (It's not the full ranking of every Beatles song that I wanted to do, but it's a start.)

1. A Day in the Life
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
3. Lovely Rita
4. Good Morning Good Morning
5. Getting Better
6. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
7. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
8. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
9. Fixing a Hole
10. With a Little Help from my Friends
11. She's Leaving Home
12. When I'm Sixty-Four
13. Within You Without You

Mike said...

Hmmm.....maybe I WILL write the outline to a Black Sabbath musical and post it here. Look for it soon!

Mike said...

Rural English teenager Johnny and his cousin are playing with an Ouija board in the basement, and they start to see strange visions ("Black Sabbath"). His cousin freaks out, and
is sent to a mental asylum. Meanwhile, the Devil professes his desire for the souls of the disenfranchised in decaying England ("N.I.B"). Johnny notes the sorry state of affairs at the end of the 60's ("Wicked World"), and ends up joining a band. Given the fear by the Cold War ("War Pigs/Electric Funeral") and overwhelmed by their sudden success (almost as if somebody made a deal with the devil.....), the band engages in lots of illegal drug taking ("Hand of Doom/Fairies Wear Boots"), which
has less than desirable effects on Johnny's state of mind. The band tours America where Johnny switches from acid to marijuana ("Sweet Leaf"), and is visited by his cousin, out of the asylum. Now a born-again Christian and concerned for Johnny's soul, he pleads for Johnny to leave the band, repent, and consider an honest life ("After Forever") Johnny walks through New York City with his girlfriend, and is struck by a particularly passionate anti-war protest ("Children of The Grave"). Feeling depressed about his empty existence, he wallows in self-pity ("Solitude"), and gets stoned and lets his mind wander while watching a space shuttle launch on TV ("Into The Void"). After a fit of depression after his girlfriend leaves him ("Changes") cultimating in a cocaine overdose ("Snowblind"), he attempts to assert his independence, get clean, and move on ("Under The Sun/Every Day Comes And Goes")However, he is tormented by horrible nightmares, and visions that leave him terribly shaken ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath")/ He finds refuge in self-professed witch Sabbra ("Sabbra Cadabra"), who reacquaints Johnny with acid ("A National Acrobat"). His escalating acid use fills Johnny with delusions of grandeur and superiority ("Hole In The Sky"). Johnny's mental status continues to deteriorate ("Meglomania"), coming
to a head as Johnny verbally rips a concert audience apart in front of his horrified band ("The Writ"). The band confronts Johnny and accuses him of getting further away
from their roots ("Back Street Kids"), then gives him the boot. Johnny tries to put on a brave face and take comfort in Sabbra ("You Can't Change Me"), who subsequently leave him. The increasily pathetic
Johnny mourns his loss ("She's Gone"), and drowns his sorrows in liquor and prostitutes ("Dirty Woman"). He returns to England after the news of his father's death ("Junior's Eyes"), and begins
to hallucinate, seeing idealized visions of the women in his life floating in the air through the woods. ("Air Dance") All but broken, Johnny wanders the streets,
as the citizens of Birmingham comment on his dangerous nature ("Johnny Blade"). After his mind unravels ("Paranoid"), the Devil appears to Johnny, appealing to him
("N.I.B., reprise") and tricking him into believing that he has sold his soul.

......Holy Jebus, that's dark. Maybe that's why there's no Black Sabbath musical.....yet......

Mike said...

Why is "Good Morning, Good Morning" so high on the list? That never struck me as much more that production-enhanced fluff.

Moshe Reuveni said...

I think you need to take the context into account. The Beatles were amongst the first to create a proper studio album with mixes of artificial sounds and such, which in the case of Good Morning included a fox hunt and live animal action. Not that I'm saying Good Morning is a good song, I'm just trying to explain why the Beatles are rated as high as they are.
As for my picks from the Pepper album, I think it's one of those albums where the whole is bigger than its components. That said, my top three would include the doctor's top two + getting by with a little help from my friends (which is always true).

Wicked Little Critta said...

That's a very crazy, depressing sounding musical, YRF. Broadway might not be ready for that one yet...

Mike said...

But I wrote it in half an hour. That's gotta count for something....

....seriously, what I meant with that post is that I don't think it's that hard to do what Taymor did. Sometimes, it's a lot more dubious, like the Queen musical. *shudders*

Dr. Worm said...

YRF, first, nice work with the Black Sabbath musical. Seems it could work, though probably not with a PG rating.

And to justify my high "Good Morning Good Morning" rating: Have you ever heard the version of that song from The Beatles Anthology? It's pretty much the same song with all the trumpets and ridiculous noises stripped off, and it actually kinda rocks. I think I automatically imagine that I'm listening to the Anthology version when I hear the Sgt. Pepper version, which explains why it landed at number 4 for me.