Here is a bold, beautiful, visually enchanting musical about hippie history of 60's where we walk into the theater humming the hippie songs. Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe" is an audacious marriage of cutting-edge visual techniques, heart-warming performances, 1960s history and the Beatles songbook. Sounds like a concept that might be behind its time, but I believe in yesterday.
This isn't one of those hippie druggy 1960s movies, although it has what the MPAA shyly calls "some" drug content. It's not grungy, although it has Joe Cocker in it. It's not political, which means it's political to its core. Most miraculous of all, it's not dated; the stories could be happening now, and in fact, they are.
The music of the Beatles and hippie protest against the Vietnam War form the backdrop for the romance between an upper-class American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist.
Across the Universe is a 2007 musical romantic drama film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film's plot is centered around songs by The Beatles. The script is based on an original story credited to Taymor, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It incorporates 34 compositions hippie song originally written by members of The Beatles.
Opening to mixed reviews, Across the Universe was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Two members of the supporting cast, Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum, performed as part of a special Beatles tribute at the 50th Grammy Awards.
Jude (Jim Sturgess), a young shipyard worker from Liverpool, enlists in the Merchant Navy and jumps ship in New Jersey hoping to find his American G.I. father, whom he has never met ("Girl", "All My Loving"). Meanwhile, in Dayton, Ohio, Lucy Carrigan (Evan Rachel Wood) worries about her boyfriend Daniel (Spencer Liff) who is headed for service in the Vietnam War, while Prudence (T. V. Carpio) pines for a fellow female cheerleader ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"). Jude meets his father (Robert Clohessy), who is a janitor at Princeton University, and befriends Lucy's brother, the privileged and rebellious student Max (Joe Anderson) ("With a Little Help from My Friends"). Lucy receives a letter from Daniel ("It Won't Be Long"), but when Max brings Jude home with him for Thanksgiving Jude becomes attracted to Lucy ("I've Just Seen a Face").
Across The Universe OST theme film2007
Max drops out of school and he and Jude move into a bohemian enclave in Greenwich Village, living with aspiring singer Sadie (Dana Fuchs) and her guitarist Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy) ("Let It Be", "Come Together"). Max becomes a taxi driver while Jude finds work as a freelance artist. They are soon joined by Prudence, who has hitchhiked to New York the which started hippie movement and left an abusive boyfriend.
When Daniel is killed in Vietnam, Lucy decides to visit Max in New York before starting college ("Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"). She and Jude fall in love ("If I Fell"), while Max is drafted into the army ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)"). Prudence is attracted to Sadie, and becomes depressed when Sadie and Jojo begin a relationship. Prudence locks herself in a closet and has to be coaxed out by her friends, then disappears after wandering off during a peace rally ("Dear Prudence").
At a book function for existential drug guru Doctor Robert (Bono), Jude, Lucy, Jojo, and Max drink punch laced with hippie drug LSD. They embark with Doctor Robert on his "Beyond" bus and end up stranded outside the compound of psychonaut Dr. Frank Geary ("I Am the Walrus"). They come across a strange circus led by Mr. Kite (Eddie Izzard) and are reunited with Prudence, who has become a circus performer ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Because").
The Beatles - Hey Jude from Across The Universe
Back in New York, Sadie reluctantly agrees to her manager's demand that she drop her backing band, leading to a bitter breakup and musical split between herself and Jojo ("Oh! Darling"). Max is deployed to Vietnam, leading Lucy to become increasingly involved in the anti-war movement. Jude remains comparatively apolitical but devoted to Lucy ("Something"), and dislikes the increasing amount of time that Lucy spends with the "Students for a Democratic Republic". Jude suspects that their leader Paco (Logan Marshall-Green) is attempting to seduce Lucy, and this puts a strain on their relationship and affects Jude's art ("Strawberry Fields Forever"). Finally, Jude storms into the SDR office and points out the hypocrisy of the group's actions ("Revolution"), leading to an argument with Lucy in which she leaves him ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps"). When the police arrest protestors at an anti-war demonstration at Columbia University, Jude tries to help Lucy but winds up arrested ("Across the Universe", "Helter Skelter").
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
Having been in the United States illegally, Jude is deported back to England. Max is wounded in Vietnam and sent home, psychologically scarred and dependent on morphine ("Happiness Is a Warm Gun"). Lucy leaves the SDR when she discovers that Paco is making bombs; one of them explodes, killing Paco and destroying the SDR offices ("Blackbird"). On hearing this news Jude thinks that Lucy is dead, but upon learning from Max that she is alive he arranges to return to New York legally ("Hey Jude").
Jojo and Sadie reconcile and put on a rooftop concert, with Prudence as a member of their band ("Don't Let Me Down"). The police arrive to break up the concert, and Lucy cannot get through them. Jude manages to remain on the roof and sings all hippie anthem song "All You Need Is Love", and the police allow the band to accompany him. Lucy and Jude gaze at each other across opposite rooftops as the performance concludes ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds").
