[losborrachos]

Plot summary: An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.

Directed by Julie Taymor.

Cast

Evan Rachel Wood as Lucy Carrigan
Jim Sturgess as Jude
Joe Anderson as Max Carrigan
Dana Fuchs as Sadie
Martin Luther McCoy as JoJo
T. V. Carpio as Prudence
Bono as Dr. Robert
Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite
Salma Hayek as Bang Bang Shoot Shoot Nurses
Joe Cocker as Tramp, Pimp, Hippie

33 compositions of The Beatles were used in this movie (including "Across the Universe", "If I Fell", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "I've Just Seen A Face", "Hey Jude", "All You Need Is Love" and more), performed by the cast and additional musicians. Numerous references to The Beatles are made throughout the movie.

Sources: IMDB, Wikipedia


I really liked this movie. People keep comparing it to another jukebox musical, Moulin Rouge, and I guess Sgt. Pepper and the Lonely Hearts Club Band. I think it's only similar to Moulin Rouge in style and to Sgt. Pepper in the use of songs. But I mean, what captures the essence of the 1960s more perfectly than Beatles songs? The cast is full of unknowns, which is a surprise and ultimately does good for the movie. Jim Sturgess is a good singer (and very hot) and, unexpectedly, so is Evan Rachel Wood (what's up with young stars who can't really sing cutting albums when stars who CAN reserve their talents for the big screen?) Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther are sensational in their own rights.

The movie itself is crazy, and I mean CRAZY, you won't believe some of the acid-trip sequences it has. But again, it all suits the Beatles pattern, since we all know where the Fab Four mainly got their inspiration from. It also has a nice little anti-war and anti-violence message which, again, is appropriate for the current situation and for the Beatles-inspired flick that it is. It's designed and photographed beautifully by Mark Friedberg and Bruno Delbonnel respectively. The score, which incorporates Beatles tunes, is composed by Elliot Goldenthal. The soundtrack features 16 full-length tracks of songs taken from the movie--I have it, and it's my new Hairspray.

I gladly recommend this to anyone who loves The Beatles as much as I do and to all lovers of good, fun movies.

[revontulet]

I haven't seen this yet (unfortunately) but I love Jim Sturgess' VOICE! It's so attractive the boy can sing!

[Melyxcious]

I want to see this movie so badlyyyy but none of the theaters here in Vegas plays it ;___;

[HeffyEnd]

I might see this out of curiousity. But I don't know.. it looks.. for lack of a better term, a bit teenybopper-ish? I know it's about teenagers so it makes sense, and I'm not saying that as a bad thing, but I guess I just prefer my acid trippy hippie films in Jodorowsky fashion, as opposed to.. Evan Rachel Wood singing Beatles songs.

[someday4_2]

Jim Sturgess has one amazing and amazingly hot voice... he's so handsome and he's a pretty good actor. It's too bad I can't find his pictures anywhere =X

[losborrachos]

^^don't worry, the main characters are not in their teens save for lucy and prudence at the very beginning (they start early in the decade and go through the years pretty quickly). and my acid trip reference was to sequences, not the entire film... perhaps this is too much of a comparison, but the beatles, being the crazy idealists/tortured souls they are, is ultimately a mainstream band. the movie as a whole, while is peppered with such surrealist deviations, is very much mainstream. so less, umm, jodorowsky, more arronofsky, if you please.

additionally, while i'm not into evan rachel wood's latest antics with manson, i think she has talent... if not for singing, definitely for acting.

[HeffyEnd]

^^don't worry, the main characters are not in their teens save for lucy and prudence at the very beginning (they start early in the decade and go through the years pretty quickly). and my acid trip reference was to sequences, not the entire film... perhaps this is too much of a comparison, but the beatles, being the crazy idealists/tortured souls they are, is ultimately a mainstream band. the movie as a whole, while is peppered with such surrealist deviations, is very much mainstream. so less, umm, jodorowsky, more arronofsky, if you please.

additionally, while i'm not into evan rachel wood's latest antics with manson, i think she has talent... if not for singing, definitely for acting.

Yeah, I think Evan is a good actress, I'm just a little annoyed by her. Not necessarily her personal life, but the fact that she's in all these teen indie films, often playing pretty much the same character.

I mentioned Jodorowsky because The Holy Mountain had a lot to say (politically, spiritually) within it's surreal and bizzare imagery, not to mention it was financed by John & Yoko. So the whole 60's, anti war, surreal kind of feel reminded me of it, but in a PG-13 way. Of course I'm saying this, having not seen the film, so it could have very little in common with a Jodorowsky film or any other similar film from the 60s-70s, but that's just what I got from the clips & previews I've seen.

[losborrachos]

^i simply don't watch indie, it's too pretentious for me, which is why i hadn't really seen evan since... 'pretty persuasion'. wait, i saw 'the upside of anger' but can't remember a single thing about it so it probably doesn't count. let's just say i'm more excited for 'bronte' than i am for 'phantasmagoria'.

and while i've heard of jodorowsky and his work, i've never really seen any of his films (i'm not much into cult movies... it's all about the mainstream as you can probably tell), but if the trailers is your basis of judgment, i agree that they seem to emphasize a lot on the weird stuff and not so much on the realist stuff, in relation to their actual proportions in the movie.

before everyone else gets scared off by this discussion, the weird stuff is the good kind of weird that i can actually stomach (and most importantly, beautifully and tastefully done), so i assume even the most commercial brat pack-type of audience can enjoy it as well. i say give it a try. even if you didn't like it, i'm sure there are less entertaining ways to waste $8 and 2 hours than listening to the beatles songs on thx (like watching 'sydney white'... man if the prince guy wasn't so delectable i would've been VERY upset).

[AzN_cHiC89]

I love indie movies and this was one of the movies that I had to see. I saw this about 3 weeks ago at the Landmark and I loved it. Jim Sturgess was great as Jude, but it was kind of eiffy with the chick that played Lucy. I loved how some scences were shot, especially the scene where Lucy's brother goes to the courthouse for the draft. That was so cool.

Great soundtrack. Even though, I already had most of the songs used in this movie by the Beatles. The cast did a very good job at covering the songs, especially Jim Sturgess. He has an amazing voice. He's also very very good looking.

[hippiehop]

I'm watching this tomorrow with my boyfriend. I've been waiting to see it ever since I saw a preview for it like 6 months ago. I LOVE Beatles music. Plus, the Jude guy is cute!

[Malice_Kaiser]

This movie was SO GOOD. Very, very trippy at parts, but still a great indie film. It was so amazingly well-done and everything.

Though I must say I enjoyed the sound track probably more than the film itself. XD The music is SO GOOD. Jude (the main guy) and Prudence (the Asian girl) have such amazing, gorgeous voices.

[MissMonika]

I love this movie!! It was so visually and musically ingenious. Yes, it does remind me a little bit of Moulin Rouge but that shouldn't be considered an issue. I was never really into The Beatles so this movie really helps me to appreciate the originals.

And yea, Jim Sturgess is so hot! Very good looking. I swear, when I first heard him sing, I totally thought of Ewan MacGregor. And I didn't know Evan Rachel Wood could sing like that.

[Soy]

gah such a damn limited release, i have to go all the way to gainesville to catch it

[melon]

I want to see this so bad!!
Jim Sturgess is a cutie.

[Misao]

i watch this movie! i started to like the beatles's music after watching across the universe. i liked the beginning more than the end. anyway, i thought both of the guys were really good lookin and their voice too.

[ooo_it's_mE]

the previews remind me of Rent, just without the AIDS. anyways, I really wanna see this movie.

[Tropical Paradise x3]

I want to watch reallyyyy bad! But the closest place that is showing it is about 3 hours away?-.-; How lamee. Some of my guy friends are going after their last class on Thursday, driving all the way there just to watch it. Hahaha~ I would loved to go but my mom would never allow me to

Still dying to see it. Guess I have to wait for DVD? T___T

[AppleOfMyEYE]

i watched this movie, but had no idea it was a musical.
and that scene with the circus is bizarre.
but overall, it's worth watching and has a sweet ending.

[GoRgYnA]

I want to watch reallyyyy bad! But the closest place that is showing it is about 3 hours away?-.-; How lamee. Some of my guy friends are going after their last class on Thursday, driving all the way there just to watch it. Hahaha~ I would loved to go but my mom would never allow me to

Still dying to see it. Guess I have to wait for DVD? T___T

lol where do you live?

[Tropical Paradise x3]

lol where do you live?

Milton, Florida.
This tinyy town where people can't think outside of the box-.-;
So apparently the closest place showing it is Tallahassee >.<




Do you know when it's coming to DVD?