Across the Universe

Watched Across the Universe with Stephen at The Cathay on Friday.

Across the Universe is a musical about 2 lovers from different continents, Jude from United Kingdom and Lucy from United States. "Jude (Jim Sturgess) is a young man working on the docks in Liverpool. Eager to escape, he travels to Princeton where he meets Max (Joe Anderson). But it's his meeting with Max's younger sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) that changes him. They quickly fall in love, but their relationship is tested by the chaos of the late 1960s and Max's unwilling tour in Vietnam. Throughout the film, characters burst into classics from the Beatles: frat boys sing "With a Little Help from My Friends," while Uncle Sam bursts from a recruitment poster with strains of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." " Extracted from RT

This movie is seriously too offbeat and alternative for me. Some of the musical numbers are pure magic, especially the psychedelic colour fantasy bus ride to visit a doctor and the imaginary swimming pool scene with people floating around. However, some of the musical numbers do not work for me and the Vietnam war aspect of the movie seemed way too out of point.

The movie made me put on a bewildered look throughout most of the show as the movie is certainly abstract and imaginative but plain weird. Julie Taymor has created a movie which i had never seen anything like it before but that doesn't mean it is good. Too creative actually harms the movie as the characters and story is neglected. I feel that this movie is an example of it and the character development is definitely not there. The story is not as strong and the side stories are rather distracting and not necessary. The artistry infused in it should be admired though.