Pseudotherapy

Once in awhile, if you’re lucky, you see a film that resonates within you. It touches your soul with its visual poetry, leaving you spellbound and mesmerized for hours after the credits roll. For me, that film is Across The Universe.

It seemed destined to disappoint me, because from the moment I first heard about it, I’ve been in high anticipation mode. Every news clip, every trailer, every commercial heightened my excitement. Surely no movie could possibly live up to such expectations. So to be honest, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d hated it. Added to which, I walked into the theater in a Very Bad Mood. As so often happens when I make weekend plans, I got involved in a creative exercise that morning from which I was reluctant to walk away. Plus, Hilly had taken a bad fall the day before and couldn’t make it. Then I hit a traffic snarl on the way and got to the theater almost half an hour later than I’d originally planned. Juli had called twice to see where I was (see why I hate cell phones?), and I arrived thinking this was so *not* how I wanted to spend one of my precious weekend days. I keep to a schedule all week; I want freedom on the weekend, you know?

So as we joined the rest of our group, I was fully expecting the movie to be an irritatingly silly and predictable love story peppered with painful butcherings of some of the greatest songs ever written. I will say that my mood was somewhat smoothed by the previews for August Rush, which has now gone from never-heard-of-it to must-see status. And then … and then … Across The Universe began.

It began with a beautiful boy on a beautiful beach singing a beautiful Beatles song. And the first threads of the web were cast. For the next two hours I sat utterly enthralled as a cinematic masterpiece of unexpected brilliance unfolded before me. At times I leaned forward in my seat, enchanted by the sweetness. At times I fell back, blown away by the perfect coalescence of subject, music, cinematography and editing. Over and over, I was impressed with the unique contexts in which those so-very-familiar songs were placed (the bouncy “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” becomes a torchy lesbian love ballad, scary Uncle Sams growling “I Want You” reach out of recruitment posters to terrify near-naked draftees). More than mere eye/ear candy, Across The Universe is a feast for the soul.

A few caveats: I lived these times. I appreciated small touches in the film that viewers who weren’t up-close-and-personal with the era won’t even notice. I related to the characters in a way younger moviegoers can’t. Plus, I’ve been a diehard Beatles fan since 1964 ? I know every note and every word of every Beatles song ever released (and some that weren’t). Let me tell you, this movie is permeated with Beatlemania. It isn’t just the songs and the characters’ names. There are inside jokes here, there and everywhere. And yes, the basic plot is predictable and the main characters stereotypical. The “star-crossed lovers, love conquers all” storyline is as old as mankind, but I seriously doubt many people will be going to see Across The Universe expecting a riveting plot.

Still, as in everything, taste is subjective. One of our group (who hates musicals) walked out after about 30 minutes, and actually demanded a refund of her ticket price. I walked out on a cloud, on which I’m still floating. Bret has even donned his noise-filtering headphones in a desperate effort to escape my unending enthusiasm (I’m talking and I can’t shut up!). I can’t help it. Across The Universe didn’t just speak to me, it sang to me. And I have to sing back.

[tags] Across The Universe, Beatles, all you need is love[/tags]

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am and is filed under Music, Pastimes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.