Across the Universe

Once again, I judged a movie by its cover! Well, not just by its cover but also what was written on its cover... It says "Across the Universe sweeps you up on a wave of terrific Beatles songs." and I love the Beatles! This particular movie often catches my attention whenever I browse a whole rack of DVDs every time I visit a record store. So earlier, I went straight to the mall from the office and while in the bus, I was singing a medley of Beatles songs in my head, so this movie came in mind and I was itching to buy a copy, which I did.



After the usual movie introductions and all that, the first scene took my breath away and made my eyes grow big. The boy was singing Girl, then I realized at that very moment, this is a musical. As the movie progresses, I realized that this is not just another "gayishly" made movie.

As what the review said on its cover, all the songs in the movie are from the Beatles and were re-arranged in a very different but very beautiful way. So beautiful it will make you sway and sing along, and just might make you click the rewind button. "It's like Glee and Grease rolled into one" a friend said through text as he watches this movie a few minutes after I watched my copy (coincidentally, he has a downloaded version of it). Compared to Grease, this movie is way better (IMO). Excellent cinematography, with shadows in the right places, angles with awesome views, dramatic lighting, moody scenes, psychedelic effects and costumes that will really give you a visual delight of what it is really like to be living in the '60s. There were also dance scenes as any musical would be, choreography was simple, but delighting. There was a part in the movie where you will be taken to a psychedelic trip by Bono, yes, the great U2 main man is in the movie!

I was very astounded with the arrangements of most the songs in this movie. All of them were surprisingly well arranged, some were far from the original, but despite of such, it will make you sing along and listen more to them, very addictive indeed. I was very astonished of their version of the song I Wanna Hold Your Hand and one song that almost made me cry was Let it Be, it was very soulful yet sad; watch it to find out. The rest of the songs were sung on how they were really supposed to be sung, with exceptions of some that will really surprise any Beatles fan.

This is not another "gayish" musical that targets girls and gay men as its main audience. I do believe that this movie will fit a variety of individual tastes. Straight men will find this movie appealing to their taste, mainly because the songs are from the Beatles and the plot is about sex, love, and heterosexual romance. No "poppish-rubbish" in this movie, despite of it being about pop music, culture, and lifestyle. Girls and gay men will like this movie as they will swoon over the gorgeous men singing rock ballads, if you like Mod fashion, you will like this movie; don't expect any high pitched singing divas in this one as well as glitzy and flamboyant costumes, there aren't. Overall, if I were to rate this movie with 5 as highest, I will rate this as 5! Midway into the movie it already became one of my top favorites in my growing collection of DVDs. I highly recommend this movie to all music lovers who listens to a wide genre of music, specially to the fans of the Beatles. I also highly recommend this one to all who loves watching quality movies with a good interweaving storyline and loves the artsy-fartsy kinds of stuff. This movie is light, fun, psychedelic, and an epic.

Here's the Trailer