Across The Universe

[soundmotor]

Since nothing yet has been posted on this movie, I'll bet most here had the same initial reaction to the plot outline that I did if you had any reaction at all, invisible as the film was. A 1960's Summer of Love, love story set to the Beatles catalog with an unknown cast directed by a Broadway icon with Viet Nam coursing along in the background.



So last fall my daughter wanted to take 3 of her 13YO friends to it for her birthday. She was very excited to see it but the film came & went so fast in the theater we did not see it there. (Boy, do I wish that was not so.) It finally came out a few weeks back and my wife snagged it out of the local redbox. When asked if I wanted to watch it with them I of course said "No effing way." and went on about my business. About 2/3 of the way through the film I couldn't take it anymore. I kept hearing great covers of Beatles tunes over & over. Finally I went downstairs and watched the last 30 minutes. When it ended, I watched it from the beginning. The next night I watched it again.

My sister is 12 years older than me and graduated HS in 1967. She was in the thick of the counterculture right on through having a drafted boyfriend who went to Viet Nam and was injured there. I can recall being dragged around Haight-Ashbury by her when I was younger to some places that seem incredible to me now that I was there to begin with. In some odd way I saw this film through her eyes. It really came across to me the way I recall her reactions to events that were depicted in the film which likely influenced why I liked it. In any case, I like it a lot. Visually it is a treat, the covers are fine, and some of the imagery set to them is spectacular! Not since "The Wall" or "Stop Making Sense" have I seen a music based film I've enjoyed as much as this one and it will likely be my first Blu-Ray purchase.