Ahoy, squirts! Quint here to introduce our own Midol Girl who was moved to write in after catching a screening of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. I recently saw the film as well and I think it's getting a lot of unwarranted crapola. It seems the lovely Midol Girl is of the same opinion. Enjoy her piece!

There are moments in your life when exactly the right thing is spoken at a time when you needed to hear it most. You watch the perfect film for what you are going through at the time. Those movies are precious, those movies are rare, and Across The Universe is one of those kinds of movies.

I haven’t written for Ain’t it Cool in some time. That’s because I have been really down the past month. The kind of down where I haven’t really even been my opinionated, full of piss and vinegar Midol Girl self, I’ve been (to be quite frank) kind-of uninspired, depressed and just an overall lame-o. Overall lame-os in my humble opinion don’t write the best reviews for internet sharing time. That’s not to say you have to be a happy-go-lucky overly enthusiastic sugar-coated corn ball. I’ve read plenty-o awesome diatribes from some pretty perturbed jack-asses in my day. But lackluster pieces of writing that come from uninspired “I’m writing this because I have to” places end up being big old boxes of bland. I’d rather be offensive than be insipid in my bloggy blabs.

I’m not about to dive into a cathartic emo rant here, or spew out some half-baked beatnik tortured poetry but this review is about a film that knocked me out of a rut that the sad mundane routines of daily life (including watching formulaic film) rolled me into.

Across the Universe is anything but humdrum. It’s a far out, multifaceted musical masterpiece about war, love and human expression. It uses the timeless, unifying and universally recognizable songs of the Beatles as a narrative device to drive the plot, reveal the characters and explore human nature. It unearths questions and truths from the era that shaped our modern attitudes and who we are as a society today. Our intrinsic search for meaning as a human race manifests itself through expression of love, war, art and music.

Directed by Julie Taymor, this film is based in the 1960’s during The Vietnam War, just prior to and following the assassination of Martin Luther King, it chronicles a love story between a girl named Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Jude (Jim Sturgess). They have seemingly opposing backgrounds, countries and lifestyles. Lucy is a blonde, studious preppy girl living at home. Jude is a wandering artist in search of his father in the USA. Jude happens to stumble into Lucy’s brother Max (Joe Anderson) while seeking out his father who’s the Ivy League school janitor. After a forming a fast friendship with Max, a rebel in his own right, Jude is introduced to Lucy. Romantic sparks don’t fully ignite until the three of them move to New York, and have their minds blown apart by their out-of-the fish-bowl sweet taste of freedom, adulthood and rock and roll revolution. It is here where Jude and Max move into an apartment rented out by a Janis Joplinesque up and coming rock star named Sadie (Dana Fuchs). They lead a lifestyle of growth and personal exploration through art, music, and love- oh - and just a little recreational heavy dope usage. Don’t worry it doesn’t glorify it, anyone who knows anything about the times knows it’s securely in context. When Max is drafted, the characters’ personal questioning and goals manifest themselves in contradictory ways. Lucy’s emotional response to the war, and fear of her brother’s survival, is through political activism. Jude personal struggle with the violent changing times causes him to look deeper inside, avoid the televised news, pose personal questions and create art. These very different approaches to such huge matters leaves the two at odds grappling with their purpose and place.

The film’s over all tone and mood is like a surreal, fanciful dream sequence grounded in reality. It plays out like one would look back at their life, transitioning seamlessly, scene to scene not unlike the way memories move in our minds. Moments of crisp dialog and sharply focused experiences move in and out of warped, outlandish sequences leaving us more with an after-taste of what the time was really like. This is such a perfect tone to set for a nostalgic story based on historical events to familiar songs.

Across the Universe is a story told in the traditional way of a musical where significant points in the plot turn into choreography and song. Characters start to sing their lines (in this case, Beatles’ songs) and dance. The editing was practically flawless. Camera movement and shots were dynamic but not distracting or pretentious. The art direction was pretty much dead-on accurate, yet extraordinarily creative at the same time. The performances were captivating, sincere, and moving. The untraditional story-telling aspect to this movie lies in the realization of the Beatles’ songs.

The Beatles don’t perform any of the songs. The characters in the film sing them and a lot of the songs are melodically punched-up or remixed. Plus a few of the musical segments play out like super wild acid trips. So if you are huge Beatles fan looking for a “Beatles Musical” or bio of the band then maybe you won’t be as crazy about this movie as I was. There is also a really outlandish artsy slant to this film with sentimental moments bordering on cheese over-dose. So if you aren’t able to suspend your disbelief easily and have a gag reflex for mushy love stories and all sorts of people bursting into song and dance (yes including macho men) for art’s sake then you may not leave the theatre jumping up and down like I did. I must say though, I’ve been known to get barfy myself at romance scenes and have an aversion to overly goofy musical numbers that seem to come out of nowhere but I managed to love this tale through and through. I think that’s because the director really “got” her subject matter and crafted a film that respected the integrity of the music behind the film and the sincerity of the characters.

What I like most about this musical, and what sets it apart from most of the others out there is that the story was inspired by the pre-existing songs. The Beatles songs themselves weren’t written to be a musical or dropped into a pre-existing story. The music and the mood were there first, and the song’s meanings set the tone and pace of the film. Usually a movie is made and the music and songs are thrown in after to spice up the flick or evoke an emotion.

As I mentioned earlier, the timing of this movie dropping into my life was perfect. It was an inspirational story and I was inspired. It was an entertaining story and I was entertained. But most of all it was out of the box and original in a time when things are getting to be pretty off-the mill formulaic and humdrum. I would definitely suggest going to see this movie if you are feeling blah, drained of your piss and vinegar or like an overall lame-o.

-Midol Girl