Film Review: Across the Universe delivers stunningly in sound and style

There are those who will delight in disliking Across the Universe, Julie Taymor's new Beatle drenched rock opera tale of love and the 60s generation. It's flaws are built into it - heart on the sleeve, large overwrought emotions, simple tale. I thought I would be one of those. But from the opening unaccompanied vocal line from "Girl", by a solitary young man on a beautifully vacant west England beach, I was smitten and from there fell head first into love. Across the Universe tells a simple story: boy meets girl, loses girl when she gets caught up in a revolution, and then...Well you get the pictures. Jude (Jim Sturgess) comes to the US from Liverpool ostensibly in search of the American father he never met, but also to escape the factory that would be his only life. Upon arrival at Princeton where his father works, Jude meets the rebelliously charismatic Max (Joe Anderson) and in short order his beautiful sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Max drops out of college and moves to New York taking the artist Jude with him. They find a pad with singer Sadie, and when Lucy's boyfriend dies in Vietnam she joins them. Love ensues. The plot follows these characters and a slew of others as they live through the turbulent 60s, which is the second story being told her after that of love. The performances are uniformly excellant. Sturgess particularly is of perfect voice and looks the part of the Liverpudlian who could come from the same gene pool as the cute Beatle. He is a star in the making. Already a star Evan Rachel Wood delivers her usually spot on turn, engaging and delectable in equal parts. Joe Anderson delivers with energy, charisma and great edge as the quintessential lost boy in the decade of new decadance. Even Bono turns in a nice twist as Dr. Robert, a leering merchant of drug, ala Timothy Leary. But the heart, soul and centerpiece of this film is the music and lyrics of the Beatles. Beware, it is not delivered to purist satisfaction - much liberty is taken. But in doing so it reveals the utter beauty, deep emotionalism, and maleable lyrics and melodies of the songs of Lennon and McCartney, and a couple of Harrisons along the way. After the brief opening, the world of Jude's working class Liverpool, and Lucy's high brow East Coast wealth still caught in the 50s, are beautifully contrasted through the song "Hold Me Tight", performed by characters in each locale, proving the elasticity, and potential depth, of even the simplest Beatle tune. One character turns "I Want To Hold Your Hand" into a moving and believable cry for unobtainable love by a lesbian character. The Bono sung "I Am the Walrus" is a head spinning psychedelic romp that flows into the wryly delirious "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" sung by Eddie Izzard. The songs are seamlessly woven into the fabric of the story which is in large part the source of its magic. The other source is the often stunning visual style which gets progressively more outlandish and colorful as the decade  moves out of the faded 50s into the later psychedelic 60s. Across the Universe is a grand accomplishment combining music, choreography (got to be a Oscar there!), visual effects, and performance in an new and startlingly original way that does justice to the authors of its soundtrack. It also commits totally to the message of the decade it chronicles: we are all one and love is all you need. Thankfully it does so with the most brilliant colors and sounds of that era. If your good with that, you're in for one heck of ride.