What I walked away with was a swirling blend of images and music and a sense that I've just re-experienced the Sixties.
It's the latter song, through no fault of Izzard's, that most misses the mark. Rendered too harshly, almost shouted, it's the only interpretation of Beatles' music to not clear the high bar set by the opening song. The original was far more melodic and less, well, creepy. But this was a director's decision, and I think it's the only significant misstep for Taymor.
Here's a rundown on the rest of the songs: Anderson sings "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "Hey Jude," and "She Loves You." Sturgess, Wood and Lisa Hogg sing "Hold Me Tight." Sturgess, Joe Anderson and Dorm Buddies sing "With a Little Help from My Friends." Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum sing "Let It Be." Fuchs, Sturgess, Wood, and Anderson sing "Dear Prudence." Elliot Goldenthal and the Secret Machines sing "Flying," "Blue Jay Way," and "I Am the Walrus." Wood, Surgess, Anderson, Fuchs, Carpio, and Luther sing "Because."
Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther sing "Oh Darling." Sturgess and Anderson sing "Revolution." And Sturgess and Fuchs sing "All You Need is Love."
This young cast did a fantastic job, and though I hate making predictions, it seems certain that they're all destined for bigger and better things--Sturgess, especially.
Video:
Gorgeous picture. The MPEG-4 transfer (2.40:1 aspect ratio) produced a picture that's smooth-looking and has a pleasing three-dimensionality as well. What slight graininess there is seems to be a director's decision and part of the production design. Colors vary from sequence to sequence, based on the evocative content of the songs, but when you get to those strawberry bombs you see full saturation. It's one of the best pictures I've seen on Blu-ray in the past few months.
Audio:
Dynamite sound. Sony went with an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and "Across the Universe" really resonates across the TV room with a nice wide spread and the kind of mix that makes the sounds seem as if they exist naturally in space rather than emanating from a particular speaker source. The bass is strong without being overpowering or unnecessarily thumping, while the treble is clear and bright without sounding tinny. Additional sound options are Portuguese and Spanish 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese (Mandarin traditional).
Extras:
The plum in this basket is the commentary by Taymor and producer-composer Goldenthal, who talk in such interesting depth about the songs and the ways they approached them that it should enthrall even non-Beatles fans. There's a real art in what they've done, and hearing them talk about their methods only confirms it.
Five short features (in HD) are also included, running anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 apiece. The longest is "Creating the Universe," which shows behind-the-scenes clips that seem so intimate and sometimes so do-over that they could have been inserted onto a blooper reel. There's also a nice feature on "Stars of Tomorrow," which sounds like a fluff piece on the young stars. Really, though, it's a nice bonus feature that focuses as much on Taymor and her relationship with her actors. I expected a promo piece, but this is far from it, and packed with information and interesting footage. "All about the Music" is as it sounds, a shorter feature that includes footage of the singers in the recording studio. "Moving Across the Universe" shows Taymor at work. Would-be moviemakers will watch this one over and over again. And finally, "FX of the Universe," the shortest of the featurettes, takes a look at how the visuals came together.
There's just one deleted scene for "And I Love Her" that comes in at under a minute, so you have to wonder why it's even here. But a half-hour's worth of extended musical performances make up for it: "Hold Me Tight," "Come Together," "I am the Walrus," "Dear Prudence," "Something," "Oh Darling," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Across the Universe/Helter Skelter."
Also included on the Blu-ray version is an HD still gallery that has over 100 images in it broken up into five sections or characters, with Lucy getting the bulk of the shots. It's easy to navigate, with a slideshow option. Finally, there's a bookmark function that allows you to program your favorite scenes and play them back in that order.
The bonus features are substantial, but rather than a bookmark option I'd have wished instead for a click-on menu of the songs, so that I could go directly to them in the film. It seemed like a missed opportunity.
Bottom Line:
The music and images are the thing, and yet "Across the Universe" also manages to tell a timeless love story and evoke a rich collage/montage of the Sixties. That's quite a reach. Audacious? Certainly. But, surprisingly, it works. I couldn't tell you many more details about the plot. What I walked away with was a swirling blend of images and music and a sense that I've just re-experienced the Sixties. And without drugs? That's saying something.
Here's a rundown on the rest of the songs: Anderson sings "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "Hey Jude," and "She Loves You." Sturgess, Wood and Lisa Hogg sing "Hold Me Tight." Sturgess, Joe Anderson and Dorm Buddies sing "With a Little Help from My Friends." Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum sing "Let It Be." Fuchs, Sturgess, Wood, and Anderson sing "Dear Prudence." Elliot Goldenthal and the Secret Machines sing "Flying," "Blue Jay Way," and "I Am the Walrus." Wood, Surgess, Anderson, Fuchs, Carpio, and Luther sing "Because."
Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther sing "Oh Darling." Sturgess and Anderson sing "Revolution." And Sturgess and Fuchs sing "All You Need is Love."
This young cast did a fantastic job, and though I hate making predictions, it seems certain that they're all destined for bigger and better things--Sturgess, especially.
Video:
Gorgeous picture. The MPEG-4 transfer (2.40:1 aspect ratio) produced a picture that's smooth-looking and has a pleasing three-dimensionality as well. What slight graininess there is seems to be a director's decision and part of the production design. Colors vary from sequence to sequence, based on the evocative content of the songs, but when you get to those strawberry bombs you see full saturation. It's one of the best pictures I've seen on Blu-ray in the past few months.
Audio:
Dynamite sound. Sony went with an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and "Across the Universe" really resonates across the TV room with a nice wide spread and the kind of mix that makes the sounds seem as if they exist naturally in space rather than emanating from a particular speaker source. The bass is strong without being overpowering or unnecessarily thumping, while the treble is clear and bright without sounding tinny. Additional sound options are Portuguese and Spanish 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese (Mandarin traditional).
Extras:
The plum in this basket is the commentary by Taymor and producer-composer Goldenthal, who talk in such interesting depth about the songs and the ways they approached them that it should enthrall even non-Beatles fans. There's a real art in what they've done, and hearing them talk about their methods only confirms it.
Five short features (in HD) are also included, running anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 apiece. The longest is "Creating the Universe," which shows behind-the-scenes clips that seem so intimate and sometimes so do-over that they could have been inserted onto a blooper reel. There's also a nice feature on "Stars of Tomorrow," which sounds like a fluff piece on the young stars. Really, though, it's a nice bonus feature that focuses as much on Taymor and her relationship with her actors. I expected a promo piece, but this is far from it, and packed with information and interesting footage. "All about the Music" is as it sounds, a shorter feature that includes footage of the singers in the recording studio. "Moving Across the Universe" shows Taymor at work. Would-be moviemakers will watch this one over and over again. And finally, "FX of the Universe," the shortest of the featurettes, takes a look at how the visuals came together.
There's just one deleted scene for "And I Love Her" that comes in at under a minute, so you have to wonder why it's even here. But a half-hour's worth of extended musical performances make up for it: "Hold Me Tight," "Come Together," "I am the Walrus," "Dear Prudence," "Something," "Oh Darling," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Across the Universe/Helter Skelter."
Also included on the Blu-ray version is an HD still gallery that has over 100 images in it broken up into five sections or characters, with Lucy getting the bulk of the shots. It's easy to navigate, with a slideshow option. Finally, there's a bookmark function that allows you to program your favorite scenes and play them back in that order.
The bonus features are substantial, but rather than a bookmark option I'd have wished instead for a click-on menu of the songs, so that I could go directly to them in the film. It seemed like a missed opportunity.
Bottom Line:
The music and images are the thing, and yet "Across the Universe" also manages to tell a timeless love story and evoke a rich collage/montage of the Sixties. That's quite a reach. Audacious? Certainly. But, surprisingly, it works. I couldn't tell you many more details about the plot. What I walked away with was a swirling blend of images and music and a sense that I've just re-experienced the Sixties. And without drugs? That's saying something.
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