Movies We've Just Watched discussion
Across the Universe
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[deleted user]
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Jan 17, 2008 09:51AM
Has anyone seen this movie?? I absolutely loved it!!!!! It comes out on DVD Feb. 5th, I think.
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I agree..the soundtrack is pretty great too!!! I listen to it all the time!!!

http://sevendeadlyarts.blogspot.com/2...


Re: "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - Roger Ebert gave a really good review (of course!) to this movie and he mentioned that it wasn't until he heard that song sung in this movie that it occurred to him it could be a sad song.
Because I know what you mean, Jenna -- it's practically blasphemy to prefer anything other than the original, but I had always regarded the song as sort of silly/fun. But it became much more meaningful within the context of wanting to hold someone's hand but not being able to, ever.
Does anyone know if all of the people in the movie sang the songs themselves?
Also, I do have the soundtrack, and there are a couple of songs from the movie that aren't on there, strangely. One is "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" (I believe that's the title of that one) and the other is "I Want You" -- wasn't THAT an incredible interpretation! There might be other songs missing, though.
Just one thing - I wish the brother (Maxwell?) had been a little more manly-looking. He seemed a little effeminate to me which, well, whatever - anyway, it made Jude all the more appealing! Love him!

As for Kate's comments,I just want to add
1) I think "Hold Your Hand" may be the point at which I knew that the film had completely won me over. An amazing and poignant performance.
2) Having grown up during some of the time depicted in the film (yeah, I know, I'm old...) it seems to be that ideas of what constitutes "manliness" were part of what were somewhat being idealistically tossed out the door at the time..


Esp. to Robert and Karen -- I really appreciate your p.o.v. on this! I was born in 1976 but have often wished I was born earlier so I could at the very least have had the chance to at least mourn the fact that I could have gone to a Beatles concert and never made it!
I think it's cool that you guys can look back and say, "Yeah, that's how it really was." I mean, it really wasn't very long ago, and I often wonder if "period pieces" (not that "Across the Universe" is strictly that: but you know what I mean - movies set in the past) get it right.
One of my theories about Maxwell - okay,
SPOILER ALERT --
is that he was supposed to very much look emaciated and worn-down after the Vietnam War, but since of course he was played by the same actor before and after the war scenes and might have even filmed some of them the same day he just looked emaciated to me the whole time.
So I guess I want to substitute the word/phrase of non-manly to a less sexist, more accurate phrase to describe how he looked to me: slightly sickly. He was just so THIN!
Perhaps the bottom line is, he didn't really fulfill my definition of "cute." :) Different tastes and all that. And I can see how if he has even the faintest resemblance to Jude Law (I don't see it, but that's just me) OF COURSE he would be ethereally handsome to the careful observer. :)

This was hands-down my favourite film of 2007, and one of the best movies I've ever seen. I have both soundtracks, because when I went looking for it I didn't see/know about the two-disc edition, and later when I found it I of course had to have it!
The way they put this movie together is ... There's no word for it. I'm just so impressed! My parents-in-law didn't like it, they thought it made a mockery of Vietnam (they're Canadian, so they weren't in Vietnam or anything, this was just they're perspective), and another person I talked to didn't like the adaptations of the songs, which really just gave me a pretty low opinion of their music taste, frankly. Another got all sorts of political ideologies from it that sparked a heated hour-long debate because we so strongly disagreed.
The debates are endless, the adaptations of the songs were amazing, the incorporation of the songs into the script and vice versa is brilliant - what's not to love?
If pressed, I think "Hey Jude" is definitely one of my favourites, though there are others like "Hold your Hand" that are also wonderful. One of the things that makes Beatles songs so brilliant is how they can be adapted, remade, and sung in a whole new way. They're can be timeless, and yet they also sum up an entire era. They're simple, too, which means people can do so much with them when they do covers (they can also ruin them as well, of course!).
Oh, and yes, the actors did sing the songs themselves. Can't you tell? You can even hear Jude's accent when he sings.




Also loved the through the bathroom window reference. And have to agree the hold your hand song was stunning.



