Cielo despejado con cielo demasiado azul

Across the Universe:

A dock worker Jude travels to America in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy. When her brother Max is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism. The film title and main characters are named after various songs by The Beatles.

I have to say that I’ve never been the greatest Beatles fan, and even yet I enjoyed this movie immensely – what’s more, it made me realize what I was missing and as soon as I came back from the theatre I started downloading assorted songs obsessively. But yes, a large part of the movie’s charm falls on the songs and their connection with the storyline – the emotional impact, let’s call it.

The movie opens with a wide shot of an English beach, a silent moment before the photographic and surrealist frenzy of the rest of the film. This might be one of the things that doesn’t leave me completely satisfied, seeing that while the surrealist feeling fits with the decade and it wonderfully made, it becomes a tad too much at times.

In contrast, the strength of the film falls on the parts that deal with the Vietnam war, which are emotive, well done and leave the audience thinking. The romance and the friendship themes are left a bit under the shadow of the war motifs, but they’re still attractive and are helped significantly by the music. The best performances were, to me, those of Jim Sturgess, Martin Luther McCoy and Joe Anderson, but I do have to say, all of the cast’s voices were impressing.

So yes, it worked for me. I do recommend it, and that’s even when you could never really call me a fan of musicals.



I also saw Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes, and while it was fun, for a Luc Besson film, it was really weak, story-wise. The element that comes to life in this one is the use of Parkour and Free Running - which include roof to roof jumps, and fantastic acrobatics. It's about freedom, in a way. I saw it on the computer, but I've seen the dvd in my favorite video rental store for a couple of years now and I'd always wanted to see it. Why, you say? Because of the posters. My dream has always always been to be able to fly. Which is ironic, considering I'm mildly afraid of heights. So these posters? Seemed like my fantasy fulfilled.