There’s something special about a movie that just goes for it, even if it gets a little weird or overly stylized along the way. “Across the Universe “does exactly that.
Julie Taymor’s 2007 jukebox musical isn’t just a love story set during the Vietnam War; it’s a full-on Beatles-fueled fever dream. The visuals are surreal, the choreography feels like it’s floating in space and some of the musical numbers are so wild and creative they’ve been stuck in my head since I first saw it.
Part love story, part visual trip, “Across the Universe” follows Jude, played by Jim Sturgess, a working-class artist from Liverpool who comes to America looking for his father. Instead, he finds Lucy, played by Evan Rachel Wood, a sheltered girl from the suburbs, and the two of them get swept up in the chaos of the ’60s — Vietnam, protests, political awakenings, all of it.