February 7, 2008

Across The Universe

Across The Universe A++

There are very few movies I've seen that stay with me hours after I've watched it, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is one of them. I was blown away by the awesome, psychedelic, trippy visuals and of course its music. I am a die hard Beatles fan, own almost all of their CDs and their movies Help, A Hard Day's Night, and Yellow Submarine. I have seen Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie a gazzilion times ignoring the fact that some of the songs are performed by a group I never ever listen to (The Bee Gees).
Across The Universe, a rock musical drama is the story of a young man from Liverpool, Jude who comes to the United States to find his American father. The movie is set in the 1960s during the growing protests to the Vietnam war featuring the songs of The Beatles sung by the actors. They are all good with the exception of Evan Rachel Wood who is just okay, not bad but not exceptional. I love the different arrangements/interpretations of the songs and how they are used according to the scene, most especially Stawberry Fields Forever which will never be the same the next time I listen to it. 9 minutes into the movie a cheerleader, Prudence played by T.V. Carpio, more on her later, sings a thoughtful I Wanna Hold Your Hand as she looks with longing at the love she would never have, the song has a completely different meaning. The characters in the movie are all named after TB's songs: Jude, Lucy, Max, Sadie, Jo Jo, Prudence. My favorite characters are Sadie, the up and coming rock star, and her love interest JoJo. There are cameos by Joe Cocker (Come Together), Bono (I Am The Walrus), multiple Salma Hayeks, and Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite. I highly recommend this movie whether you are a Beatles fan or not.

T.V. Carpio as I have guessed is of Filipino descent. She is the daughter of the half-Filipino Hong Kong singer Teresa Carpio who became famous in Asia in the 1970s. I honestly can't remember what Teresa Carpio looks like or what she sounds like. T.V. Carpio as Prudence appears only 3 or 4 times times, she also sings in the beautiful "Because" scene with the other characters and roller skates in Mr. Kites bigtop show. She also has a very good voice, IMHO.

7 comments:

Sidney said...

Let's hope they show this movie in the Philippines.

Chibog in Chief said...

i haven't seen this movie yet!! btw for horror movie fanatic like you hehehe lst week i saw one that made screamed so much in the movie house 30 jours de nuit.. i dont know what's the title in english though :-) i'm sure you will like it!!hahaha

Oggi said...

Sidney most probably it's already available at the dibidihan outlets in Quiapo.:)

Thanks Dhanggit. I already added the movie on my netfix list since you already proved it's a screamer.:D
The title is the same but in English, 30 Days of Night.

Ruy said...

Hey Oggi! I loved "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"! I thought she did a fantastic job with the song.
I found the movie a bit disturbing in a good way.
"Strawberry Fields" was haunting.

Oggi said...

Ruy, Carpio's IWHYH performance grabbed me and in the closing scene of the IWANT YOU sequence, although very short, she sounds even better.

Strawberry Fileds Forever is both haunting and beautiful with both Max and Jude singing at the same time but showing different emotions and the visuals are amazing.

Anonymous said...

I'll have to watch this soon...you're right, it's already at the dibidihan!

I admire anyone who makes tocino or tapa from scratch :)

Oggi said...

joey this is the first time I made tocino. I usually buy from the Filipino grocery, the ones from Pamapnga which in my opinion is the best.:)

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