About two months ago, during a visit to Las Vegas, my Dad and I saw the Love show at the Mirage. It was a Cirque du Soleil production which utilized Beatles songs to score some impressive acrobatics and dance sequences. While I was watching the performance, I thought a bit to the use of Beatles songs in other films. Two very notable examples came to mind. One was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , a 1978 film using music from the titular album and Abbey Road by producer Robert Stigwood, famed for his other '70's musicals, Grease and Saturday Night Fever. That film featured several prominent artists of the 70's (Peter Frampton; Earth, Wind, and Fire; Aerosmith; the Bee Gees) performing these songs in a plot loosely based on Sgt. Pepper. The film was a critical and financial flop, and doesn't seem to be remembered fondly today. Of course, the other was the film in the title. Directed by famed stage director Julie Taymor, who is probably most famous for directing The Lion King on Broadway, and in terms of film credits, had directed an adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, this 2007 feature is not based on any particular album or song, but is a simple jukebox musical, with a plot and characters centered around the songs, as well as the 60's period that Beatlemania emerged in. The surviving members of the Beatles seemed to enjoy it. Everyone else seems ... mixed on it. It seems to be brought up as a strange failed experiment on Taymor's part. Does it deserve this reputation? I decided to start a new series separate from my current film or horror reviews, where I just talk about whatever film I want to, whether it be a fairly obscure flop or a classic for the ages, and anything in-between. It'll be infrequent, mainly to pad out months I have little to no material on, and will range from first impressions to films I've probably seen a dozen or so times. So, without further delay.
Jude (Jim Sturgess, and yes, that name is intentional. The song is played at one point) is a young shipyard worker in Liverpool, who decides to come to America to find his birth father, an American GI from the war. He finds himself in Princeton, where he has a brief discussion with his father (Robert Clohessy), before befriending Max (Joe Anderson, and the name is another Beatles reference), a Princeton student and bohemian, who introduces him to his family, including his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, and yes, another reference. Look, it's clear where this is going). Lucy is saddened by her significant other being drafted to fight in Vietnam. Max decides to drop out of Princeton, and join a group of Bohemians including Sadie (Dana Fuchs), JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy), and Prudence (TV Carpio). As her boyfriend is killed in action and Max is drafted, Lucy becomes more involved with the anti-war movement, and her relationship with Jude blooms, as the 60's gradually become more radical.....
There are a number of good renditions in her. "Let It Be", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Blackbird", "Hey, Jude", "Come Together", and "All You Need Is Love" are all very well-done and memorable renditions, distinct from their original recordings. All the actors do a fine job of singing. The film's plot is simple, but relatively easy to follow, especially with its various characters and their storylines. It also has good, high quality production design, with little CGI, making it feel more real than your average musical. Just generally, it was never boring to watch. It always had something interesting to watch, whether it be actually good or bizarrely bad, and I was never bored by the film.
I talked about the good renditions, but there are some.... weird ones. "Being for the Benefit of Mr.Kite", (with Eddie Izzard as some sort of ringleader), and a mash-up of the titular song and "Helter Skelter" are two examples. The former is competent and true to the spirit, but comes out of nowhere, and is incongruous with the rest of the film. The latter just doesn't work, with the two songs competing for attention. There was also "She's So Heavy", which features military trainers in Max Headroom masks, and "Revolution", where Jude literally points to a Mao portrait when he says a line. Another problem this film has is it feels too much like a cliched late 60's period piece. Like, of course the characters become involved in the counterculture, of course the lead girl becomes anti-war, of course there is a Vietnam subplot, and of course, the anti-war movement grows more radical as times goes on. It feels too cliched in regards to the period, and feels eeriely similar to Forrest Gump (which originated many of these cliches).
I enjoyed this feature, even if parts of it didn't work for me. It's fun, looks nice, and the songs are well done. Honestly, that's all it needed to be. If you like the Beatles or like the songs of the Beatles, this will very likely appeal to you, especially with all the other little nods and references made throughout the film.
I hoped you enjoyed this inaugural entry, I don't know when and what the next entry will be, but stay tuned to find out. I also don't know what my next review will be.
Jude (Jim Sturgess, and yes, that name is intentional. The song is played at one point) is a young shipyard worker in Liverpool, who decides to come to America to find his birth father, an American GI from the war. He finds himself in Princeton, where he has a brief discussion with his father (Robert Clohessy), before befriending Max (Joe Anderson, and the name is another Beatles reference), a Princeton student and bohemian, who introduces him to his family, including his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, and yes, another reference. Look, it's clear where this is going). Lucy is saddened by her significant other being drafted to fight in Vietnam. Max decides to drop out of Princeton, and join a group of Bohemians including Sadie (Dana Fuchs), JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy), and Prudence (TV Carpio). As her boyfriend is killed in action and Max is drafted, Lucy becomes more involved with the anti-war movement, and her relationship with Jude blooms, as the 60's gradually become more radical.....
There are a number of good renditions in her. "Let It Be", "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Blackbird", "Hey, Jude", "Come Together", and "All You Need Is Love" are all very well-done and memorable renditions, distinct from their original recordings. All the actors do a fine job of singing. The film's plot is simple, but relatively easy to follow, especially with its various characters and their storylines. It also has good, high quality production design, with little CGI, making it feel more real than your average musical. Just generally, it was never boring to watch. It always had something interesting to watch, whether it be actually good or bizarrely bad, and I was never bored by the film.
I talked about the good renditions, but there are some.... weird ones. "Being for the Benefit of Mr.Kite", (with Eddie Izzard as some sort of ringleader), and a mash-up of the titular song and "Helter Skelter" are two examples. The former is competent and true to the spirit, but comes out of nowhere, and is incongruous with the rest of the film. The latter just doesn't work, with the two songs competing for attention. There was also "She's So Heavy", which features military trainers in Max Headroom masks, and "Revolution", where Jude literally points to a Mao portrait when he says a line. Another problem this film has is it feels too much like a cliched late 60's period piece. Like, of course the characters become involved in the counterculture, of course the lead girl becomes anti-war, of course there is a Vietnam subplot, and of course, the anti-war movement grows more radical as times goes on. It feels too cliched in regards to the period, and feels eeriely similar to Forrest Gump (which originated many of these cliches).
I enjoyed this feature, even if parts of it didn't work for me. It's fun, looks nice, and the songs are well done. Honestly, that's all it needed to be. If you like the Beatles or like the songs of the Beatles, this will very likely appeal to you, especially with all the other little nods and references made throughout the film.
I hoped you enjoyed this inaugural entry, I don't know when and what the next entry will be, but stay tuned to find out. I also don't know what my next review will be.
