Jude, a poor young man from Liverpool, decides to travel to find his father. The journey takes him to Princeton, where he meets his father and makes a new friend in Max Carrigan. When he gets invited to join Max for Thanksgiving, he gets introduced to Max’s little sister, Lucy, and almost immediately falls in love. Max chooses to drop out of school and start anew in New York City, taking Jude with him. The pair arrive at an apartment owned by singer Sadie and officially become New York residents. After Lucy learns of the death of her boyfriend, she uses her graduation from high school to take a summer living with Max in New York. Her arrival sparks a romance with Jude, but Max experiences distress once he is drafted into the Vietnam War and is off to battle. The war takes its toll on the everyone, leading to a rift between Jude and Lucy, Max in trouble and a splitting of the band including Sadie and Jo-Jo.
Starring: Jim Sturgess (Jude), Evan Rachel Wood (Lucy), Joe Anderson (Max Carrigan), Dana Fuchs (Sadie), Martin Luther (Jo-Jo), TV Carpio (Prudence), Spencer Liff (Daniel)
This very talented cast puts together a performance that combines their acting and vocal abilities. Jim Sturgess, playing the lead as Jude, shows off his strengths through his various numbers and his charm. Of his numbers that steal the show, Something has such a beautiful flow and passion that it takes the Beatles music to another level. Evan Rachel Wood serves as Lucy, with a more sweet and impressionable identity. Wood’s key number is Black Bird. As the wild card, Joe Anderson has a rebellious personality and highlights his spirit through songs like Happiness is a Warm Gun and Hey Jude. As the rocker and musical drama queen, Dana Fuchs exhibits her powerful voice in numbers including Helter Skelter and Don’t Let Me Down. Playing her musical sidekick, Martin Luther shows off his musical talents with his singing and guitar play in While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Prudence, played by TV Carpio, exhibits a process of coming out of her shell, starting with a slower, soulful version of I Want to Hold Your Hand and later in the group number Because. Also in this film are Eddie Izzard (Being the Benefit of Mr. Kite), Salma Hayek (as a singing nurse in Happiness is a Warm Gun), Timothy T. Mitchum (Let it Be) and Joe Crocker (Come Together).
Julie Taymor’s adaptation of the essence of the Beatles transforms into a truly beautiful experience of the spirit of their music. The story focuses mostly on the characters of Jude and Lucy as they both go through their own life struggles and successes throughout the 60s and 70s. Their relationship blossoms under the spirit of the freedom and an artistic renaissance of the late 60s but goes through its struggles as the Vietnam War takes over. The experiences of war, protest, love and loss are all projected through the music of the Beatles, culminating in an eventual reuniting of Lucy and Jude as true lovers. Meanwhile, the supporting cast, including Max and Sadie’s band of outcasts, all go through their own transformations as they seek to understand who they are meant to be. Prudence, who was simply looking for a sense of belonging, finds this when she arrives in New York and happens upon the care and compassion of Sadie and her new tenants, Jude and Max. For Max, he never truly finds exactly what he wants to do with his life, but he continues to realize that he is an adventure seeker, comfortable with never being tied down. Sadie and Jo-Jo go through their struggles of fame and modesty, eventually leading to their reunion.
As mentioned in the cast profiles, the music is just as important to this story as the plot itself. More than just the singing, the experience of each song is brought out either through a merging with true-to-life events or artistically fantastical presentations of color and movement. Some of the numbers are a little simpler in their presentation, focused more on the singing and the lyrics to highlight the emotions of the scenes. Girl gives a hint into the spirit of Jude, while Because is simply a beautiful a capella movement with the characters in search of understanding of the meaning of life. Some are a little more soulful and focus on extracting raw emotions out of the viewer. Oh! Darling exhibits the anger and frustration between Sadie and Jo-Jo due to the level her diva persona had taken over their partnership, while Something is a song about the power of love. Other songs erupt in a beautiful array of colors and movements, such as Dear Prudence and I’ve Just Seen a Face. Some of the guest performers steal moments of the film with their beautiful or raw renditions of their Beatles selections, including Mitchum giving voice to a painful period of civil rights protest through Let it Be or Izzard’s classic power coming out in the spectacle of Being the Benefit of Mr. Kite.
This film is truly a beautiful masterpiece of music, presentation and representation of decades of the Beatles’s music.
Dan’s Rating: 5.0/5
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