DIRECTOR: Julie Taymor
CAST: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess
THE PLOT: A dockworker named Jude travels to America in the 1960's to find hjs estranged father where he falls in love with a sheltered American teenager named Lucy.
BEN'S VIEWS: First just let me say that there were sequences in this movie that I loved and their were ones that I absolutely hated. Unfortunately there are many more that I hated. The idea behind this film is an inspired one: to make a musical using only Beatles songs with the films plot following the song lyrics. But a great idea doesn't translate to a great movie. It just doesn't work and its mainly because the film has cardboard characters that we really can't feel much connection to. A musical is hard to make because you have because you have to build an audience's connection to the characters through the songs. But films like Hairspray and Chicago (John C. Reilly singing 'Mr. Cellophane' comes to mind as a brilliant example) can do it successfully so this isn't any excuse. There are moments when everything in Across the Universe clicks into place and you get glimpses of the brilliant film this could have been. A gospel version of 'Let It Be' is one of these moments as well as a rendition of 'Strawberry Fields' and even a small scene in a bowling alley. And some of the visuals are stunning. But as soon as the music stops the film screeches to a dead halt every time. The actors simply cannot carry the film without the amazing songs of the Beatles. Even then director Julie Taymor switches the arrangements around on some songs and it lessens their impact (one song sounds like the Beatles on a Kids Bop CD.) To top it off the film runs much too long at over two hours. It is ashame when a director can't come through on such a promising premise. We're left dreaming of what this could have been...
DIRECTOR: Mira Nair
CAST: Kal Penn, Irfan Khan, Tabu
THE PLOT: American born Gogol, son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New-Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.
BEN'S VIEWS: The Namesake doesn't seem like an interesting film at first glance. It covers a span of 30 years in the life an Indian couple who immigrate to America to start a family. Unfortunately, I think that many casual movie-goers in our country wouldn't be very receptive to watching a film about a culture other than their own. Too bad for them because The Namesake is a great film that is about much more than simply being Indian. It is about having pride in your family and your culture. From the get-go it doesn't take long for director Mira Nair to draw you into the life of Ashoka and Ashima. Once she has your attention Nair takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions ranging from joy (when the family visits the Taj Mahal) to confusion of identity to grief. The acting is uniformly good. Irfan Khan and Tabu do a fine job as the mother and father. A special nod goes to Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar) for showing his acting range. This is his finest work to date. Overall, The Namesake is one of the more compelling dramas of 2007. This film has gone under the radar this year but don't let it go under yours.
DIRECTOR: John Carney
CAST: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova
THE PLOT: A modern day musical about a street musician and a piano playing immigrant who meet randomly and write, rehearse and record songs that tell their moving story.
BEN'S VIEWS: Once is a wonderful little movie that redefines what a musical can be. When you think of a typical musical you think of movies such as Grease or Hairspray in which characters break out in song and dance numbers that disrupt the flow of reality. Once chronicles a few days in the life of a poor musician playing his songs on a street corner with his banged up acoustic guitar. All the songs in the film occur in naturalistic situations, so much so that a few have been said to believe that they were watching a documentary. And the songs are excellent. They are beautiful, melancholy tunes (performed mostly with only piano and acoustic guitar) that really bare the souls of the two main characters. Without the music the film wouldn't be as effecting as it is. The story at the core of the music is a romantic one about longing and loneliness. The two main characters have been neglected by the ones they have loved and find solace in each others friendship. Basically, if you love music and its ability to bring people together then you will love this movie. And if you don't then you have no soul.
