With Beatles greetings. The musical Across the Universe, based on the most famous songs of the Liverpool Four, was released on Russian screens. In order for the project to take place, even sworn enemies Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono reconciled for a while
One of the most striking cultural phenomena of the outgoing year was the so-called "reunions" - the reunion of once iconic musical groups for a performance or even a tour, in exceptional cases - to release a new album. Groups Led Zeppelin, Sex Pistols, The Police decided to shake the old days; former "peppercorns" came off the kitchen stoves; and East 17 1 they pretend that they are still not sold beer and cigarettes due to their youth.
There are several reasons for pensioners to return to the microphone. Firstly, Internet pirates have practically brought to naught the sale of licensed discs, the main source of income for foreign musicians. Therefore, money again has to be earned later and with vocal cords - on stage. Secondly, the older generation, nostalgic for a turbulent youth, welcomes its idols with open arms. And thirdly, today's teenagers have a clear shortage of objects for worship, but they heard from their parents how great they "lit" 10, 20, 30 years ago. As a result, both old and young are ready to pay several hundred or even thousands of dollars for a chance to admire the aged and plump, but still living legends.
In Russia the situation is the same. "Star factories" churn out one-day films, and the viewer wants something real and preferably with a retro flavor. As a result, all tickets for the concerts of the reanimated Ace of Base and Army of Lovers have long been sold out, and for several months one of the federal channels has been conducting a bold experiment to return 80s stars like Mikhail Muromov and Anna Veski to show business.
In this context, the musical based on the songs of the Beatles came in handy. The Liverpool Four can no longer be assembled, but half the world remembers their songs, not by heart, so at least the refrains or the first lines. In the film by Julia Taymor, who became famous after the film "Frida" with Salma Hayek, the legendary compositions are performed by young, unknown, but very handsome actors: Jim Sturges, Evan Rachel Wood and Joe Anderson. And they sing with their own voices. Inveterate beatle lovers, of course, will be indignant: how is it that some youngster changed the intonation in his favorite song, paused in the wrong place, or even sang it in his own way! But the authors of the musical decided that it would be much more natural than gluing the conversations of the actors with the recordings of the Beatles.
Moreover, the heroes of the film "Across the Universe" are not John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison at all, but the Liverpool youth Jude, who goes to America in search of his father. He never finds his father, but he meets the party-goer Max and his blond sister Lucy, whom he falls in love with. The carefree life comes to an end when Max is sent to fight in Vietnam, and Jude is deported from the country for participating in anti-war demonstrations.
The situation is such that words are simply not enough for the heroes. To express everything that has accumulated in the heart in relation to both the beloved girl and the hated government, songs are needed. Whose? Of course, the Beatles.
The visuals that Julia Taymor chose for the legendary compositions are sometimes naive - this can hardly be considered a drawback, provided that closer to the finale the audience laughs and cries at the same time. Sometimes the picture is amazingly bold. Under the lines of "She's So Heavy" from the song "I Want You", huge army boots step through palm trees, breaking them like brushwood. Rising higher, the camera sees marching soldiers, and on their shoulders lies the Statue of Liberty.
The creators of the musical say that they did not even begin to invent newspaper headlines. They just took the front pages of American newspapers and replaced the word "Iraq" with "Vietnam." And at the bottom of Fifth Avenue, where the anti-war march was filmed, the locals decided not to erase the pacifist symbols and not to remove the banners. They left them for themselves in memory of the sixties. And that “there were people in our time”: they were not afraid to shout about their love from the roof of a skyscraper, and if necessary, to rebel, go out into the street, put their backs under police batons.
So the Beatles musical performs not only an aesthetic and commercial, but also a social function. Looking at Jude, Lucy and Max, young people will admire their parents and maybe follow in their footsteps. American youth, of course. Russian is unlikely to pay attention to domestic examples of the struggle for their rights. Therefore, "Through the Universe" for them is the only worthy example.
Julia Taymor for The New Times: “There is a girl in the film who opens the door. So this is me. My brother and sister are 6 and 7 years older than me respectively. My sister was the leader of one of the student organizations - a similar group of young revolutionaries in the film is joined by the main character. And with my brother, I wrote the role of Max: he was expelled from college five or six times, he was fond of music, drove a taxi and fought in Vietnam. My parents suffered, as many parents did at that time. They did not understand who was to blame for what was happening. They thought they had raised their children poorly. But really, it was just the time. I watched the scandals that broke out every now and then at the family table. And it turns out that I am an objective witness of those events. After all, I know the arguments of both sides.
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1 A popular British band that peaked in the 1990s.
