SSS, Across the Universe, etc.

Getting an SS number proved to be almost disappointingly easy; I went to a smaller SSS branch along EDSA and basically just walked in, filled in and submitted a form, and walked out employable.

Hung out a bit at Jeanne's (the branch I went to was walking distance from her place), then puttered around a bit at SM North and Trinoma waiting for the 1:45 showing of Across the Universe. (Had lunch at Banana Leaf: their roti was great, as usual.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was inventive, beautifully directed, and made interesting use of about twenty or thirty of the Beatles' songs. I'll have to agree that plot and characterization were a bit lacking, but I didn't really mind, I was having too much fun humming along (in my head) and gaping at the sometimes weird, sometimes whimsical, almost always engaging visuals. So what if the movie might come off as a string of music videos? They're music videos worth watching, anyway.

One of the most memorable moments of the film, and an illustrative one as well, came during the "Strawberry Fields Forever" portion. Jude, the workingman-turned-artiste, pins some strawberries to a white wall (in neat, bleeding rows) in reaction to the chaos that was the Vietnam war. The strawberries turn into bombs and grenades overlaid on war footage in the surreal dream-like sequence that follows.

On one level, the immediacy and visual quality coupled with the movie's earnestness about its (somewhat sentimental) subject matter draws you in. On another level, you may find yourself just shaking your head (well, you may, but I admit that I didn't). That is: some measure of suspension of disbelief, of musical-theatrical sensibilities is almost necessary to be able to appreciate the film.

The director Julie Taymor also directed Frida, which Jeanne tells me (I haven't seen the film myself) is made with the same careful composition. In any case, some quick googlework tells me that Across the Universe is a rather polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it type of movie, and well, I loved it, what more can I say?

Well to be honest I feel like I have more to say, but I would just be going over what details I remember, and it won't really be any fun for anyone but myself, so. Suffice it to say that if you approach the movie with an open mind and allow yourself to get caught up in it (ignoring for instance some awkwardness in the waves sequence near the beginning), it will prove to be a very good trip, indeed.