For fans of The Beatles, this is the ultimate tribute. For those into musicals, this is like the best of Broadway captured on 70mm. And for the romantics, this is all about love and peace triumphing over war and strife.

Across The Universe is a girl-meets-boy story rendered brilliantly by Julie Taymor, known for edgy films like Frida and Titus. With the turbulent Sixties as the backdrop, the film follows the life of Jude (Jim Sturgess), a young Liverpool artist who leaves home for America in search of greener pastures and a long-lost father. En route, his path crosses that of the rich and disillusioned Max Carrigan (Joe Anderson), who introduces Jude to his cousin, the young and idealistic Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).

As the Vietnam War breaks out and Uncle Sam comes calling, Lucy’s fiance is killed. Jude, Max and Lucy head off to New York to join the peace movement, but Max is packed off to Nam as well. Jude and Lucy continue their fight for freedom and peace, teaming up with Prudence, Jojo and Sadie (all characters from The Beatles’ songs) for a freewheeling ride down a road full of drug highs and free love, even as they battle with misunderstandings, despair and hopelessness.

A narrative strung together with a heady combo of choreographed Beatles songs, Taymor’s canvas is a riot of colours and expressions. She transforms the love song I Want You into a horrifying, claustrophobic nightmare; she makes you laugh out loud watching Max and Jude in With A Little Help From My Friends; she blows your mind with the pulsating rhythms and choreography of Come Together.

But it is her Pink Floyd-like psychedelic vision, very reminiscent of The Wall, which elevates Across the Universe from just a tribute to a cinematic masterpiece. Strawberries, ruthlessly pinned, stain a white canvas red as glimpses of soldiers marching down paddy fields flash across. Shell-shocked and morphine-numbed soldiers strapped to beds cry out Mother Superior Jumped the Gun, and ashen, corpse-like Asians float singing ‘nothing’s gonna change my world’, even as Lady Liberty marches through plantations. Taymor’s vision is in your face, disturbing and thought-provoking, and yet entertaining with parallel stories of thriving lives and music.

Bono, in a guest appearance as the drug guru Doctor Robert, surprises with his giddy and trippy take on I Am The Walrus, while Salma Hayek, who previously worked with the director in Frida, sizzles as the nurse in Happiness is a Warm Gun.

Watching Across the Universe, nominated for both Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, one feels Taymor took her cue from the lyrics of the title song… ‘Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my open mind, possessing and caressing me.’ This film is definitely worth a watch, and maybe also worth a keep.