‘Witness them setting a drunk girl’s hair on fire, feeding aspirin to a squirrel, singing a piss-poor “Under the Bridge” to Anthony Kiedis…’

There are tour documentaries and then there’s Justice’s tour documentary. There is a difference. In documenting their 2008 North American tour, the Parisian production/DJ team (aka Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay) wanted everything caught on film — warts, arrests, drunken weddings, sexual romps and all. Using a blend of raw footage and nicely arranged jump cuts of their extraordinary life on the road, those expecting a concert film will be sorely disappointed, for the music is secondary to the hedonism off stage. Hiring their friends/video directors Romain Gavras and So-Me to shoot them, A Cross the Universe is a one-hour-long recap (accompanied by a CD recording of their live set) that plays out like a “greatest hits,” which from beginning to end becomes a lesson in shock and awe cinema. Since there’s no privacy, viewers are invited into their world to meet the duo’s gun-toting tour manager Bouchon (who’s arrested twice) and their Guinness-record-attempting cowboy bus driver, as well as witness them setting a drunk girl’s hair on fire, feeding aspirin to a squirrel, singing a piss-poor “Under the Bridge” to Anthony Kiedis, smashing a bottle over an overzealous fan’s head (and then getting arrested) and of course, getting married while drunk in Vegas. Anyone who’s waiting for the adaptation of Mötley Crüe’s The Dirtshould try seeking Justice, who’ve made the most decadent music doc ever. (Ed Banger/Warner) 

[ click to read full article at exclaim.ca ]