Westside Steve Posted August 4, 2019 Report Share Posted August 4, 2019 Yesterday Universal PG-13. 116 min Since this story is so left of center I think I’ll issue a spoiler alert. If you are going to see it you probably want to enjoy the element of surprise, if not you probably won’t care anyway. For many of us of a certain age that some call the Baby Boomers, there is an unshakable devotion to The Beatles whose music and social influence guided us through most of our childhood and beyond. That being said there’s always the tendency to look askance at any project centered on The Fab Four from a millennial point of view AKA whippersnappers. (insert ) I wanted to make sure that Danny Boyle, the director, was old enough to be a Beatles fan and he was certainly born within the parameters of our generation. He’s also the guy that directed TRAINSPOTTING and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE which gave me absolutely no clue which way he was going to go with this one. Here’s the hook. Jack (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter who experiences a change in his life when after being hit by a bus he finds himself transported to an alternate universe where some common things never existed. For example there are no cigarettes or Coca-Cola but most importantly there have never been any Beatles. That means this unknown musician now has dozens of the greatest songs in the world in his sole possession. First his friends then the local music community then the world will regard this kid as the greatest songwriter in the history of music and his fame and fortune skyrocket. Under the influence of a particularly nasty Los Angeles manager Jack is poised to become the biggest star the world has ever known. But of course there’s a downside. First of all Jack realizes that this newfound fame is all based on a lie. John Lennon once said, “Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it will always get you the right ones.” The other, and most important, problem is that Jack is losing the precious connection with Ellie (Lily James) his best friend since childhood and even though they won’t admit it yet, the love of his life. Just before a rooftop concert planned to catapult him to worldwide status, he will make the acquaintance of an old man in a quiet English town who gives him a piece of valuable advice about honesty and love. That old man is obviously a 78 year old Lennon who, in this alternate universe, was never a celebrity and was never murdered. (Personally I think that character should have stressed the Liverpool accent but…) I had expected the film would end with the world reverting to the way it was when Jack realizes what’s really important in life but that wasn’t the case. That means when he finally comes clean and tells the world that John Paul George and Ringo created all this music they still don’t exist. According to Boyle Himesh (who did all his own singing) was chosen for his voice more than his acting but the film isn’t high drama so it didn’t bother me. In the end it’s an original concept, highly entertaining and at least they didn’t pull the old dream ending out of their, uh, dramatic bag of tricks. B- WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasAg1969 Posted August 5, 2019 Report Share Posted August 5, 2019 14 hours ago, Westside Steve said: Yesterday Universal PG-13. 116 min Since this story is so left of center I think I’ll issue a spoiler alert. If you are going to see it you probably want to enjoy the element of surprise, if not you probably won’t care anyway. For many of us of a certain age that some call the Baby Boomers, there is an unshakable devotion to The Beatles whose music and social influence guided us through most of our childhood and beyond. That being said there’s always the tendency to look askance at any project centered on The Fab Four from a millennial point of view AKA whippersnappers. (insert ) I wanted to make sure that Danny Boyle, the director, was old enough to be a Beatles fan and he was certainly born within the parameters of our generation. He’s also the guy that directed TRAINSPOTTING and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE which gave me absolutely no clue which way he was going to go with this one. Here’s the hook. Jack (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter who experiences a change in his life when after being hit by a bus he finds himself transported to an alternate universe where some common things never existed. For example there are no cigarettes or Coca-Cola but most importantly there have never been any Beatles. That means this unknown musician now has dozens of the greatest songs in the world in his sole possession. First his friends then the local music community then the world will regard this kid as the greatest songwriter in the history of music and his fame and fortune skyrocket. Under the influence of a particularly nasty Los Angeles manager Jack is poised to become the biggest star the world has ever known. But of course there’s a downside. First of all Jack realizes that this newfound fame is all based on a lie. John Lennon once said, “Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it will always get you the right ones.” The other, and most important, problem is that Jack is losing the precious connection with Ellie (Lily James) his best friend since childhood and even though they won’t admit it yet, the love of his life. Just before a rooftop concert planned to catapult him to worldwide status, he will make the acquaintance of an old man in a quiet English town who gives him a piece of valuable advice about honesty and love. That old man is obviously a 78 year old Lennon who, in this alternate universe, was never a celebrity and was never murdered. (Personally I think that character should have stressed the Liverpool accent but…) I had expected the film would end with the world reverting to the way it was when Jack realizes what’s really important in life but that wasn’t the case. That means when he finally comes clean and tells the world that John Paul George and Ringo created all this music they still don’t exist. According to Boyle Himesh (who did all his own singing) was chosen for his voice more than his acting but the film isn’t high drama so it didn’t bother me. In the end it’s an original concept, highly entertaining and at least they didn’t pull the old dream ending out of their, uh, dramatic bag of tricks. B- WSS Saw it this afternoon with wife & friends of that era instead of Friday. We all loved it and helped us remember what talented songwriters they actually were. I won't give away the ending either, but it is real cute. A- from me only because he just was not quite as good a singer as Paul was then. Made me remember riding down the highway in 1964 with a friend in his dad's 1954 MG TF with the top down singing "I wanna hold your hand" and "I saw her standing there". The wind made it tolerable for both of us, but not likely for anyone we passed by.🙉🙀😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted July 5, 2020 Report Share Posted July 5, 2020 Saw it recently. Loved it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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