★★★★
A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.
Classification: 12A
In what seems to be this new trend of musical biopics celebrating our favourite artists, director Danny Boyle and writer Richard Curtis take a fresh new approach to honour the world's most favourite pop band. Yesterday recontextualizes all of our favourite Beatles tunes in this hilarious romantic fantasy that will have audiences grinning and humming along until the last credit rolls. Never over-explaining its premise or offering unnecessary answers, Boyle keeps the story grounded through an impressive performance from Himesh Patel as Jack. His character's struggles with love and re-creating some of the greatest songs ever written leads to amazing scenes of comedy and emotion.
Yesterday has an inherent British charm with so much of the minor supporting cast giving a real authenticity to Patel's family and friends. This cast all do their part to elevate Patel's performance as their disbelief of his dilemma will have the audience roaring with laughter. Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal performances as Jack's parents during a sequence where Let It Be is "first played" is one of the many moments where Boyle and Curtis's creativity with this concept shines. It's heartwarming for the whole runtime even with the growing tensions of Jack's romantic drama and growing guilt over his plagiarism, while not every element of the story is firing on all cylinders, Yesterday does more than enough to satisfy its genre elements.
On the dramatic and romantic fronts, Patel and Lily James's chemistry makes for a really endearing courtship. Curtis has some classic romance tropes fuel their storyline; unrequited love, fame getting in the way, realisations at the wrong time but its the performance especially from James's character Ellie that makes it a love story worth rooting for. Its these empathetic characters which make Yesterday such a beautiful tribute to The Beatles, while most of the new musical biopics tell how the artist made the music, Boyle's shows how the music transcends the artist and how it affects those that listen to it. Jack's success from recreating the songs comes at a personal cost, the ethical complications confounding him in a world that doesn't care as he sees the history of the music be changed by his own actions.
Jack believes he's honouring the Beatles by writing the famous lyrics as his own but he can't get them perfect, a running gag being him trying to remember all the details of "Eleanor Rigby". His intentions begin selfishly, to bolster his own failed career as a musician but time passes and fame grows, soon he realises that no matter what they will never be his songs. Yesterday doesn't present fame itself as a criticism, that the laurels The Beatles received were undeserved but that no matter what consumerism and greed can destroy the art in the name of profit. Boyle and Curtis have the duality of Jack's success represented by Ed Sheeran as himself and Kate McKinnon's bloodthirsty agent Debra. Sheeran gives Jack his big break and genuinely recognises his talent while McKinnon see's Jack as a new pipeline of cash.
Jack exists in a world where some of the greatest songs ever written seemingly were never written, what he does isn't illegal in any sense but Boyle makes the conflict of Yesterday so much more than that. It's not a criticism of fame but a reaffirmation of integrity, Jack may be the only one who knows about John, Paul, George and Ringo and the film is about him finding his own voice beyond the ones he took. With a vigorous lead performance, Patel impresses both on and off the stage as Yesterday's journey is one of laughs, thrills and a celebration of a band that means so much to so many.
Director: #DannyBoyle
Cast: #HimeshPatel, #LilyJames, #EdSheeran, #KateMcKinnon
Release Date: June 28th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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