Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy is a marvelously moving depiction of the early life of John Lennon, covering the period from when he is about fifteen and first becoming interested in music to when he is nineteen, when he and his band, The Quarrymen, are about to leave for a gig in Hamburg that would see them emerge as the band known all over the world as the Beatles.
Everything about this film works. Not only because of a great cast of actors, but in the way that it captures the look and feel not only of Liverpool in the late 50's and early 60's, but also of the transitioning music scene of the period, dominated in the beginning by American jazz and rock & roll but soon to be overturned by what would be called (on our side of the pond anyway) as the British Invasion. One of the many remarkable achievements that Taylor-Wood manages to pull off in the film is the subtle way in which she shows Lennon starting with influences like Buddy Holly and Elvis but then slowly moving to create his own sound, particularly after he connects with an even younger Paul McCartney.
The performances of the entire cast are worthy of praise, but two I feel deserve special attention: Aaron Johnson as John Lennon, and Kristin Scott Thomas as his Aunt Mimi. Johnson was best known for his perfomance as the title character in the cult super-hero film Kick-Ass, but his immersion in Lennon's character in Nowhere Boy was so thorough that he was almost unrecognizable. Scott Thomas, a veteran actress of many films of note, including The English Patient, Four Weddings And A Funeral, and The Other Boleyn Girl, was more recognizable, but all the more remarkable for bringing off the very complex character of Lennon's Aunt Mimi, the woman who raised him from the age of five. To bring out Mimi, Scott Thomas has to portray a woman who is tough as nails, making the hard decisions in life while keeping her inner feelings to herself, but who does in fact have feelings that every now and then must come out for the people she does in fact care deeply about. It is a highly challenging role and Scott Thomas pulls it off magnificently. Both performances are Oscar-worthy and I sincerely hope that the Academy will give them the recognition they so richly deserve.
I highly recommend this film for anyone with an interest in John Lennon, the Beatles, the music of this highly important period, or simply in the lives of musicians and how they become the people the world comes to know. Or for anyone who just loves an extraordinarily well-crafted movie with stellar performances and a truly moving story.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Nowhere Boy (2010)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home EntRelease Date: 01/25/2011Run time: 98 minutesRating: R
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