Sam Taylor-Wood’s feature-film debut Nowhere Boy, is a thoroughly engaging biopic of John Lennon’s teenage years, chronicling his journey as a musician from his first guitar purchase to the formation of his first band, The Quarrymen, and their eventual evolution into The Beatles. That is what you’d expect from a John Lennon biopic, and undoubtedly a reason why many will go see the film, but what really gives the film depth and soul is the focus it gives to his early home life with two mother figures- his Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia.
John (played by Kick Ass lead Aaron Johnson) has spent much of his childhood living with his Uncle George and Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas). George is loving and playful, often horsing around with young John, while Mimi is stern and emotionally reserved. When George unexpected passes away, John finds himself feeling lost, making the already rebellious youth even more agitated. He goes in search of him mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), the wayward spirit who had given him up so many years before. Julia welcomes John whole-heartedly into her life, introducing him to music and creative forms of expression. John soon finds himself struggling between his need for love and his resentment over being abandoned as a child.
Both Thomas and Duff put forward incredible performances, one embodying rigid, British propriety and other weaving free spirit allure with nervous energy. Johnson captures something of Lennon’s wit and cockiness, while also infusing the character with a palpable vulnerability. The three together make the driving force that gives the film a very involved, human feel.
That said, there are also plenty of moments and references incorporated to satisfy Beatles fans. Among the most significant of these is the first meeting of Lennon with Paul McCartney (Thomas Brodie Sangster), and the development of their friendship as the two begin to write music together. Sangster had been able to play the guitar prior to the film, but being a right-handed musician, he had to learn to play left-handed to accurately portray McCartney. We also see John bicycling past the entrance to Strawberry Field, engaging in sexual activity that will later be infused into ‘Penny Lane’, and doodling walruses in notebooks.
Like any film portraying a musician, the soundtrack is a key component in setting the tone of the film, and it evolves with John. Early it’s Dickie Valentine’s ‘Mr Sandman’ and then later it’s Big Mama Thornton’s ‘Hound Dog’ and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins ‘I Put a Spell on You’. The soundtrack features several of the songs played by The Quarrymen, as depicted by their stage performances in the film. New recordings of these sounds were made, featuring the talents of the actors.
However, the only Lennon song in the film is perhaps the most poignant, bringing both the music and the domestic drama together. The producers’ had negotiated with Yoko Ono for the rights to use ‘Mother’, and it is safe to say that was time and money well spent. By the time we see the boys in the studio recording this song, we’ve experienced much of John’s internal struggle, so when this raw, emotional ballad begins playing over the end credits, it’s difficult not to get wrapped up in the emotion.
Nowhere Boy does portray the early days of the Beatles, but at its core, its about a boy coming of age and leaving home, finding his own place in a world changing rapidly as it emerges from postwar austerity.
The film releases stateside tomorrow, October 8th, coinciding with this weekend’s marking what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday.
8 out of 10
Here below are both the American and British versions of the trailer: