Yesterday (2019)
Directed by Danny Boyle
A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate reality where the group was forgotten.
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This movie's funniest moments find Jack “debuting” tunes such as “Let It Be” — or, as a well-meaning listener mistakenly calls it, “Leave It Be” — and “Hey Jude,” which Ed Sheeran, playing himself, persuades him to change to “Hey Dude."
Suddenly, he's trying to remember the words to "Eleanor Rigby" and "Let it Be".
And would such ’60s songs as “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude,” detached from the social revolution of which they were a part, have the same impact in a 2019 universe where hip-hop exists but The Beatles do not?
Perhaps one day, we’ll get a Beatles movie worthy of standing up to the likes of A Hard Day’s Night or even Help!, but Yesterday is nearly as bad as all of its predecessors.
Most of the supposed joy of “Yesterday” is squeezed from the elbow-in-the-ribcage references to the Fab Four, both in song cues and visual references (like when Jack is chased by fans, a la “A Hard Day’s Night”).
Whether it be films they starred in ( A Hard Day’s Night), films about them ( Nowhere Boy) or films inspired by them ( Across The Universe), their influence is undeniable.
A survey of the greatest hits, it forgets what has made those hits so great despite cheeky references to Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day’s Night .
Beatles music is offered in every stripe of venue, from living rooms to small stages to recording studios big and small to a referential rooftop to the film's Wembly Arena climax, but not much has been done to make it fresh with the exception of the desperation and angry energy Patel gives to "Help!" (Nor, for that matter, is any effort made to analyze any difference in reception fifty years would make.)
), Jack in the recording studio performing an amped-up montage of tracks from “Meet the Beatles,” Jack turning “Help!” into a speedy punk anthem, Jack’s running attempt to piece together the lyrics of “Eleanor Rigby.”
And Patel, who does all his own singing, also does these famous songs justice (his rendition of "Help!," taken at punk-rock velocity, is a worthy footnote to the original track).
When Jack straps on an electric guitar and performs a sizzling rendition of “Help!” the feeling is exhilarating.
That the Beatles songs were full of surprises, of pain and doubt instead of just sunshine, is something that Yesterday only acknowledges when Jack performs a live “Help!” that actually has some conviction as a cri de coeur (even if his backing band does make it sound more like a middling Lemonheads number).
Every time we hear “In My Life” or a rocking “Help!” or “I Want to Hold Your Hand” we say, “That sure is a great song” and forget for a moment that the movie is not very good.
No “Yellow Submarine,” no “Day Tripper,” no “Eleanor Rigby.”
Working with cinematographer Christopher Ross, the screen pops and is brought to life in a similar fashion as Yellow Submarine.
A survey of the greatest hits, it forgets what has made those hits so great despite cheeky references to Yellow Submarine and A Hard Day’s Night .
It’s difficult to get too bent out of shape about reality while you’re humming “Yellow Submarine” or “Strawberry Fields.”
To know that, all you have to do is see the title sequence of “A Hard Day’s Night,” which electrifies you from its opening THRUM!!! , or (in the same film) the Beatles blasting the sonic bliss of “I Should Have Known Better” from inside a train storage compartment, or the sublime melting psychedelia of the “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” flying-damsel fantasia from “Yellow Submarine,” or Paul gazing into the camera as he delivers the hymn-like rapture of the title song from “Let It Be.”
As Beatles jukebox musicals with people other than the Beatles singing the songs go- and its flaws notwithstanding- "Yesterday" is a significant improvement over 2007's "Across the Universe."
And unlike its contemporary, Across the Universe , the film never comes off as an attempt to fully recapture the spirit of the Beatles and what their songs truly mean in context.
Instead, I was left confused, thinking of all the songs they didn’t bother including, and asking myself why I suddenly wanted to go home and watch Across the Universe instead.
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Now, Brothers was produced by Danger Mouse, who launched his production career with The Grey Album , a 2004 mash-up of music from The White Album with vocals from Jay-Z’s The Black Album , which was itself a reference to The White Album .
Por su parte, Richard Curtis es el responsable de filmes como 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, Love Actually y varios filmes de Mr. Bean.
With that promising set-up, a screenplay from the crown prince of sentimental storytelling Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love, Actually”) and directed by the electrically talented Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “28 Days Later”), the jukebox musical drama/comedy “Yesterday” was atop the charts of my most anticipated movies of the Summer of 2019.
With a screenplay by Richard Curtis ("Love Actually," "Notting Hill"), the focus is on the relationship between Jack and Ellie and it's a bit light in the loafers.
Yesterday is written by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Life Actually) so no surprise that the romantic leads are nothing if not moral, dedicated and sweet.
There’s some Notting Hill in the way protagonist Jack Malik’s (a likeable Himesh Patel) frumpy parents are oblivious about a celebrity (Ed Sheeran) in their house.
Some will claim that “Yesterday,” the new film by Danny Boyle, written by Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill”), turns on a plot axis so untenable that the whole picture collapses around it.
The idea also inspired the greatest movie ever made, Jean-Luc Godard’s “King Lear,” a fantasy from 1987 in which the world’s great art has been lost as a result of Chernobyl.
Por su parte, Richard Curtis es el responsable de filmes como 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, Love Actually y varios filmes de Mr. Bean.
The script’s from Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually), and like a lot of his work, it’s funny and fleet of foot, but a bit flimsy when you start examining it closely.
With that promising set-up, a screenplay from the crown prince of sentimental storytelling Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love, Actually”) and directed by the electrically talented Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “28 Days Later”), the jukebox musical drama/comedy “Yesterday” was atop the charts of my most anticipated movies of the Summer of 2019.
With a screenplay by Richard Curtis ("Love Actually," "Notting Hill"), the focus is on the relationship between Jack and Ellie and it's a bit light in the loafers.
Imagine a world in which the Beatles never existed and you'll get the high concept behind this comedy from the rather unlikely team of screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), both 62.
Your enjoyment of this one is going to depend on just how much ludicrousness and laziness you can put up with in Richard "Love Actually" Curtis's screenplay, one which removes all traces of the Beatles unless it becomes inconvenient to his plot, one which celebrates the meeting of its romcom pairing over 'Wonderwall' only to wipe out Oasis, one which throws together characters from Moscow and Liverpool with no explanation whatsoever as to how they would have met and one which apparently knows nothing about the music industry or basic human sense.
Curtis' previous scripts for movies like Love, Actually and About Time have long been criticized for featuring problematic love stories, and the same could be said for his work here.
There’s some About Time in the way the county of Suffolk is shot – full of magic-hour montages and quaint fields and Cornwall-style beachfronts, another affectionate ode to the small-town English vibe.
The writer-director of Love, Actually and About Time knows how to tug at the heartstrings while delivering moments of genuine authenticity and warmth.
There is a touch of Curtis’s time travel rom-com About Time, as well as the breakneck pace of Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
The screenplay is by Richard Curtis, known best for producing foundational romantic comedies ( Notting Hill , Bridget Jones’s Diary , Love Actually , About Time ), and it’s clear his writing favors Jack and Ellie, who are far more fleshed out than the actual tribute to the Beatles, beyond the major hits Jack would be more likely to remember and reproduce.
As written by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually,” “Pirate Radio”) and directed by Danny Boyle (possibly the most diversified filmmaker working today), “Yesterday” is an affable romantic comedy/fantasy with a nice star turn by Himash Patel (a British TV actor making his big-screen debut).
But it does have heart to spare, thanks to Danny Boyle’s tender direction from an endearing script by Richard Curtis, writer of British rom com classics like Love Actually , Four Weddings and a Funeral , Notting Hill , the Bridget Jones movies, and my favorite of the bunch, Pirate Radio .
This is very much a lesser work from Richard Curtis, the man who wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Pirate Radio,” and “Love Actually.”
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As the head of marketing at the record label Jack becomes attached to, Lamorne Morris has a long monologue about potential album covers that’s meant to have an impact similar to that of the diatribe Ned Beatty delivered in “Network,” but though the actor registers strongly, the jokey speech itself doesn’t come close to matching Chayefsky’s.
With that promising set-up, a screenplay from the crown prince of sentimental storytelling Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love, Actually”) and directed by the electrically talented Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “28 Days Later”), the jukebox musical drama/comedy “Yesterday” was atop the charts of my most anticipated movies of the Summer of 2019.
Some of them have been dark as pitch, such as “Trainspotting” (1996), his modern classic about a band of Scottish drug addicts, and “28 Days Later…” (2002), Boyle’s early contribution to the zombie movie-genre craze still with us.
Directed by Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "127 Hours"), the film is never dull, and even with all of the musical numbers in the film, it never becomes repetitive.
Yesterday is a gentle, feel-good comedy that sidesteps the more cynical edges seen in Trainspotting or Slumdog Millionaire.
And while his best films to date have gotten much of their personality from his directorial approach (see also: Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours), its Curtis' voice who comes through much more clearly in this case.
Brought to the screen by Oscar winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), Yesterday features a cool premise.
Boyle is perhaps best known for Slumdog Millionaire.
With that promising set-up, a screenplay from the crown prince of sentimental storytelling Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love, Actually”) and directed by the electrically talented Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “28 Days Later”), the jukebox musical drama/comedy “Yesterday” was atop the charts of my most anticipated movies of the Summer of 2019.
Boyle’s somewhat lighter fare includes the eight-time Academy Award-winner “Slumdog Millionaire,” a 2008 fable that earned Boyle an Oscar and made a star of English actor Dev Patel.
That’s something akin to the premise of Yesterday, a romantic comedy-fantasy from director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), which imagines an even greater blow to musical history.
Imagine a world in which the Beatles never existed and you'll get the high concept behind this comedy from the rather unlikely team of screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), both 62.
Cuando Danny Boyle dirigió Shallow Grave (1993) impactó la forma en que a través de una muy atractiva propuesta visual (emplazando la cámara baja, usando lentes gran angulares, ediciones veloces entre tomas abiertas y cerradas...) acentuaba y estilizaba su retrato de una juventud desencantada, inconforme, iconoclasta.
Directed by Danny Boyle ("T2: Trainspotting," "127 Hours," "Millions," "28 Days Later..." "Trainspotting," "Shallow Grave").
Boyle is better known for his searing dissections of the human condition ( Trainspotting , 28 Days Later , Shallow Grave ), but often exposes a sweeter side.
Whether it is individuals unexpectedly coming into money (Shallow Grave, Millions), or tales of finding love in the face of danger (Slumdog Millionaire, A Life Less Ordinary), Boyle has always brought a unique angle to his filmmaking.
Boyle may have launched his filmmaking career with works as dark as "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting."
He and Curtis — two maximalists whose best work (“Notting Hill” and “Sunshine,” respectively) explores what happens when relatable characters are launched into out-of-this-world circumstances — are a match made in hell.
What would come of a collaboration between the director of Trainspotting , 28 Days Later and Sunshine , and the writer of The Vicar of Dibley , Love Actually and The Boat that Rocked ?
I would have loved that last bit to move towards the surrealism of Boyle’s A Life Less Ordinary, but the payoff of their strangers’ arc is worthwhile nonetheless.
Whether it is individuals unexpectedly coming into money (Shallow Grave, Millions), or tales of finding love in the face of danger (Slumdog Millionaire, A Life Less Ordinary), Boyle has always brought a unique angle to his filmmaking.
Boyle’s the kind of filmmaker whose every movie is something different, and this is his first proper comic-romantic-fantastic outing since the frankly weird A Life Less Ordinary 22 years ago.
The propulsive thump of Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” will be forever associated with a gaggle of Scottish junkies running from the cops in Trainspotting ; 28 Days Later makes a brief moment of levity more memorable with Grandaddy’s “AM 180 ”; even a forgotten flop like A Life Less Ordinary boasts a standout song-and-dance sequence.
Directed by Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," "127 Hours"), the film is never dull, and even with all of the musical numbers in the film, it never becomes repetitive.
And while his best films to date have gotten much of their personality from his directorial approach (see also: Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours), its Curtis' voice who comes through much more clearly in this case.
"Yesterday" was written by romcom master Richard Curtis, who also wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Love Actually," and was directed by Danny Boyle, best known for "Trainspotting," "Slumdog Millionaire" and "127 Hours."
Written by the wonderful Richard Curtis ( Four Weddings and a Funeral; Love, Actually ; About Time and the best episode of the rebooted “Doctor Who” series, “Vincent and the Doctor”) and directed by the equally talented Danny Boyle ( Trainspotting , Slumdog Millionaire , 127 Hours ), Yesterday centers around Jack Malik (a charming Himesh Patel) and his meteoric rise to stardom after a global incident renders him the only person who remembers The Beatles and their chart-topping music.
This does not seem like something out of the oeuvre of Danny Boyle, the British director known for “Trainspotting,” “127 Hours,” “28 Days Later” and other dire portraits of humanity at its brink.
Directed by Danny Boyle ("T2: Trainspotting," "127 Hours," "Millions," "28 Days Later..." "Trainspotting," "Shallow Grave").
Not only is this Boyle's gentlest film since the under-seen and underrated Millions (2004), it's also his most improbable, imperfect, and delightful work.
Boyle is a great filmmaker who is hardly afraid of sentiment (just watch his magnificent family drama Millions ), but even in his lesser efforts like Trance or The Beach his imprint upon the material is always noticeable.
Like another of his films, Millions , Yesterday uses moments of magical realism (the blackout and a touching visit at the end) to underscore that life is full of wonders and surprises, and on the long and winding road, all you need is love.
A chastened Jack decides to give up music, but Yesterday has the kind of follow-your-dreams instincts that will not allow that to happen, and it’s also the kind of romantic fable wherein in love can alter the known universe — it’s by the writer of Love, Actually, and directed by Danny Boyle, leaning full-on Millions mode, a movie I love.
…as he shown with Slumdog Millionaire and Millions.
At one point, he condenses an entire act into a meaningless light show that recalls the worst moments of “Steve Jobs” in how it reduces profound human emotions into the stuff of raw stimuli.
Boyle acquits himself decently enough here as well, though I felt he was doing more to service the voice of Curtis’ writing even more so than with Sorkin on Steve Jobs .
Director Danny Boyle ( Slumdog Millionaire , Steve Jobs ) and screenwriter Richard Curtis ( Love Actually , Four Weddings and a Funeral ) are frankly confecting a sweet little fable here, and they would probably sigh and roll their eyes at any attempted nitpicking.
Boyle has long excelled at injecting music-video surrealism into his feature films, from the kinetic Trainspotting to the symphonic Steve Jobs .
While not as dark or scathing as Josie and the Pussycats , the satire here feels less specific to music and how companies launch product, not surprising considering Danny Boyle’s underrated Steve Jobs film.