Today was a lot of fun. I drove over to Santa Monica to visit my sister Vickie, and we walked over to the 3rd St. Promenade to see "Yesterday", which as you probably know is the recently released hit movie having to do with the music of The Beatles. I know you are used to me writing in detail about the movies I see, but I'm not sure I wanna do that here because you may have plans to see it yourself, and almost any plot description on my part would reveal spoilers. I am trying to think of what I can tell you......hmmm, lemme think for a minute.
Okay, well the movie begins in Suffolk, England, which I just now Google Mapped and I see it is on the southeastern coast of the merry olde isle. There is a guy there (Himesh Patel) who is a struggling singer/songwriter. He has a few decent tunes and and some gigs at local pubs. He can play and sing pretty well, but for whatever reason he is having trouble drawing a crowd. Those in attendance at his shows usually include a half dozen of his friends and a handful of pub regulars. Try as he might, he can't break through to a bigger audience. He does have one thing going for him, however : a manager (Lily James) who believes in him wholeheartedly. She has known him since they were kids and saw his first ever gig at a school talent show. You can tell right away she has affection for him, and is totally dedicated to helping him break into the big time. He likes her too, but thinks of their relationship more as a "brother/sister" thing, which she goes along with. She just wants to see him make it, and she finally scores him a gig at a big festival, the modern kind with multiple stages and 68 bands playing each day.
But it turns out to be a disappointment. He is relegated to playing in a tent on the outskirts of the festival grounds and the only people in attendance are a few parents with their kids and his ever supportive half dozen friends. He was so stoked to be included at the festival, and now his hopes for the big time have been dashed once again. Following the tent performance he tells Lily James that he's done, he is quitting, he is gonna go back to being a teacher, which also happens to be her day job, how she supports herself.
She won't hear of this news and pretends not to listen. After all the time she has put into managing him, making phone calls, driving him to gigs, and just believing in him, she is crushed at his decision and keeps telling him, "No, no, no you can't quit now"! as she drives him back from the festival. They get into an argument about it and he demands to be let out of the car, after which he detaches his bicycle from the rear and proceeds to pedal the rest of the way home.
It is here that I'm afraid I must "put the Kibosh" on any further description. I do this because you just need to see it for yourself, and conversely - if you have already seen it then you know what the movie is about anyway and you don't need me to tell you.
But really, there's an extra "kicker", because even if you've only heard what the film is about, it's not actually about that.
It's really a love story, as in "All You Need Is Love", and so if you love The Beatles and if you believe in the power of love, then you will love this movie. The two leads, Himesh Patel and Lily James are perfectly cast, and director Danny Boyle has fine-tuned the emotion in that English way, so that as circumstances turn, from humdrum to sudden excitement to life changing to poignant, there is always a bedrock of light comedic resilience for everyone involved. In that sense, the movie is veddy Brrittishh. It has it's priorities straight, though.
What is the most important thing, the most meaningful thing in life? Your answer to that question will tell you all you need to know about "Yesterday", which gets Two Huge Thumbs Up from me.
There is one scene, late in the movie, that I also won't describe to you, but which momentarily set me back in my seat and almost brought a tear to my eye. I had to think of baseball statistics (an old tried and true method) to avoid the need for a Kleenex.
It's really a great movie in the feel-good sense, as it has been advertised, and I think it's a must-see because of it's message. ////
My sister and I had a blast and we talked about The Beatles before and after the movie. As you know, hearing the music of the Fab Four is possibly the most formative experience of my early childhood, and my sisters were Beatlemaniacs from the beginning.
I am so very excited that I will be going to see Paul McCartney in concert this Saturday at Dodger Stadium, the same venue where Vickie and Sophie saw The Beatles in 1965. I've never seen a Beatle in concert, but after all these years, on Saturday night I will have come full circle.
Seeing "Yesterday" this afternoon drove home just how incredible and world changing their music has been, although neither I nor anyone else at the theater needed reminding.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning.
Love, love, love (sung to the tune of...) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment