Universal Pictures
If I woke up one day and my favorite band didn’t exist, there would be no way that I would be able to recite their songs word for word. So, I find it impressive that someone loves The Beatles so much that they would be able to perform a good majority of their songs by memory. When I first heard the premise for Yesterday, I was immediately intrigued but also curious as to how one man knows all the words to The Beatles’ songs. I can sing along with some of my favorite songs, but don’t know them off the top of my head, so props to anyone who remembers a song without hearing it.
Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle, centers around Jack Malik, a struggling musician who wakes up one day after an accident and realizes that no one knows who The Beatles are. The Beatles are arguably the biggest and most successful band of all time and their songs are beloved by almost everyone. When he finds out that The Beatles never existed, he takes the opportunity to make their songs his own and get famous. This was a film I was truly anticipating going off the premise alone. It is a clever idea that is filled with great music from The Beatles, but it unfortunately falls into the cliché side of storytelling.
Danny Boyle utilizes The Beatles’ songs to his advantage throughout the film. It was lovely to hear the songs that were popular from the group in a different form. As Malik became more famous by using their songs as his own, the songs were performed in front of bigger crowds, which brought a whole new level of excitement to the songs. Himesh Patel is great in his role. Patel has only appeared in short films and television shows. This is Patel’s breakout role and his love for The Beatles shined throughout this film. I admired the way he talked about The Beatles and how their music is important.
Yesterday occasionally had some funny moments throughout. Patel and Lily James, who played Ellie, Malik’s childhood best friend, had great chemistry and brought a sense of fun to the film. Boyle made the moments where no one knew who The Beatles were work. It was funny to see how people in 2019 would write a Beatles song or interpret it. Ed Sheeran appeared in the film as himself and listened to Malik perform ‘Hey Jude’ and tried to convince him to change the song to ‘Hey Dude’. Moments like that made me laugh out loud.
Danny Boyle has a wide variety of films he has directed such as horror movies like 28 Days Later and dramas like 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire. He was even attached to the next James Bond film, but left after creative differences. Boyle’s style of directing appears in this movie and it is mixed well with the comedy from the characters and the tribute to The Beatles.
As the film progressed it became more generic and clichéd despite the intriguing idea for the movie. When Malik was becoming famous, he also was learning what is most important in his life. The film used The Beatles’ music to tell a by-the-book romance story when it could have looked more at the music industry and how The Beatles have been such an impactful band. I was disappointed with the fact that the film took a turn and became a generic love story and it ended up feeling flat and unoriginal. This was my biggest issue with the film since I went into it looking for a film focusing on popular Beatles music, but instead got a generic love story.
Overall, I wasn’t hugely disappointed with the film, but I was disappointed in how they approached the film. I loved hearing The Beatles’ music even though I am not a huge fan of The Beatles. The film was occasionally funny and Himesh Patel was great in his role and I am excited to see him in future movies. Yesterday isn’t something I would recommend running out and seeing, but if you are a huge fan of The Beatles then check it out soon!
Want to see Yesterday and judge for yourself? Click on the image below to see the movie, and be sure to come back and tell us what you thought!
Yesterday has a run time of 1 hour 52 minutes and is rated PG-13 for suggestive content and language.
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I WOULD recommend seeing this movie. It’s fun.