Film Review: Yesterday ** 1/2
We all have those bands or that movie or that TV-series that we love and... that we don’t actually want to tell others about because they’re ours. Our love of them makes us special. I felt that way about a movie when I was a teenager, Lost and Delirious, because it was a movie that made feel hopeful about the world, and for a pessimist, it is a rare feeling. I didn’t tell others to see it, and yet, when I found someone else who had seen the movie / discovered it on their own, it was like meeting an old friend. We understood what was so special… Now imagine if that band you held dear that no one else knew was The Beatles.
Danny Boyle’s new fantasy rom-com is a true feel good movie… I am not sure that is always a positive, but man, does Yesterday want you to feel good. Starting with a magical realism premise that a power outage across the world somehow erases almost everyone’s memory of the Beatles, this new world allows Jack Malik, a hipster musician and former teacher living at home with his parents who is the only person to remember the Beatles, to capitalize on publishing the Beatles catalog because “he knows the songs are good.” But when they don’t take off… he’s forced to recognize that the problem “may be me”. Then, by pure happenstance, Ed Shreen (yes, Ed Shreen) hears them and enters the story as a wise sage to prop up Jack, confirming the genius of the Beatles songs, but also Jack’s talent. And thus, Jack is off on a magical ride to become the biggest music pop star of all time.
The parts of the film that work are because of the magnetic performance of Himesh Patel, who I hope has given a career making performance as Jack, especially in those quiet moments where the movie shows a possibility of becoming far more interesting like when the young woman, Ellie, he never felt he was good enough for, stands in his room and realizes that she’s not in the column of people he loves.
The true problem with the film is the manufactured conflict. Stories are driven by conflict, which should come naturally from the characters. The problem here is none of the conflict seems to flow from the characters, but rather, from a need of the plot. Take Jack and his love Ellie. In a romantic comedy, two people who are perfect for each other are kept apart, which Jack and Ellie are simply by Jack never having the courage to ask. But their relationship is never explored enough for us to understand why Jack never makes his move. There are so many moments for that relationship to open up, but it doesn’t. We understand the concept of wanting to be famous, but we don’t see that drive in Jack’s character. He seems to care more about the art. As a result when he has to choose between his career and Ellie, it seems forced rather than an actual dilemma.
Then, add in Kate McKinnnon. Kate is one of the best comedic actresses of our times and she is hysterical in the scene stealing role of Ed Shreen’s manager who discovers Jack. However, the problem is, she feels like she’s from another story. Danny Boyle has done his best with camera work and transitions using Google searches and social media in inventive and fun ways to ground this movie in the reality of our world. Enter Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon, and yes her name is hammer because that’s the way she behaves) who is a caricature of a producer, someone who feels like they belong in a satire about the music industry, not a magical realism romantic comedy. She is supposed to be the antagonist, someone who is supposed to sell Jack on fame versus the love of his life, but, because she is ridiculous, she fails to be an actual pull, a Mephistopheless to his Faust.
There was a fascinating possibility of Ed Shreen becoming the antagonist, pushing Jack to explain how he writes songs because Ed doesn’t believe his bad renditions of why John Lennon wrote his songs in the first place. It would have been fascinating to see Jack explore why these songs meant so much to him. Like my father playing “Here Comes the Son” for me on one of my birthdays. That song always brings back that memory.
In a film like this, that owes itself to the mechanications of its plot, is there any wonder how it is going to end? Will Jack continue to lie to the world that he originated the Beatles songs? Will he and the love of his life get together?
Despite the lack of believable conflict, what Yesterday has going for it is the we all have those artists that mean the world to us. It is a feel good movie. And, oh yeah, the Beatles are pretty darn good too.
