October 21, 2010: Nowhere Boy
Nowhere Boy is the latest film to examine some aspect of the younger life of one of the Beatles. Here we are treated to some of what turned John Lennon into the complex emotional figure he was for his whole short life up until he was callously gunned down 30 years ago.
I was put on alert fairly quickly in Nowhere Boy with a typical movie device as John’s warm relationship with his uncle is shattered as the uncle dies within the first few minutes of the film, leaving John in the care of his strict aunt. This was an awkward misstep in an otherwise compelling, if somewhat fictionalized, story of how John makes contact with his estranged mother and builds a relationship with her. They get along well because she is still quite young, but she is a bit crazy and inconsistent so poor John, who is only in his mid-teens, is forced to figure out how to deal with the jumbled reality of his life, and figure out whether his mother or his aunt is best for him to be around. Kristin Scott Thomas as the unyielding aunt lets on just enough of how she cares for John, until the climax where the secrets come out and she can be judged on the whole story rather than on a half-truth as she struggles to hide the details for John’s protection.
The film is short and flows nicely, but I wouldn’t say it was…necessary. Based on a memoir by John’s flighty mother, everything in the story must be taken with that under consideration, which almost makes it irrelevant that this is in fact John Lennon as opposed to some fictional character. The evolution of John’s band into what will ultimately become The Beatles is covered here, but in an almost perfunctory manner which ironically probably achieves greater realism than it might otherwise, since the comings and goings of band members and friends really don’t carry the weight at the time that they obviously do in retrospect. When John meets Paul McCartney, he’s just meeting another kid who wants to be in the band, which is of course how it must have been. It wouldn’t have been an immediate earth-shattering moment where they realized they were about to change history.
Perhaps I’m being unfair here with such a pretty wishy-washy take on Nowhere Boy, but I think it sums up my feelings. Even as a bigger-than-average Beatles fan, I didn’t get much inspiration from this film. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t real enough to be good. I had wondered where the narrative would end, since it obviously wasn’t going to cover the whole of John’s life. The filmmakers chose to end the story when the band went to Hamburg, and I think that was a good decision. I’m glad I saw Nowhere Boy, but I won’t bother to revisit it.
Well-intentioned but lacks a certain punch.
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