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shewhomustThe Guardian gave Yesterday a four star review and the line "As fab as it could reasonably be expected to be." That sounded good enough for a summer rom-com, to be followed by dinner at the Elm Tree before the quiz (no-one had told me that their kitchens are closed pending refurbishment, and that big bowl of nachos wasn't going to happen).
We both enjoyed the movie; nothing I say hereafter should be taken as evidence to the contrary. It's a Richard Curtis romantic comedy - a Richard Curtis romantic comedy directed by Danny Boyle, and with an intriguing premise, but even so, there's a limit to how far that can take you, and "I enjoyed it" pretty much reaches that limit.
You could view that premise as science fiction: what if Something Happened, and no-one but you remembered the Beatles? The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw enjoys this 'What if...?' aspect, and opens his review by thinking of some of the resultant absences. But the film itself doesn't seem interested in playing this game. Jack - who remembers the Beatles, and is building a career on their songs - brings out Back in the USSR in the Moscow of the present, and the script dances around the clever retro use of USSR, but it doesn't examine whether this world contains the Beach Boys or not (either option has its drawbacks). There are a couple of jokes about other things which only Jack remembers, but apparently nothing where he is wrong-footed by something that he, alone, doesn't remember. Yesterday is not about the world building, it's about the plight of the protagonist.
Who is, obviously, a Richard Curtis romantic hero, and so likeable but entirely hapless. He works part-time in a wholesale warehouse (his manager would sack him, but the customers like him) having given up teaching to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. His manager and number one fan Lily James is transparently in love with him, but having established that they are just friends, he can't - he repeatedly fails to - redefine their relationship, just as he repeatedly failed to resist the blandishments of Hollywood, expressed in the person of a truly terrifying rival agent. When it comes to the entirely hypothetical question, if you were the only person who remembered the Beatles, would it be OK to present their music as if it were your own, Yesterday answers yes, on two spoiler-rich grounds. This disposed of, the film moves on to the grand denouement, which is very grand indeed, courtesy of Ed Sheeran, who generously plays himself as an inferior precursor of this wonderful new music. This raises questions that might actually arise in the real world, about how you behave to other people, in love and in business, which Yesterday doesn't actually acknowledge.
Despite all of which, and more, I enjoyed it. And there is one magnificent coup de théâtre, in the form of an uncredited cameo by Robert Carlyle.
We both enjoyed the movie; nothing I say hereafter should be taken as evidence to the contrary. It's a Richard Curtis romantic comedy - a Richard Curtis romantic comedy directed by Danny Boyle, and with an intriguing premise, but even so, there's a limit to how far that can take you, and "I enjoyed it" pretty much reaches that limit.
You could view that premise as science fiction: what if Something Happened, and no-one but you remembered the Beatles? The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw enjoys this 'What if...?' aspect, and opens his review by thinking of some of the resultant absences. But the film itself doesn't seem interested in playing this game. Jack - who remembers the Beatles, and is building a career on their songs - brings out Back in the USSR in the Moscow of the present, and the script dances around the clever retro use of USSR, but it doesn't examine whether this world contains the Beach Boys or not (either option has its drawbacks). There are a couple of jokes about other things which only Jack remembers, but apparently nothing where he is wrong-footed by something that he, alone, doesn't remember. Yesterday is not about the world building, it's about the plight of the protagonist.
Who is, obviously, a Richard Curtis romantic hero, and so likeable but entirely hapless. He works part-time in a wholesale warehouse (his manager would sack him, but the customers like him) having given up teaching to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. His manager and number one fan Lily James is transparently in love with him, but having established that they are just friends, he can't - he repeatedly fails to - redefine their relationship, just as he repeatedly failed to resist the blandishments of Hollywood, expressed in the person of a truly terrifying rival agent. When it comes to the entirely hypothetical question, if you were the only person who remembered the Beatles, would it be OK to present their music as if it were your own, Yesterday answers yes, on two spoiler-rich grounds. This disposed of, the film moves on to the grand denouement, which is very grand indeed, courtesy of Ed Sheeran, who generously plays himself as an inferior precursor of this wonderful new music. This raises questions that might actually arise in the real world, about how you behave to other people, in love and in business, which Yesterday doesn't actually acknowledge.
Despite all of which, and more, I enjoyed it. And there is one magnificent coup de théâtre, in the form of an uncredited cameo by Robert Carlyle.
