Review: Nowhere Boy

For those who are expecting to hear all their favourite Beatles hits when they go to see Nowhere Boy at the cinema they will not hear them. For while this is the story of the formation of The Beatles and features the first meeting between Lennon and McCartney it is primarily the story of John Lennon's complicated relationships with two women in his life. The first is with his mother, who abandoned him aged four, they reconnect when he's seventeen but the relationship is played much more between friends and ocassionally lovers. In fact I found some of the scenes between Lennon and his mother rather uncomfortable to watch but I'm guessing that was the point. The other relationship is with Lennon and his Aunt Mimi, the woman who raised him for most of his life. Mimi is initially cold but you can see that under the facade there is a woman who really cares. The contrast between the two women is seen through the way they dress and their homes while Mimi wears plain colours and has a plain home, John's mother always wears bright clothes and her house is full of music and always cheerful.

The film only really gets going when Lennon decides to form the band and the music begins. From then the combination of the band story and the family life flows a lot better. Sam Taylor-Wood is a competent director and the film never really lapses into sentimentatlity or nostalgia instead telling the story of a boy who just happened to be John Lennon. Aaron Johnson does really well in the role of Lennon, Johnson never does an impression of Lennon but at the same time does gives us flashes of the man he becomes, he also bares an uncanny resemblance to Lennon especially when wearing his famous glasses. Ann Marie Duff is given the hard task of portraying Julia Lennon and just manages to make her likeable and make us understand why she left John. The star of the show for me thugh was Kristen Scott Thomas, an actress who I could watch in just about anything, as Aunt Mimi she gives a brilliantly layered performance of a put-upon matriach who shows her feelings in a different way to most.

As you can imagine the music in the film is brilliant and overall artist Sam Taylor-Wood paints a picture through her direction. It is the best recount of a musician ever but as a debut feature and as a biopic it is better than most.