Yesterday (2019)

Yesterday is an example of great film making. A gimmicky premise with a schlocky romantic script is turned into something truly fascinating to watch by the work of a master film maker. While I often have little interest in the stories he tells, Danny Boyle's work as a director always impresses me. Here he takes a cutesy little story from the writer of Love, Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral and makes it remarkable.

You wake up one day and no one remembers the Beatles so you pass their songs off as your own and become a big star. Clever little gimmick that could easily have run out of steam about 30 minutes in. This all happens during a rather ridiculous love story where his girlfriend demands he give up his success to stay with her (a truly yucky proposition) and the film almost ignores the real dilemma of finding one's identity when one is carving it out of the work of another. Yesterday is far more interested in the chemistryless romance between the leads Himesh Patel and Lily James than it is in the truly fascinating questions posed by the Black Mirror like storyline.

All in all it was a film that really shouldn't have worked for me. But yet it did.

I attribute this to three things. As I said Danny Boyle is a master film maker often making me care about stories I wouldn't otherwise with his truly innovative story telling techniques. He made a movie about a guy trapped in a crevasse and another about a guy going on a TV game show interesting. He finds a way through his visual approach, which merges so well with the music, to overcome this story's short comings and make it watchable.

That's the second thing, the Beatles. This music is just hard not to appreciate. There is a moment near the end which is a bit of a spoiler so I won't describe it completely, but it allows our hero to connect with some strangers over the music and it's truly wonderful. It was a joyful moment, one that surprises us a bit, and one that helps us understand what this music means. This is a bit of a love letter to John Paul George and Ringo and that adds something to the film which lets me forgive it a bit.

The third thing is connected to the music. It's Himsesh Patel's magnetism and his owning of the music which redeems much of the film. He is endlessly watchable and his performances are truly enjoyable. I didn't feel he connected with James in anyway and their romance truly dragged down the film but when it was about him and the music it was wonderful.

Oh and Kate McKinnon is always amazing to watch and she shines here in a scene stealing role.

So even though Yesterday should be cringey, it is not. If you can forgive the cheesy romance plot, the film's total abandonment of the identity crisis issue, and its Ed Sheeran cameos it ends up being a lovely little film.

Yesterday
Starring: Himsesh Patel, Lilly James, Kate McKinnon, Ed Sheeron, Ed Sheeran, Robert Carlyle
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Richard Curtis