Film Review - Yesterday (12A)

Sometimes it feels like someone else has written all the songs.

Some movie pitches just sound like gold. Yesterday taps into a notion many of us have considered - how the world would have differed without this or that cultural phenomenon. What if there'd been no Mozart, or Shakespeare, or (heaven forbid the thought) Doctor Who? How impoverished would we all have been? Danny Boyle's new film puts a Beatles-shaped hole in history and asks an unlikely hero to fill it. The results, while not the pure eighteen-carat I might have hoped, are shiny enough to light up a darkened cinema space this summer movie season. Here comes a considerable amount of sun.

Himesh Patel is Jack Malik, an aspiring singer-songwriter whose career is resolutely failing to launch, despite the encouragements of his manager/best friend Ellie (Lily James). Some bizarre cosmic fluctuation causes all the lights on Earth to blink off and on, during which time Jack sustains a traffic-related head injury. When he wakes, he is the only person who remembers The Beatles or any of their music. The band, it seems, has been erased from all of history, aside from Jack's mind. So when he begins to sing and play their songs, it opens up the possibility of that elusive music career - just so long as his conscience can cope with passing off John, Paul, George and Ringo's creativity as his own. 

Yesterday is almost destined to be divisive. Writer Richard Curtis is the doyen of the high-concept British rom-com, while director Boyle is chiefly known for the edgily propulsive feel he brings to challenging screenplays. Fans of the Trainspotting films, or even Slumdog Millionaire (which has a lot more grit than you may remember) may simply not be on board with Curtis' patented brand of romantic optimism. On the other hand those who found Love Actually a bit too sentimental may well appreciate the tempering of the writer's more sugary inclinations by some of Boyle's bite.

There's much that this duo's love-letter to the Fab Four gets right, not least the fun it has with that delicious central premise. Jack is burdened with a mission to re-introduce The Beatles to the world, while simultaneously indulging in an opportunism that will grant him the success he lacked. His first faltering steps with tunes he already knows to be great are mined productively for laughs, as is his wrestling with half-remembered lyrics. There are great moments too as the Beatles' songs clash with a 21st century music industry that in some cases doesn't know what to do with them. (Kate McKinnon has fun here as a grotesquely avaricious music executive.)

That the classic tunes work so well is due in no small part to Patel (Tamwar Masood in BBC soap Eastenders), who reinterprets them with a freshness and passion enhanced by their extraordinary context. Boyle meanwhile emphasises the growing sense of guilt and lostness the musician feels, as success and Malik-mania begin to escalate. James radiates her trademark earnestness as lovelorn Ellie (she makes everything better, Mamma Mia 2 included, just  by showing up), while Ed Sheeran proves willing to be the butt of the film's jokes as an understated version of himself. Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal are good comic value as Jack's genially clueless parents and Joel Fry nimbly steals a clutch of scenes as shambling roadie-pal Rocky, even if he the character is a clear rip-off of Notting Hill's Spike.

That ripping off of past Curtis movies is perhaps Yesterday's biggest issue. Jack and Ellie's unrequited love-plot is written in a way that can distract from the central vanished-Beatles idea, particularly in the final act. It's played with admirable conviction by the leads, but still has a tendency to drag things back into overly familiar Four Weddings and a Funeral territory, rather than dovetail unobtrusively into the story as a whole.

Thankfully the story sticks to its guns re its core premise, even if it does embrace classic Curtis rom-com tropes towards the end. What we're really interested in is Jack's whole non-existent Beatles dilemma and on that front the film follows through, avoiding any narrative cop-outs and refusing, Groundhog Day-style, to explain the weird glitch in reality. Admittedly the underlying notion is fundamentally daft and begs all kinds of knock-on time travel-ly issues that the film barely addresses, but brush all that aside. It's a neat conceit with which both writer and director have a lot of fun, more than enough to make the enterprise worthwhile. Plus it's great to hear all those magnificent songs reworked. In the circumstances what else could Jack have done?

Seriously, imagine there's no Beatles...

Gut Reaction: A pretty high laughter-to-joke percentage rate, while the music simply made me happy. One iconic song intro had we properly tearing up.

Memorable Moment: Jack endeavours to 'Let It Be'. 

Ed's Verdict: 7/10. The resorting to romantic cliche is too obvious, but as an exploration of Jack in a Beatle-less world this hits all the right Mersey beats. 

Film Review - Wild Rose (15)

Ain't no yellow brick road runnin' through Glasgow.

If A Star is Born tells the story of one woman's catapult-trajectory into musical fame, Wild Rose focuses on realities that are rather more mundane. Sure Lady Gaga's character Ally had to swallow some tough truths about life in the music industry, but the 'Rose' of Tom Harper's new film may never get a foot in the door to begin with - and it's not just the flaky nature of the X-Factor era that's keeping her back. Wild Rose doesn't have the glamour of the Gaga remake, but what and who it does have is impressive in its own right.

Jessie Buckley plays Rose-Lynn Harlan, singer since the age of fourteen at the Grand Ole Opry - not the one in Nashville, Tennessee, its namesake in Glasgow, Scotland. She's just completed a year-long prison sentence so stardom is scarcely beckoning, but then 'Johnny Cash was a convicted felon', as she reminds one detractor. A cleaning job at a well-to-do couple's townhouse provides her with an unexpected lead in her search for success, but a criminal record isn't the only thing holding her back. She's a mother of two young children, with her own mum (Julie Walters) constantly reminding her of her primary responsibilities in life and how incompatible they are with artistic strivings. Rose's dream of Nashville is fraught with real-life complications.

The Wild Rose story is familiar to anyone who's followed the travails of musical wannabes on reality TV. What it has in addition is a tough honesty that undercuts much of those shows' sentimentality. The sweary, funny, sometimes emotionally bruising screenplay gets to the heart of Rose, refusing to sugar-coat either her or her grim circumstances. Harper's direction is appropriately edgy, while the cinematography bleeds out colour to emphasise housing estate grey. The gulf between Rose's environment and her Americana fantasies couldn't be more clear.

Carrying the film on her shoulders and bearing it up nearer to greatness is Buckley. Already a star for those who've seen TV drama Taboo or the BBC's recent War and Peace saga (also directed by Harper), the girl from Killarney, Ireland is now on the cusp of global celebrity. Her Rose is mouthy and life-embracing, belligerent, damaged and vulnerable - instinctively honest in what she blurts out and yet simultaneously self-deluding. She's a mum who still acts like a child and who's most alive fronting a band on stage. To the credit of both actress and screenplay she's allowed to be a total train-wreck - barely likeable at points, as she stumbles from one disaster to the next. It's a strikingly real portrayal and thus all the more powerful when reality finally hits. As for her singing voice - it's as soulful as her Glaswegian speech is earthy, rivalling Gaga for her emotional richness and vocal control. It provides Rose with an undeniably special talent at odds with her drab surroundings. 

Buckley isn't alone in delivering first-rate work either. Julie Walters brings her customary realness, tempering Grandma's disapproval with warmth and making us feel the woman's despair. Two lovely child performances complete Rose's family (while acting as endearing obstacles to her showbiz greatness), and Sophie Okonedo is amusingly over-the-top as our heroine's social-climbing employer/number-one-fan Susannah.

To quote Tom Jones, however, this is all about the voice, and in this case the tempestuous personality behind it. Rose may not always be easy to like, but we understand her conflict and ultimately root for her - that she'll embrace her family like they need her to, and still get to share her gift with the world. Is that too much for a working-class Glasgow girl to ask?

Gut Reaction: An emotional gamut - laughter, irritation, sympathy, sadness - and a bit of joy (not least at the dramatic and musical craft on display).

Memorable Moment: No chords. Just the painful truth.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. Wild Rose is a solidly told story of frustrated dreams, but it attains a whole other level due to a lead performance of gobsmacking awesomeness. World, time to meet Jessie Buckley.

Film Review - Fisherman's Friends (12A)

Retro's back, again.

The opening moments of Fisherman's Friends tell all you need to know about the experience ahead. A soaring shot of the Cornwall coastline to the a cappella strains of Cornish folk song 'Dan Kanaka' - you know this is going to be a change of pace, a warm and comforting ride. If you're in the mood for something gentle and charming and soothing to your troubled soul, so that moment promises, then this is your film. And to be totally fair, it's a promise well-kept.

Formed in the mid-90s and going on to achieve notable music-industry success, the Fisherman's Friends from Port Isaac, Cornwall provide the real-life core of this film. Around their evolution into recording artists is spun a fictional romantic comedy as cosy as their knitted sweaters. Danny (the ever-magnificent Daniel Mays) is a talent scout and all-round London player on a Cornish stag weekend with some of his music-business mates. On hearing the Friends belt out a sea shanty, he's cajoled into pitching them a record deal. It's all a joke on the part of his boss (Noel Clarke as a mocking industry a-hole), and in truth Danny is more interested in single mum and Fisherman's Daughter Alwyn (a positively glowing Tuppence Middleton) than the singers themselves. But their earthy camaraderie stirs something within his jaded soul and despite resistance from both Alwyn and her father (James Purefoy as the group's unofficial leader), he sticks around to try and persuade the boys regarding potential stardom.

Scripted by the co-writers of later-life rejuvenation tale Finding Your Feet, this is another does-what-it-says-on-the-tin piece of storytelling. You know full well that the salty fishermen (who also do a line in local sea-rescue) will have much to teach the shallow big-city lad. You never doubt that however dubious his motivations, he'll start to fall in love - with the girl, the people and the place. And you can bet that there'll be a few bumps along the road to success and mutual understanding. There's a bursting sackful of corn here, including predictable plot beats, hoary old jokes and sailors bursting into spontaneous song among the lobster pots. If you're a cynic with an antipathy to folk music and a sense that there's little wisdom to be gleaned from hardened Brexiteers (the Friends mistrust anyone north of the River Tamar, so I assume they have no time for the European Union), then this one might not be for you. Don't be too quick to judge though...

With this type of well-worn tale - material guy connects with what really matters - it's all in the execution, and here the execution is strong. The direction and cinematography bring out the best in the Cornish landscape, while Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft's script has considerable pith and wit. However it's the depth of performance that bring this story home, not least Mays' fish-out-of-water (land-mammal-at-sea?) music executive. The Brit star of Line of Duty and Swimming With Men brings much-needed likability to the laddish Danny and utter authenticity to his change of heart. It's a kind of moral turnaround that's dramatically hard to sell, but Mays achieves it with ease. Middleton radiates warmth in response as Alwyn, once she's lowered her prickly defences that is. Loyal to her Cornish roots, she's more culturally attuned than the older generations, and the couple's chemistry is sweetly believable. So is that between Danny and Alwyn's daughter Tamsin, due to an endearing performance from young Meadow Nobrega.

For many, though, it'll be the fishermen themselves who steal it through rich harmonies and banter. Sheer conviction saves them from being a bunch of crusty caricatures, that and the fact they gel so convincingly both on mike and off. Purefoy suggests a profound soul beneath a taciturn exterior, while I, Daniel Blake's Dave Johns and veteran character player David Hayman contribute lovely comic turns. (The latter forms a touching double-act with Maggie Steed, who plays his beloved missus.) And fans of droll Britcom Mum will enjoy Sam Swainsbury as the youngster in the musical pack - a more sensitive, less dim-witted version of his TV role.

The sneering part of me might once have dismissed this as 'perfect for Odeon silver cinema' - truly a slap-worthy comment. For one thing there's nothing wrong with a gentle-natured film accompanied by tea and biscuits on a wet Tuesday morning. (I know, because I slipped in once to catch up on a movie I'd missed). And for another, spirit-massaging feel-good has its place, especially when it's done as attractively as this. The story may be as old as the guys' sea-drenched shanties, but it's delivered with equivalent assurance. As friends go, you could do worse than hang out with this lot for a night. They know how to deliver a good time.

Gut Reaction: A few good laughs, several heartstring tugs and (for personal reasons) one full-on sob.

Memorable Moment: How to rout a posh wedding.

Ed's Verdict: 7/10. Fisherman's Friends does nothing you can't predict, but it does the predictable well with snuggly results. Go on, suck it and see.