This is the third "music movie" featuring fantastic music of the 60s & 70's, out in the last 8 months. For me, the third time's the charm, I guess. I absolutely loved
Bohemian Rhapsody. Didn't care for
Rocketman. (Many others did.) And now, I loved
Yesterday. Not as much as BoRhap. But, was pleasantly surprised and not knowing what to expect after
Rocketman.
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 62%. Meanwhile the audience score is 90%. (Pretty much the same numbers as
Bohemian Rhapsody. )
Rocketman, got higher scores overall.
There is a very big "twist" in
Yesterday, that has been divisive with audiences. According to the director, Danny Boyle, “When we came to test the film, yes, there are some people that don’t like it at all. But other people like it enormously.”
I liked it. I got teary-eyed. However, your reaction many vary. For those who've seen it, PLEASE don't spoil and reveal the "twist" for others. However, it would be interesting to hear whether you liked it or didn't.
(There IS a Spoiler thread for this movie, on the DIS here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/yesterday-movie-spoilers.3757332/ )
But, for people who haven't seen it and wondered what other people think of it and don't want to be spoiled, there was no thread for that.
The director sent the film with a letter to the 2 surviving Beatles and to the widows of the other two as he was concerned about how they might feel about the film. After seeing the movie, Ringo & Olivia Harrison wrote back that they both liked the movie.
I think
Yesterday, is a very sweet & funny romantic comedy. It's written by the guy who wrote,
Love Actually. So, it has some complexity. It has a record 17 Beatles songs in it. The most Beatles songs that the music publishing company, Sony/ATV, which handles the song catalog, has ever licensed for a non-documentary, feature film. I haven't listened to a lot of Beatles songs in a while. So, I found myself smiling when they came on.
This movie is a way to introduce the Beatles songs to a new generation of people who aren't really familiar them.
I think it really made a difference knowing the Beatles songs. There were times I was nodding at certain references. I don't know how taking kids to it, who don't know of the Beatles, would react. My suggestion is to go to YouTube and have them watch a few videos of the band actually performing some of the songs first. This way they have a frame of reference as to who the Beatles were and how they were so important to us culturally as a whole. It is a movie that I think one can take kids 10 & up to see. No illicit sex, drugs or swearing.
Here is a list of the songs played in the movie and in order. But the videos in the link are just the songs, not any performances.
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/beatles-songs-in-the-yesterday-film/
THANK GOD
this movie didn't do some weird renditions or interpretations of the songs. I'm sure most of us die hard Beatles fans agree it's a sacrilege to change Beatles songs. Don't mess with our Beatles tunes!
We don't get to hear the full 17 songs. Just playing them straight through would take more time than the movie, without the plot. But, when they were performed, the actor, Himesh Patel, sings them as we know them.
Here he is singing,
Yesterday, on Jimmy Kimmel, as he sings it in the movie.
It's been out for a couple weeks already. My recommendation is to see it before it leaves.