REVIEW: Yesterday (2019)
Cast: Lily James, Himesh Patel, Ed Sheeran, James Corden
Love the Beatles? Love feel-good films? Love British humour? If so, this film is the one for you.
‘Yesterday’ starts with a glimpse into the life of failed musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) playing dreary songs to very empty rooms. His manager Ellie (Lily James) is with him at every gig, supporting him and trying her best to promote his work, which proves to be a challenge.
One evening, when the pair are returning from an empty ‘concert’ that Malik played, the world has an international power outage and he happens to get hit by a bus during this episode. Confusing. Basically, when everything is back to normal and he’s in a fit state, we find out The Beatles have never existed, amongst some various other things (still can’t imagine a world without Coca Cola).
We discover this extraordinary fact when he plays ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles on new a guitar that Ellie bought him and no one knows the song, proceeding to applaud him on his writing talents. Sorry Lennon and McCartney. The film continues with Malik performing the songs that The Beatles wrote, however I won’t spoil the rest for you and guess you’ll have to watch the film to find out…
Being both a lover of music and film, ‘Yesterday’ strongly appealed to me and I wasn’t disappointed. it’s been on my list of lockdown films to watch, so I’m glad I ticked it off the list. It definitely lived up to its expectation and musically, it was phenomenal.
When I found out Patel would be singing Beatles songs, I was naturally hesitant to watch it because of how notoriously hard the band are to cover. However he did an amazing job and the music was performed very well throughout the film, with songs such as ‘Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘She Loves You’ being used. And of course, ‘Hey Jude’…or is it Hey Dude?
The film was directed by Danny Boyle, who’s style shines through in the way everything was pieced together. From quirky graphics to the fast-paced nature of the film, it had his name written all over it (not literally, I’m afraid). As well as having a well-known Director, the film also featured Ed Sheeran and James Corden, who both played their cameo parts very well.
Overall, I would recommend giving ‘Yesterday’ a watch, as it highlights the importance of music and The Beatles. It also shows that you can never take humble beginnings for granted and gives viewers a glimpse into the pressures of being in the music industry as an artist. The film just felt very well put-together and is definitely a feel-good meets RomCom film. Enjoy!
P.s. look out for John Lennon. You’ll understand.
