This film is set during the teenage years of one of the greatest musicians in history, John Lennon. He is shown here in his youth as a boorish, foul-mouthed hoodlum and womaniser, thoroughly disinterested in school and regularly getting into trouble. Having been given away by his mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff) when he was just five-years-old, John lives with his very proper auntie Mimi Smith (Kirsten Scott Thomas) and they share a tenuous relationship. Following the death of his uncle though, John learns that his mother lives just down the street and decides to visit her. His mother is a highly enthusiastic, vigorous woman and he takes to her kindness. They start to rekindle their relationship and while John is suspended from school she teaches him to play the banjo and inspires him to start a rock and roll band.
Nowhere Boy, directed by Sam Taylor Wood, is credited to being adapted from a memoir by John Lennon's half-sister, Julia Braid. Yet one must assume that Matt Greenhalgh's screenplay is largely improvised given the absence of Julia throughout the majority of the film. She is not present to witness many of the critical moments portrayed in Nowhere Boy. There is little doubt that the film has its heart in the right place in attempting to present a story that is largely unfamiliar, but wholly valuable to those that appreciated Lennon later in his career. It might indeed be accurate in a more general manor – that John could have been a very misbehaving student - but the way that it is portrayed throughout the film lacks both credibility and subtlety. Where the film suffers most for this is in its characterisation, which is quick to draw such thick lines between the personas. Kristen Scott Thomas is thorough in her role as the pompous Mimi but the script, and presumably Wood's direction of her actors, remains so constrictive that the performance rarely eventuates into something more complex. Mimi's nemesis and antithesis is of course her sister Julia, who is rather loose and excitable, almost overbearing with the affection she shows for her son. Neither performance is poor; its just that they are so obvious in contrast, between the tough but responsible woman and the more loving but irresponsible ditz.
The livelier portion of the narrative is dedicated to the formation of Lennon's first band The Quarrymen. Aaron Johnson seems slightly blank in those initial scenes, reuniting himself and his mother, but he shines with a complete idea of how to play an arrogant, self-absorbed wannabe musician, with utter swagger. Whether this representation is entirely accurate, or another contrivance, will be up to the more knowledgeable Lennon fans to decide. It's an image of Lennon that works for and against the film because it is a portrayal that few will have seen, but by the end one still wants to know how he went from this scallywag, to a man of such integrity and spirituality. The inclusion of Paul McCartney is somewhat problematic as well because the actor playing him, Thomas Sangster (the little boy from Love, Actually), looks to be ten years old, even though he is actually nineteen in real life. He is a minor character but he also represents the way things happen so rapidly in this film. He meets John randomly at school and is included in the band almost instantly, then happens to introduce Lennon to his friend named George on a bus. Fortunately, Paul's inclusion at least gives the film its one really touching moment where he and John console each other in their common grief. We know in this moment that there is something stronger than just music which will tie these boys together for much of their coming lives. It is a scene of such empathy between the two characters that speaks greater volumes than any amount of yelling from some of the more dramatic scenes in the film.
One can appreciate the courage of Nowhere Boy and its director to attempt to tell a rather unflattering story about one of the world's most loved musicians. It is a story that will interest and surprise many. Others will simply relish the quality of the music and the rich soundtrack, which includes artists like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, the real Lennon and a number of others from the period. Yet it is difficult not to question the authenticity of the film and how well it has been researched because of the overall simplicity of a number of the character portrayals. It is an imperfect film but one that is still quite watchable because of its ambition and the glimpses of its heart.
Nowhere Boy, directed by Sam Taylor Wood, is credited to being adapted from a memoir by John Lennon's half-sister, Julia Braid. Yet one must assume that Matt Greenhalgh's screenplay is largely improvised given the absence of Julia throughout the majority of the film. She is not present to witness many of the critical moments portrayed in Nowhere Boy. There is little doubt that the film has its heart in the right place in attempting to present a story that is largely unfamiliar, but wholly valuable to those that appreciated Lennon later in his career. It might indeed be accurate in a more general manor – that John could have been a very misbehaving student - but the way that it is portrayed throughout the film lacks both credibility and subtlety. Where the film suffers most for this is in its characterisation, which is quick to draw such thick lines between the personas. Kristen Scott Thomas is thorough in her role as the pompous Mimi but the script, and presumably Wood's direction of her actors, remains so constrictive that the performance rarely eventuates into something more complex. Mimi's nemesis and antithesis is of course her sister Julia, who is rather loose and excitable, almost overbearing with the affection she shows for her son. Neither performance is poor; its just that they are so obvious in contrast, between the tough but responsible woman and the more loving but irresponsible ditz.
The livelier portion of the narrative is dedicated to the formation of Lennon's first band The Quarrymen. Aaron Johnson seems slightly blank in those initial scenes, reuniting himself and his mother, but he shines with a complete idea of how to play an arrogant, self-absorbed wannabe musician, with utter swagger. Whether this representation is entirely accurate, or another contrivance, will be up to the more knowledgeable Lennon fans to decide. It's an image of Lennon that works for and against the film because it is a portrayal that few will have seen, but by the end one still wants to know how he went from this scallywag, to a man of such integrity and spirituality. The inclusion of Paul McCartney is somewhat problematic as well because the actor playing him, Thomas Sangster (the little boy from Love, Actually), looks to be ten years old, even though he is actually nineteen in real life. He is a minor character but he also represents the way things happen so rapidly in this film. He meets John randomly at school and is included in the band almost instantly, then happens to introduce Lennon to his friend named George on a bus. Fortunately, Paul's inclusion at least gives the film its one really touching moment where he and John console each other in their common grief. We know in this moment that there is something stronger than just music which will tie these boys together for much of their coming lives. It is a scene of such empathy between the two characters that speaks greater volumes than any amount of yelling from some of the more dramatic scenes in the film.
One can appreciate the courage of Nowhere Boy and its director to attempt to tell a rather unflattering story about one of the world's most loved musicians. It is a story that will interest and surprise many. Others will simply relish the quality of the music and the rich soundtrack, which includes artists like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, the real Lennon and a number of others from the period. Yet it is difficult not to question the authenticity of the film and how well it has been researched because of the overall simplicity of a number of the character portrayals. It is an imperfect film but one that is still quite watchable because of its ambition and the glimpses of its heart.