REVIEW: YESTERDAY

4/5

All You Need Is Them.

116 Mins. Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Joel Fry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Sarah Lancashire, Lamorne Morris, Ed Sheeran & Kate McKinnon. Screenplay: Richard Curtis. Director: Danny Boyle.

Let it be. Yesterday (okay, it was more like two days ago. Sorry I'm late. I've been away), Beatle legend Paul McCartney brought a special guest out on stage as he played Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium like the time 'Rocketman', Elton John came out swinging with a baseball bat and full diamond encrusted uniform with the blue cap to match, for a cock and a walk with that slugger slinging like it was his d###. But we aren't talking about Sir Elton. No, Macca did one better than that. Or the time he did a Carpool Karaoke with James Corden (who cameos with his Late Night show here) in the Liverpool home of rock and roll before surprising the city with a special gig at a small local pub that felt like the nostalgia of playing at The Cavern Club that made him and the rest of his Fab Four friends famous. In Hollywood this weekend McCartney made history as he reunited with his peace and love brother Ringo Starr. Even if he isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles. This was a picture worthy of putting up on your wall, or the rooftops of where it all started. The only way this could have been better is if he took us on a Yellow Submarine fever dream and brought back John and George. And it's fitting now that we pay tribute to the feel good film of the year (let alone the Summer season it's smashing). One we should have watched the day before...let alone 'Yesterday'. After years of the movie industry refreshing the rights of the Apple of the music industries eye like Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriends Facebook page for that friend request (C'mon man! Even you can't get that. Even if you probably are able to find a way around it) in 'The Social Network' (that was the first film that was given official license to use songs from The Beatles catalogue in their soundtrack. And pub quiz hotshot which one did they use? Drumroll please! No seriously...tell us. We forgot), this homage hallmark film treats their muse like a jukebox. As we wake up to a refreshing film where 'Yesterday' all The Beatles hits seemed so far away. Suddenly, music isn't half the industry it used to be. In a clever concept brought to you by the best of British intelligence, writing together like the dynamic duo of perfect partnerships Lennon and McCartney, as 'Notting Hill', 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and 'About Time' romantic, hallmark as a card held up at your front door, genius writer Richard Curtis finally links up with iconic Brit, 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'Trainspotting' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' director Danny Boyle for the Great British event movie of the Summer, holding a bigger stage than Glastonbury. All you need is love...actually. Here comes the sun indeed. Watch out for those blisters on your fingers.

Imagine. Last month I was walking across a zebra crossing in London and everyone was taking pictures. Not, not of me...oh hell no! But the not so long and not even winding road that George Harrison, a barefoot Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon walked across to get to Abbey Road. Oh, The Beatles darling. There's just something about them. Because even when we carry a weight heavier than Maxwell's Silver Hammer they make us come together over this in the end. Beatlemania took over the world from the Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields of Liverpool, to the Ed Sullivan show and beyond. Way before just one direction or a K-Pop, BTS army fandom today that could never come close to the real pop music and the sweet songwriting that wants to hold our hand through it all. The Beatles are even big in Japan. From hotels in Kyoto that tells you 'She Loves You', to legendary author Haruki Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood' classic novel on your bedside table. But just imagine. Cycling home one night like it was all happy days, only for a bowl cut blackout to hit the world like it did New York this weekend and bowl you over. Running you down and knocking you out. Only for you to wake up wanting more for Christmas than just your two front teeth. As in some sort of reverse Tom Hanks 'Big' magic were you can't even play that foot floor piano anymore (tis sadly true with the closing of New York's FAO Schwafz toy shop), this world just takes away as The Beatles amongst other things, some that are bad for your health (and we're not just talking about smoking) no longer exist. You Google 'Beatles' and you don't even get a Volkswagen. John and Paul, and you get the Pope. And don't even think about diving down the YouTube rabbit hole for a 'Yellow Submarine', or searching for 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'. At least you get Donald Glover when you search Childish Gambino. Imagine all the people. What would they do? What would they know better? What would you do? Laugh? Cry? Pick up a guitar with plucky luck and realize all you need is chords and get your Ricky Gervais with two biblical pizza boxes in 'The Invention Of Lying' on? Picking your favourite songs first. Because that's exactly what are perfect protagonist Himesh Patel in his biggest stage introduction does, once more with beautiful feeling as he channels John, Paul, George and Ringo in a beer garden with more soul than all those singers that have turned these rock and roll classics to R&B hits (Musiq Soulchild's rendition is really something). Performing a perfect 'Yesterday' cover that's far from a glorified pub singer, but an amazing artist in his own right with more than a few of his own songs in his back pocket. "I mean it's not Coldplay. It's not 'Fix You'' one of his dumfounded friends says, tongue in hilarious cheek when he can't believe they haven't heard this song before as of yesterday. Now how's that for trouble? Like trying to perform another iconic number on your living room piano like Elton, as your parents keep interrupting you for a cup of tea, getting it all wrong like you should just leave it be. It's a little bit funny.

'Blinded By The Light' like the Boss Summertime Bruce Springsteen inspired like my heart for him movie. Making this the perfect, Great British duet to follow the Freddie and Reggie icon dual Dexter Fletcher crown of the King and Queen, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Rocketman' collaboration. This man looks to go from the slums to the millions with the songs he sings and just a few strings in this Beatles approved magical mystery tour of music all the way to sharing the same titles. Showing you there's nothing like music or movies in this life. Give it a few more sing alongs and you could damn near turn this musical into a stage show on London's West End heading for Broadway like 'Billy Elliott', 'The Greatest Showman' or live on the Ed Sullivan show the way Curtis and Boyle write this so John and Paul well. And we know the perfect manager for this all to ride 'Baby Driver' shotgun. The 'All About Eve' West End and 'Mamma Mia' star Lily James. Here we go again. The 'Cinderella' star is perfect for this ball. Fitting like a glass slipper, or the rubber gloves they use to make beats like the DIY 'Bohemian Rhapsody' way amongst others, laying tracks next to the 7:45 to Suffolk train tracks recording studio. As this rock and roll dream is always Halloween scared of turning into a pumpkin before the night of its life is over in the 'Hard Days Night' hotel. The perfect duet to help our lead navigate a world without the Fab Four today were people are more concerned with their phones or Cardi B. As Patel powers thorough more misheard lyrics than thinking Lady Gaga "crashed through a Starbucks" (think of all the cracked cups) instead of the surface in the 'Shallow' of 'A Star Is Born'. Or Ed Sheeran playing a hilarious version of himself like the legendary 'Always Be My Maybe' Keanu Reeves cameo, suggesting a new title for 'Hey Jude', like 'New Girl' star Lamorne Morris' music mogul warning that 'The White Album' may have some issues. And how about the funniest person on the planet, SNL Kate McKinnon's impression of the "poison chalice' of the snakepit in the Hollywood Hills sand that is L.A.? Or the 'Pleb' of lovable Spike like stoned roadie Joel Fry? His musical advice in perfect time to Ed Sheeran is actually hilarious. Or the Great Brit parents of Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal who started out on the groundbreaking 'Goodness, Gracious Me' and now rule? Or even national talent Sarah Lancashire's Liverpool lass and what she means that we simply can't spoil? From an iconic, romantic moment in the Mersey Tunnel of lovely Liverpool to 'Back In The USSR', 'Yesterday' shows you just what these Fab Four mean as Himesh gets by with a little help with some of his most famous friends. Reminding us in this world today that all we really need is love and maybe a classic song we all know too like Mother Mary. All the way to a perfect, surprise ending that hits your heart that gently weeps when you get past the confused shock and realize what in this alternate reality it all really means. And on a personal level for me, coming home this week from the Strawberry Fields forever of New York's Central Park back to my small, seaside town less than an hour away from The Beatles home of Liverpool (on Albert Dock's Beatles Story beaming, I felt genuine joy hearing George's 'My Sweet Lord' praise prayer, then shed the realest tears when I saw a certain, single piano in the last room as white as my favourite album. After losing love I left a forever message on the wall of the John and Yoko 'Double Fantasy' exhibition from Liverpool to Tokyo close by...always) on the wrong side of the tracks. Walking the pier after this movie and hearing a pub singer belt out a wonderfully raw rendition of the same 'Life Goes On' song that this movie closed on with drunk people dancing delightfully in the waning Summer sun made for a surreal, but beautiful moment that showed us like love, they are still all around us. And like this movie it proved, The Beatles will never be for sale. Because they belong to all of us. From this neighbouring town to the headphones you plug in, in your home. And if you're not a fan when you get it like this writer didn't until he was 25, you'll feel so alive. Even if you don't think it's Coldplay. And sure even though nothing beats The Beatles, watch this tonight and tomorrow you will believe in 'Yesterday'. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Blinded By The Light', 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'The Invention Of Lying'.