A struggling musician realizes he’s the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.
In a majority of circles, the love for The Beatles and their music is vast. Although it has been years since we actually witnessed a live set from the original group, the legacy of their impact on the music industry and the world, in general, is timeless and forever. Over the years and through the universal cataloging of their songs, it is literally impossible to erase them from our hearts, our minds, and our musical spirit. With that said, having to fathom a world without their music, after having been so universally grounded in it, is unimaginable, but I digress. Obviously Director Danny Boyle’s vision to bring Richard Curtis and Jack Barth’s story to the big screen seemed like a necessary evil in order to remind us that perhaps we have somehow become lackadaisical in our gratitude and appreciation for the music that has carried us through generations of musical genius that has set our mood for decades.
The film is based on the easily forgettable life of Jack Malik who is a warehouse worker by day and a singer/songwriter the entire rest of his waking hours. Having played at almost every venue in his English town, he is beginning to feel that he will never amount to anything musically and is about to throw in the towel. His childhood friend/motivator, Ellie Appleton (Lily James) is just about the only one in town who believes that he has potential and she never stops looking for ways to promote him and keep his interest from waning. When Jack totally makes his mind up about letting go of his musical dreams and moving on, out of nowhere, he is hit by a bus and wakes up out of a coma with a Beatles playlist streaming from his brain. With this re-engineered mindset, Jack is equipped with a newfound love for his music and the same audience that he could never keep interested is now elevating him to new heights. When his agent books him at the long-sought-after stadium, he has dreamed of playing in, he is catapulted into stardom and the only problem is that no one has ever heard of The Beatles or their music, and even though Malik is totally perplexed by his own talent, he carries on as if he was the originator of the songs. Soon enough, Malik’s world starts to crash, when all the elements of stardom (including being picked up by a new agent and moving from his comfort zone) become a bit overwhelming. When he sacrifices love and honesty, for fame and fortune, his whole world becomes topsy-turvy and through his own undoing, he must find a way to get back to the truth and everything that matters most.
Regrettably, I cannot say that the film was totally impractical. The love story premise that served as its base, had many elements to make you fight for Ellie, the underdog, who gave entirely too much to a cause that didn’t seem worthy. Malik, in his own crazy way, gave life to every struggling musician who has tried to break through and needed any source of inspiration that would allow him to continue to believe in his own talent and feel relevant in a world that didn’t understand his life’s work. And finally, The Beatles’ music, regardless of any misconstrued plot, was a great reminder of how easily a disillusioned society can forget the elements that have universally bound us together and kept us whole, one musical breakthrough at a time.
In theaters Friday, June 28th
