The trailer for director Danny Boyle's "Yesterday" has been shown both in theaters and in various social media forums for months now, but in case you missed it, here's the premise. Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel, is a musician/singer/songwriter who has been kicking it around in the sticks of England for fifteen years, trying desperately to make it. On his way home from yet another pathetic gig, one which has convinced him that the time has come to give it all up and get a real job, a world wide cataclysmic event (which is never really explained) knocks out the entire world's electrical power grid for several seconds. It also causes bicycle riding Jack to be hit by a bus and lands him in the hospital.
Shortly after his release for the hospital, while sitting with friends, including his manager/friend/should-be girlfriend Ellie, played by the totally charming Lily James, Jack sings The Beatles "Yesterday", after which Ellie and the others say things like "That's the most beautiful song I've ever heard. When did you write THAT?" It seems that the cataclysmic electronic event has wiped out all evidence and knowledge that The Beatles ever existed. Jack, it seems, is the only person in the entire world who knows the songs of the most famous and important rock & roll band in history.
A real life rock star, Ed Sheeran, who plays himself in the movie, discovers Jack and his amazing songs, and he, Jack, soon becomes an industry and world wide sensation. But what price glory if it is all built upon a lie? That is the question with which Jack begins to struggle, and how he resolves it comes from a source that is a true surprise to the viewers.
"Yesterday" is more of a standard RomCom - with a fantasy twist - than we were led to believe from seeing the trailers and reading about it in advance, but it was a fun and enjoyable movie, and it does deliver a message as Jack struggles with that existential question that I mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The movie also skewers the ruthlessness and greed (as portrayed by SNL's Kate McKinnon as Jack's avaricious and amoral manager) as the marketers and business people begin to market Jack in ways that, perhaps, the real Fab Four never had to face.
There are also a couple of other funny bits in the movie. One is how Jack attempts to play his beautiful new ballad, "Let It Be", for his parents, but they keep interrupting him and he can never get past the first line, and the other is how, familiar as they are, the lyrics to some Beatles' classics, just aren't that easy to remember.
Oh, and the final scene in the movie is just delightful.
Three Stars from The Grandstander.
I also want to acknowledge that the headline on this post is a blatant ripoff from Washington DC film critic and Facebook Friend Jason Fraley. In a Facebook comment, I mentioned that I would steal his line, but would give him attribution, so, there you go, Jason!!
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