Yesterday Review
Here’s my Yesterday review… published today. *naks* The film stars Himesh Payel, Lily James, Ed Sheeran and Kate McKinnon. The film opens July 24 from UIP Philippines.
The plot for the film is simple. Jack Malik (Patel) wakes up from a bizaare accident to a world where a number of things have disappeared including Coca Cola, cigarettes and more importantly, The Beatles. So Jack jumps on the chance of living his dream of becoming a megastar even railroading his budding romance with Elle (Lily James). Will this work out for Jack?
The movie is typical Danny Boyle with all the signature elements namely England and beautiful scenery. There’s also a ridiculously feel-good ending. And I love it to bits for being that way. Throw in a curveball by the third act
“Yesterday” comes packed with all the good Beatles songs but mostly the Lennon-McCartney ones taking the more prominent stance like “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude”. So if you’re a mega fan of the fab four, you are in for a nice treat. The interesting part of this is that they recorded their own versions much like the early 2000’s film “Across the Universe” and they sound great; even “Hey Dude”.
Speaking of songs, the film also scored big for me because they were thorough with the initial song lists. And they actually had Patel singing and performing them onscreen. Sure some liberties were applied here and there but the general vibe is that they were good to great. Nothing went to waste and everything was treated with respect.
Plot
So while you would assume in this Yesterday review that this was entirely based around The Beatles, let me tell you that the legendary british is just a jumping on point for the story. Somewhere in the film, director Danny Boyle manages to make it something more. It’s an honest-to-goodness story about Jack and Elle with the Beatles songs, his fame and newfound glory driving the narrative further.
I applaud the movie for making the supernatural aspect of the story take a backseat the moment we see some movement. Other movies would have probably gotten in 15 more minutes to explain and remedy this plot but Yesterday just shrugs it off and returns to focusing on the story of Jack.
Cast
I can’t believe that they managed to add Ed Sheeran here and while he’s still singing his stuff (just like what he did in Game of Thrones) he actually helps set the direction for the characters mainly Jack. He’s also funny here. Surprisingly, Kate McKinnon wasn’t as funny as I was expecting her to be. Or maybe that’s the goal and if that was the case, congratulations, they succeeded. Lily James looks great in the film and while we barely see her sing (which is sad because she has a good voice i.e. Mamma Mia 2) but she does good with her role.
Verdict
9/10
Danny Boyle has did it again and for this Yesterday review, we highly recommend the film. This would be a great film if you like rom-coms, The Beatles and Danny Boyle films. Also the music is such a retro trip that I won’t blame you if you go on a Beatles binge the moment you leave the cinema. Go catch it when it opens July 24 or if you can’t wait any further, they have a sneak peek on July 15 and July 16.
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