In terms of big musical biopics, Nowhere Boy is not really on the map. The movie takes as its subject the early adolescence of John Lennon, his discovery of music, the formation of his first band, and his fateful meeting with a boy called Paul. And that’s where director Sam Taylor-Wood leaves it. But crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s is hardly necessary — after all, we all know what happened afterward.
While Nowhere Boy does underline some of the music and attitudes that shaped the future Lennon, the focus of the film is not on him alone. In fact, there are moments when he plays a secondary role. This is not to say that Aaron Johnson, who plays Lennon, does not do a splendid job, it’s just that he spends the whole film battling two formidable actresses, who more often than not steal the picture from under his feet, for star billing.
Kristin Scott Thomas plays Mimi, an aunt charged with bringing up the young John, and Anne-Marie Duff plays Julia, John’s mother. The story of Nowhere Boy is as much about these two women and their relationship to the young Lennon as it is about Lennon himself, and they provide many of the dramatic sparks that make this small movie so enjoyable.
Aunt Mimi and Julia represent different aspects of the small-town, lower-middle-class Britain that Lennon, among others, rebelled against and ultimately changed beyond recognition. They are the real heroes of this drama, contextualizing the struggles of the young Lennon as he rockets ahead, assured of his own genius, but without much of a clue as to his destination. Taylor-Wood provides a strong sense of the uncertainty of Lennon’s success as he skirts dangerously close to the edges of criminality and, more dangerously still, self-satisfied posturing.
Following the death of his much loved and mildly alcoholic Uncle George (Mimi’s husband, played brilliantly by David Threlfall, who establishes his affability and weakness in just a couple of minutes of screen time), Lennon goes in search of his mother, who, it is suggested, abandoned him to Mimi’s care as she pursued her own life. It is through her that Lennon acquires a firsthand acquaintance with blues and classic rock ’n’ roll, and also discovers the disturbing sexual power of performers such as veteran blues artists Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and the young Elvis Presley. A scene in which Lennon and his mother listen to Hawkins’ I’ll Put a Spell on You has an uncomfortable incestuous frisson that both attracts and repels Lennon, and is an example of the film’s understated boldness.
There is a lot of dubious pop psychology in Nowhere Boy. But, fortunately for the picture, this is subsidiary to the interpersonal drama spun from the elements of the characters’ conflicts between duty, love, lust and rebellion.
It is not even necessary to know that Lennon became a member of one of the most influential musical groups of all time to enjoy this film. Lennon’s character could easily have been heading for the musical oblivion that engulfed so many other talented aspiring musicians of that period. This approach allows attention to be given to the hugely talented ensemble cast, which struggles in the cultural and generational war of 1950s Britain. This battle is played out against a sound track packed with seminal American rock from the likes of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Haley and His Comets — a reminder of the big world outside this small family drama.
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