Nowhere Boy
Sam Taylor-Wood:
Nowhere Boy (UK, Canada, 2009)
99 min. - English - Finnish subtitles
Distributor: Nordisk Film
K-11
To celebrate John Lennon’s anniversary year, this year the opening film of Rokumentti is Sam Taylor Wood’s stylish debut Nowhere Boy, telling the story of John Lennon’s early years. The film concentrates of Lennon’s life before the Beatles: his post-war youth, broken family and the musical awakening. The viewpoint is fresh and makes the man with almost a saint-like status to appear more human. The film also embodies the same kind of humanity Lennon himself emphasized in his work: he didn’t want to cover up his mistakes or put himself on a pedestal. Taylor Wood keeps his film very realistic down to the colour palette, and manages to be funny and touching at the same time. The entity is crowned by great performances of the actors, and Aaron Johnson in particular shines in the leading role. You don’t need to be a Beatles fan to enjoy the story of Nowhere Boy, since the true-to-life tone of the film touches everyone who’s ever been young.
Through the songs he composed for the Beatles and his solo albums, John Lennon has become one of the most influential musicians ever lived. Murdered at 40, Lennon’s legacy can be seen today in everything from sunny, upbeat pop music to experimental underground social commentary. This autumn marks the 70th anniversary of Lennon’s birth and the 30th of his death. Nowhere Boy is a perfect way to pay homage to the artist also because there are very few fictional films made of his life. In the portrayal of the young man and his exceptional relationship with his mother, Taylor Wood shows us the side that’s lesser known of the legend. In his youth, Lennon had two mothers, both of whom loved the boy in their own ways. The foster mother Mimi was strict but caring, while the biological mother Julia was more sentimental and even too much of a dreamer. Lennon escaped the storms caused by the broken family into the world of art and music. There he eventually found his own voice, a voice that would change the world. Nowhere Boy ends where the actual story only begins, the Hamburg tour of the Beatles where the legend started off.
See also:
» Jim Jarmusch: Year of the Horse
» Tom DiCillo: When You’re Strange
» Radu Mihaileanu: Le Concert
» Jim Jarmusch: Year of the Horse
» Tom DiCillo: When You’re Strange
» Radu Mihaileanu: Le Concert
Wed 17th Nov at 7:00pm at Tapio 2
