By: Robert Acosta
Cast:
Aaron Johnson as John Lennon
Kristin Scott Thomas as Mimi Lennon
Anne-Marie Duff as Julia Lennon
Thomas-Brodie Sangster as Paul McCartney
Plot: Nowhere Boy reveals John Lennons teenage years, growing up in Liverpool, England. Lennon's rollercoaster relationship with family is shown and makes him the man, the visionary he ended up being.
Review: John Lennon is one of the more influential people that has ever walked the face of the earth. You can't interview a musician and talked about their influences without them mentioning The Beatles or John Lennon specifically.
There have been attempts at documentaries or movies about Lennon, most have failed. Nowhere Boy doesn't fail but it doesn't shine either. It does good enough to be watched and slightly respected.
It pretty much follows Lennon in his teenage years, struggling in school, not really caring about too much and having very strained relationships with his aunt and mother. The quarrymen are born, the band that eventually led to the creation of The Beatles, and both Paul McCartney and George Harrison are featured. Just so you get an idea of the timeline were dealing with.
Aaron Johnson does a very good job of playing Lennon, felt like I was watching Lennon in real life. To be honest, the acting was great, maybe one of the more solid parts of the film. From the characters of the aunt, mother, McCartney and John himself, it was fantastic.
The movie would be higher in my book if it were accurate, and more than once source is telling me that this movie isn't fully accurate. Compared to the other John Lennon movie I saw, In His Life: The John Lennon Story, that story felt a bit more believable.
Overall, it's still worth the watch. Nothing too spectacular, no formation of The Beatles, just the John Lennon, the Quarrymen and an interesting, though not fully accurate, story.
Rating: 3 out of 5
