YESTERDAY

07.31.19

(SPOILER WARNING)

Yesterday was a movie I was anticipating based off the concept alone. I’m not the biggest fan of musical biopics, I find it rather difficult to write intriguing and surprising plot-points. After finding out what the plot of Yesterday was, I thought that they found a really creative way to work around this usual trope, while also having its own personal and unique original story. I’m also incredibly fond of the film’s director; Danny Boyle. I find Steve Jobs to be a modern-day masterpiece that excels in screenwriting, editing and directing. 

With the film resonating in my mind for about a week and a half or so, I feel confident saying this film is far from both perfect and atrocious. Although this is not as enjoyable as Rocketman, it is more enjoyable than Bohemian Rhapsody. Starting with the aspects of the film that I loved, my favorite scene in the film is Jack interacting with John Lennon. I thought the scene was handled incredibly well, considering that it ran the risk of easily coming across as both insulting and disrespectful to John Lennon’s life and legacy. I also enjoyed the idea of other people, items, food, ect. randomly disappearing, not just the Beatles. It made the world feel more realistic in my opinion, although the plot isn’t really realistic to begin with.

This leads me to my biggest problem with the film, and although it could simply be seen as a minor nitpick, I still feel it’s an important character detail that went unnoticed. Why does Jack strive in making sure the Beatles are remembered out of everything that was erased from existence? He’s essentially the only person in this world that knows everything that has vanished in this new reality, so what makes him specially decide the Beatles should be brought back from everything else? There’s never a personal character moment where he explains why he’s doing this, his reasoning is simply is that they have incredible music.  I’m not trying to disregard the impact of the Beatles, they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. It simply just isn’t explained why he chose the Beatles over anything else amazing that vanished such as Oasis, Harry Potter or Coca-Cola.

That crucial piece of characterization felt unfocused to me, and I think it would’ve helped establish a stronger main character if written better. Additionally, I noticed that the editing in the film’s first ten minuets is bafflingly sloppy. It reminded me of the editing in Bohemian Rhapsody… I was thrown off at first because I thought it was a specific type of editing the director wanted, but it isn’t really. The editing improves after the next ten minuets or so and is just fine for the rest of the film. Perhaps those first ten minuets were rushed? That would be disappointing.

My final criticism is that I found Ed Sheeran to be forgettable. I think that his character had a promising introduction; realizing he isn’t good enough after hearing Jack perform a song in front of him. I thought that the start to an interesting arc and could’ve been deeply explored, instead the film laughs at how pathetic Ed Sheeran is, drops the arc for him and ignores him only for him to come back in the film an hour later. I found it to be both confusing and jarring.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Yesterday, and I especially loved the film’s simple and sweet message about discovering your true self. I thought the acting was solid from everyone, with the exception of Kate McKinnon’s character who I found to be rather annoying. I wouldn’t mind owning this film on blu-ray, and I would casually recommend it to someone who hasn’t seen it yet.  

7/10