Yesterday

After the release of biopics of Queen and Elton John, we see another movie involving  classical British band but this time it's not about them. Instead it takes upon the question what if the Beatles never existed or stopped existing. This is a huge question as they inspired many musicians and changed the music industry. 

Story

We the story of Jack Malik, a struggling musician and song writer trying to get in the business but failing badly. Despite no one recognising him, his friends, family and life long, childhood friend, Ellie, who also his manager give him the support needed to keep going and try and get there. However, on a drive home, he states he gives up. But then, when riding on a bike, all of electricity goes out for a few seconds, which makes him get hit by a bus. This cause severe damage to him. By his side was Ellie, showing she cares for him deeply. When recovered, his friends provide him gifts as a welcoming back. One present was a new guitar which then Jack says to himself "A good guitar needs a good song". His choice of song is "Yesterday" by The Beatles, reflecting back on the accident yesterday. His friends were shocked and surprised of how amazing and emotional the song is. Ellie questions when Jack created the song, as we and Jack know, he didn't, the Beatles did. This is where we see the start of things that don't exist anymore; this later includes things like Oasis, Coke, Cigarettes and Coke. Jack gets home and searches the Beatles, only for it to auto search to beetles. Finally, he realises what he must do. He must revive the Beatles and re create their songs. This struggles Jack as he has trouble remembering all the lyrics and the correct notes to play, but he tries his best to get as accurate as he possibly can. A few events go by, he participates in gigs, get's a deal and contract, becomes recognised by Ed Sheeran and is now the most famous singer of all time. Through the adventure between Jack and Ed, Ed's ego is destroyed when he realises that Jack is just better than him. Too much so that he challenges him to a song off where for 10 or so minutes, they must write a song on the spot. Jack becomes worried as he doesn't write songs. Fortunately he wins the "friendly" competition. The face on Ed gets crushed and falls down when he gets defeated and reality strikes him. A side story of this is the relationship between Jack and Ellie. Ever since they where children, Ellie has had feelings for Jack, but it never seemed to be returned. Until at one point, Jack accepts he has feelings for her and when confessed, she gave up and rejected him, telling him he had all those years to say. One scene of the movie is Jack playing on a closed down building on a beach, being viewed from a crowd of, looks to be, thousands. We see here that 2 other people were fortunate enough to remember the Beatles. We saw both of these people earlier in the movie, which Jack thought where going to arrest him. Near the end of the movie, Ed invites Jack to play in the Wembley stadium for his Divide tour. This is where he makes his choice: a music career, or Ellie. In front of the live audience, he declares that his music isn't his, and he explains who the Beatles are. And then confesses his love to Ellie. The 2 grow older, get married and have kids. And that's basically it. There is sooo much more to this movie so please go watch it as it's really fascinating to see this alternative reality.

Characters

Our main characters of the story are: Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), Ellie Appleton (Lily James), Rocky (Joel Fry), Ed Sheeran (Himself) and Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon). From the start, we can see that the chemistry between Jack and Ellie is close and strong, showing some experience with each other and love. Jack is a friendly, creative guy, seeking for growth of his musical talent. But people only see him as another wannabe singer with an above average voice and guitar skills. Ellie is also a friendly person, really wanting the love from Jack and trying to make him focus his life on her instead of trying so hard to go for his dreams when it clearly ain't working. Rocky is Jack's best friend and is very loyal to him. When Ellie isn't around to go places with him, he chooses Rocky who is very thankful of Jack's decisions. He always does what Jack says and doesn't usually get on his bad side. Like all other roles Joel Fry has (e.g. Plebs) he is a comedic aspect to the story. Next up is Ed Sheeran. This is a slightly alternative Ed Sheeran than the one we know in real life. He acts as Jack's mentor, advising him and helping him through the industry of music and singing. The final main, important character is Ed Sheeran's and later Jack's agent. She is quite a selfish bitch and only cares for her success. The relationship between her and any other characters don't end up well.

Music

The song choices were amazing, choosing the popular songs of The Beatles and implementing them into this movie. However, a few choices were questionable like "back in the ussr" as I believe that that song just wouldn't be popular if it was released today.

Conclusion

My overall opinion is that it's a decent movie. It could of been thought of and executed a lot better as a lot of things just wouldn't happen. Some songs by The Beatles are a bit outdated and Jack wouldn't become that famous that quickly. I feel it's just a bit exaggerated of how good and revolutionary  the Beatles were.