Dir. Sam Taylor-Wood, UK/Canada, 2009, 98 mins.
Cast: Aaron Johnson , Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff
Review by Carol Allen
Whether this is a totally accurate depiction of John Lennon's teenage years in fifties Liverpool depends on which book or fan site you read. Matt Greenhalgh's screenplay - he also wrote Control - does though source a memoir written by Lennon's half sister Julia Baird, which indicates some degree of accuracy, but most importantly it rings true both to the period and to things Lennon himself said about his upbringing: "I lost my mother twice. Once as a child of five and then again at seventeen."
Lennon, as played in the film by Johnson, is obviously talented but without direction - "a rebel....but wanting to be loved and accepted" as the adult Lennon once described his young self. A misfit at grammar school, he's been raised by his strict Aunt Mimi (Scott Thomas) and loving Uncle George (David Threlfall). He's also troubled by flashback dreams from his early childhood. Shortly after George's sadly early death, John discovers that his real mother Julia (Duff) is living a few streets away and he starts to visit her on a regular basis - a situation which gives rise to a bizarre and disturbing tug of love between the two women with John caught in the middle.
Video artist Taylor-Wood's assured directorial debut feature is very good indeed. It's well written, tells a good story in a clear, straightforward and well paced way and is well acted. It effectively evokes the period in Seamus McGarvey's cinematography and in its design but what it is particularly good at capturing is the emotional mores of respectable working class life of that time, when family members formed close alliances, had bitter feuds and fiercely protected family secrets, as opposed to today, where we tend to rather more let our problems and scandals all hang out. This is particularly so in the character of Aunt Mimi with her tightly permed hair, buttoned up personality and passion for standards. Scott Thomas judges perfectly her performance as a woman who loves fiercely but cannot express her feelings. Duff as Julia is a much more flamboyant being than her elder sister - lively, flirtatious, including unsettlingly with her own son, emotionally unstable and on the edge. While Mimi buys John the guitar he craves, Julia is the one who unlocks his musical talent. Both she and Scott Thomas are very moving.
Neither Johnson as John nor Thomas Sangster as the 14 year old Paul McCartney have strong physical resemblances to the real life characters but they totally convince as the teenagers, who are going to become those men. Sangster in particular is a bit of a shock when we first see him - he seems so childlike and a bit girly but the character works well as the more stable and less mercurial partner in a friendship, creative collaboration and rivalry, which we see in its infancy. The centre of the film is though John and his relationships with Mimi and Julia and Johnson is very good as the disturbed teenager who is father to the man. The wisecracking cynicism he uses as a shield, the outbursts of anger, all ring true, while the scenes of half remembered memories from his early childhood are very effective. There are some very strong scenes of drama in this movie, particularly towards the end with the revelation of what really happened with John's father and in another scene, where John lashes out at angrily at Paul in his hurt, grief and confusion. But there's also a lot of humour, including sly little jokey references to songs that we know will be written in later years, like when we see John cycling past Strawberry Fields and when Aunt Mimi reprimands John for switching radio programmes - "We do not turn Tchaikovsky over" (Roll Over Beethoven). John's growing interest in music is well depicted and the songs from the artists who influenced him - Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis et al - effectively used. Apart from Threlfall already mentioned, the very good supporting cast includes a strong performance from David Morrissey as Julia's protective husband, who fears her renewed relationship with her son is a threat to her fragile emotional stability.
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