Yesterday

Yesterday 2019

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Also seen by this director: T2 Trainspotting, London Olympics Opening, 127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine, Millions, 28 Days Later, A Life Less Ordinary, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Meera Syal, Joel Fry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Alexander Arnold, Ed Sheeran, Kate McKinnon, Sarah Lancashire, Robert Carlyle (uncredited but I recognised him!)
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:

o   Himesh Patel – nothing yet but I see he’s in the series Station Eleven and that I must see

o   Lily James – Mamma Mia 2, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Downton Abbey, Cinderella,

o   Meera Syal – Curry Nam Nam, Absolutely Anything, Broadchurch, Doctor Who, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid

• Sanjeev Bhaskar – Unforgotten, Curry Nam Nam, Absolutely Anything, Doctor Who, The Zero Theorem, Notting Hill
• Sarah Lancashire – Last Tango in Halifax, Doctor Who
• Robert Carlyle – T2 Trainspotting, SGU Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Days Later, Flood, Hitler, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The World Is Not Enough, The Full Monty, Hamish Macbeth, Carla’s Song, Trainspotting, Go Now, Riff-Raff
• Why? Boyle, nostalgia

• Seen: 28 June 2020      

       Jack (Patel) works in a supermarket by day, plays his guitar and sings his own songs at poorly attended gigs on evenings and weekends. Until he tells his manager and friend Ellie (Jones) that he’s played his last gig. He gives up.

       Then there’s a strange global electrical surge, Jack is hit by a bus and everything changes.  For one thing, none of his friends have ever heard of the Beatles and don’t recognise ‘Yesterday’ when he sings it for them. He discovers to his horror that the world has never heard of the Beatles. Even his collection of their LPs don’t exist.

       Feverishly he tries to remember the lyrics to all their songs then he starts playing them at gigs, passing them off as his own.

       Patel is perfect, the story is clever and funny and heart-warming.

       What an absolute gem of a film.

5* of 5