Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy 2009

• Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Based on novel: no
• Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, David Threlfall, Paul Ritter, David Morrissey, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Tenet, The Illusionist
• Kristin Scott Thomas – many including Richard III
• David Threlfall – Elizabeth the Golden Age, Hot Fuzz, Sex Chips & Rock’n’Roll, King Lear, Nicholas Nickleby
• Paul Ritter –Friday Night Dinner, Chernobyl, Their Finest, Wolf Hall, Bletchley Circle, The Hollow Crown,Harry Potter, Quantum of Solace, Son of Rambow, The Girl in the Café, The Libertine, Seaforth
• Anne-Marie Duff – On Chesil Beach, Suffragette, Before I Go to Sleep, The Last Station, Notes on a Scandal, The Magdalena Sisters
• David Morrissey – many
• Thomas Brodie-Sanger – Maze Runner, Wolf Hall, Game of Thrones, Bright Star, Nanny McPhee, Love Actually
• Why? John Lennon
• Seen: Once before. 26 July 2024 

It’s a strange feeling to watch a film that when it ends you know exactly what will happen for the next twenty-three years when it really ended. For him. But never, for us.

Seventeen-year-old John is torn between the two women he loves. His dynamic, musical, mentally unstable mother Julia (Duff) who abandoned him when he was five but lavishes love on him now. And his Aunt Mimi (Scott-Tomas in one of her strongest roles), who raised him and loves him deeply but has a cold manner.

Angry, lost, rebellious, he finds escape in rock’n’roll. He meets fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney (Brodie-Sanger, an odd choice, but he manages quite well).

Yes, well, as I said, we know the rest.

The acting is even better than one expects from this splendid cast. 

5*  of 5