‘Yesterday’ is a wonderfully sweet musical romance

Posted on July 5, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

The Beatles are arguably the greatest rock band in the history of music. Their music is as iconic today as it was 50 years ago when it was written. But, what if nobody remembered the Beatles? What if they never existed, but you still remembered their greatest hits? It’s a common thought experiment. What if I invented that first? What if I created that?

And, that is the exact premise of the new film “Yesterday,” directed by Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and written by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”), and the result is a wonderful, sweet, music-filled romance with a stellar soundtrack (of course).

The story follows struggling musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, “EastEnders”), who has been patiently waiting for his big break to come, but it never arrives, despite the assurances of his longtime friend and manager, Ellie (Lily James, “Cinderella”). One day, the electricity shuts off across the entire world for a handful of seconds, which is unfortunately the exact time Jack and a city bus are meeting at an intersection, leaving him unconscious in a hospital and missing two of his front teeth.

Upon his release, he plays the Beatles’ “Yesterday” for Ellie and his friends, only they’ve never heard the song before and have no idea who the Beatles are. It seems only Jack remembers them, and he begins to pass off their songs as his own, sending him on a wild ride.

I was really looking forward to this movie, and it didn’t disappoint, and even better, it kept me guessing from start to finish, absolutely refusing to go in the direction I expected at each step of the way (except for the very end).

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