Nowhere Boy (DVD/Blu-Ray)
Tue, February 15, 2011 
"And so I sing this song of love for Julia..."
About two years ago, I had the lucky opportunity to take a Beatles tour in Liverpool. Along with my Beatles-adoring mom, we were in fan heaven visiting places so well-known from songs, such as Penny Lane, the gate to Strawberry Fields, and Eleanor Rigby's tombstone. But what was most striking about the whole thing was the realization that The Beatles were just kids here, who loved to hang out, write and play their music totally unaware that they would go on to become one of the biggest bands of all time.
Nowhere Boy takes place during that time. The movie isn't even really about The Beatles - hell, the name of the band is never mentioned. What the film is about is John Lennon's relationship with his mother, Julia. The story is well-known: raised by his Aunt Mimi, the teenage John befriended his estranged mother, who lived so nearby she was practically a neighbor. A fellow free-spirit (perhaps too free-spirited for her own good), Julia taught John the banjo, introduced him to Elvis, bought him his first guitar, and provided a welcome relief from the strict rules of home. However, the reunion came to a tragic end when Julia was struck by a car and killed, a loss from which John never fully recovered.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, the movie doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know about the events of that time. John himself wrote a number of heartbreaking songs on the subject, and of course, he even named his first son Julian after his mom. But it's still an interesting look at what a young John (not to mention a young Paul McCartney and George Harrison) might have been like as just a teenager struggling to find his own identity while discovering a gift that would ultimately define him to the rest of the world.
Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) does an admirable job as John Lennon. He looks a little like him, he does that crazy thing with his voice that John would sometimes do in interviews, and he sings well. He wasn't playing a Beatle, he was playing a messed-up kid, and your heart broke for him. Kristin Scott-Thomas is great in the thankless (in the film and most likely in real-life as well) role of John's Aunt Mimi, who provided the tough love that John needed and probably wouldn't have survived without. Plus it was hilarious when she referred to Paul McCartney as John's "little friend." Speaking of Paul, Thomas Brodie Sangster (who will always be that little kid running through Heathrow to kiss his girlfriend in Love, Actually to me) is impressive as well. There's a whole other movie in that John/Paul relationship, and it would almost be worth seeing Sangster and Johnson reunite for the roles if that ever happened. Anne-Marie Duff rounds out the cast nicely as Julia.
Nowhere Boy is probably most enjoyable for a Beatles fan, but it's still a solid film and well-acted...plus you can't beat the music. I'd defintely recommend checking it out.
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