Alright, having let the dust settle after seeing
Nowhere Boy Sunday night...
Both my friend and I loved it! Neither of us wanted the ride to end, really, and when it did, we looked mutually stupefied. I wanted for it to get to the good part, dammit!!
It was genuinely enthralling, entering into this teenager's rather disjointed world, the layabout lad that would later grow to become John Lennon...who'd have thunk it? ;D
To begin with, we see him living with his Aunt Mimi (Kristen Scott-Thomas, who's just a delight), a conservative disciplinarian, her influence counterbalanced nicely by the joie de vivre of her husband George (the guy who's Frank Gallagher off
Shameless, and is equially as adorable here ;D).
This idyllic existence, of course, doesn't last forever, and for obvious spoilerific reasons, I won't go into the details. Although, suffice to say, John finds himself wanting to fill the void through pursuing a reunion with his unashamedly charming, but emotionally unstable mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff...OMG, I just adore her to bits!
Fabulous!). Apparently it's during his engagement with Julia that he begins to develop a keen interest in music, to escape the doldrums of school, as well as the increasingly stifling relationship with Mimi. Julia clings onto him with fervently (at times disturbingly so
) open arms, clearly feeling the need to compensate for not being there for much of John's childhood, and nutures his burgeoning interest in music. This relationship not only sparks the lingering animosity between Julia and her sister Mimi, but also discord with her boyfriend, Bobby Dykins (*ahem* I'll get to
him in a sec). Rather than go into the plot any further, I'll leave it for your viewing pleasure to unfold, cos it really is a wonderful experience in itself, being immersed in this world and the interplay between the characters as events transpire.
Now, for the superficialities:
- Aaron Johnson, who played Lennon (and was great too, I might add), was worth a gander...or several--I found him to be a nice little hunky bit o' young eye candy on the side. Whether that's what Lennon really looked like is beyond me (somehow I don't imagine it), but hoolordy!
- As for Mr. M, this typifies my reaction to his first appearance on the screen:
Mainly because of what he happens to be wearing. Again, I won't spoiler, other than to say he looks GORGEOUSLY dapper
I'm not a fan of wispy/bum-fluffy moustaches, but,
goddammit, it works on him (as mo's generally do, LOL!), and I for one, can't quite work out why!!
Bobby's wardrobe, is, dare I say it,
interesting (not to the same degree as in
IAT?, mind you) and I found myself totally LMAOing during a neat little guitaring sequence, where he looks, dress-wise, like this guy:
That's Angel Batista on
Dexter, for those not in the know
Silliness on my part aside, he's fantastic in this, despite his limited screen time and lines. The guy's simply brilliant at being able to convey an array of emotions sans words! I particularly got a kick out of a moment in the film where his contempt towards John is reflected purely through a puff of his cigarette
- Lastly, my friend and I came out trying vainly to work out who the damn kid was who was playing Pauly Mac!! Here's a clue: There's a pun in my previous sentence alluding to where I'd previously seen him
Overall, this was a highly captivating watch, with all-round fantastic performances
But did it address the makings of Lennon's genius, as some critics wanted it to do? Well, yes...and no. Did I demand for that puzzle to be solved in watching this film? Not really. In this modern media-saturated world, where we're seemingly so keen to pick people apart, it's sometimes better to preserve the mystery behind the magic, ya know
kitty
P.S. - My friend and I are planning to see this again in February at Moonlight Cinema under the stars (weather permitting), it was THAT. GREAT.
No information yet about his part. Guess we will be lucky to hear his Scouse-accent!
) when it is meant to be a film exclusively about Lennon's childhood, and Lennon as a kid ≠ Lennon as an adult 
I see that Wikipedia claims of the real Bobby Dykins that Julia's sisters 'called him "Spiv", because of his pencil-thin moustache, margarine-coated hair, and pork-pie hat'. I can't speak for the margarine in the hair (and incidentally, WTF? Was this general practice in post-war Britain?), but he certainly had the pork-pie hat and the pencil 'tache. He also has at least one scene where he wears a vest (I'm always unsure of the correct US terminology: singlet? undershirt?) allowing for an always-welcome glimpse of Morrisseyan chest hair 
