Yesterday

Such an interesting idea and kickoff from a great duo of English filmmakers that resulted in trivial moralizing about life values and love as the most important thing. What, in my opinion, was most astonishing was the completely unused potential of the Beatles’ hits and music in general. This is not a musical film, even though each and every viewer expects it to be. And the key drawback is the unimpressive lead actor, who is outshined by his character’s girlfriend. Is the overall outcome attributable to the film being a quick attempt to ride on the back of the success of Bohemian Rhapsody? That seems so, as it even panders to the viewer in a similar manner as BR. But in this case, a similar recipe produced the almost opposite result. (26.08.2019)

It is a nice idea, but also improbable (would the Beatles and their love songs be as relevant in the current cynical times as they were in the 1960s?) and by no means original (Yesterday essentially just develops an idea from Back to the Future). Execrable processing. The film is merely a terribly haphazardly designed rack upon which to hang Beatles songs, with cheap jokes (the renaming of “Hey Jude” to “Hey Dude”), an unconvincing romantic storyline, impossibly written female characters (a problem with all of Richard Curtis’s screenplays) and a protagonist who achieves everything (and does not lose anything significant) though fraud. A prefabricated crowd pleaser without spark, wit, visual inventiveness or a single real emotion, which in forced dialogue only presents ready-made truths and does not allow the viewer to discover anything or be amazed. It also does a disservice to some of the best songs in history. In fact, the film works with those songs in completely the same way as the caricature of the greedy music manager that Kate McKinnon came up with – like products from which it is necessary to wring as much money as possible. 50% (20.06.2019)

A well tuned crowd-pleaser for undemanding audiences. If I wanted to dig deeper, I would find plenty of arguments to tear it apart (like the total lack chemistry between the two main characters, or the morally problematic starting point and consequences), but I decided that I don’t want to. In any case, I will probably forget it before the festival is over. #KVIFF2019 (29.06.2019)

Danny Boyle has made stronger films, but this likeable and enjoyable musical also has charm. Have you also noticed that they've been ripping it up lately? After Queen and Elton John there's The Beatles, but it's presented in a fairly original way, which is appreciated. I would appreciate it if more than three things disappeared from this world. Himesh Patel is solid and the finale is moving. 75% (31.10.2019)

I like this garbage. It's cheerful, positive, naive, with a likable main character who has a fairly sensible girlfriend, and well, The Beatles to top it all off. A summer movie where you don't have to bother to think, just enjoy the songs, a British joke here and there for variety and you just get what you expect from a movie like this. Sure, it doesn't have much extra, but it still manages to entertain and if you know what you want from a movie like this, I think there's a decent chance you'll get it. (29.06.2019)

British culture so sophisticated that even Meky would not get lost in it. Danny Boyle revels in the kitsch written by Richard Curtis, Himesh Patel is authentic and Lily James is utterly endearing (though my heart beats for Kate McKinnon). Lovers of the Liverpool bunch will love it. And Robert Carlyle fans will have their jaws dropped. (11.01.2022)

Danny Boyle has made another fairy tale, but compared to Slumdog Millionaire, I was less bothered by its fabulousness, in fact not at all. Why is that? Well, the script by Richard Curtis, who doesn't hesitate to mine an amazing idea from start to finish, keeps capitalizing on it and, thanks to Boyle's imaginative direction, turns it into a terrific comedy and one of the coolest stories in recent memory. Indeed it is, for the entire two hours I was either smiling or laughing and it's been a long time since I've walked out of a theater from a comedy that I remembered so many jokes and laughed when I recalled them. The comic plot clearly outweighed the predictable romantic one, but it didn't matter, on the contrary this ratio fit the overall mood of the film perfectly. Of course, I agree with the message that the Beatles' music is brilliant in any era;so if you feel the same way and if, like me, you'll spend the whole film looking for Paul and Ringo to appear, Yesterday has something wonderful in store for you. (29.06.2019)

I adore Curtis and I respect Boyle a lot, but here it felt as if they were just cashing-in for their retirement. A film without spark, drive or plot that fails to bring anything distinctive or remarkable to its simple and predictable premise. The protagonist has no character and the story never places any major obstacles in front of him, he doesn’t even have to defy his loved ones, he simply steals the works of others despite moral doubts, and in the end he changes his mind and everything is OK. The world of About Time perhaps had similarly loosely arranged values, but it managed to fully draw in the viewer, crushing them emotionally several times, while declaiming its ideas in a tasteful and original way; this one in contrast, is nothing but sentimental cliché with an unrealistic romance that takes the music of The Beatles only as a pretext to pin its shallow ideas. The funniest scene is the first performance of “Let It Be” in front of the family and the most beautiful is the meeting with John Lennon, where I could see Curtis and it warmed my heart, but the rest is massive and bitter disappointment. (17.10.2019)

The initial euphoria I felt from being able to hear The Beatles’ biggest hits in a romantic comedy, at least indirectly, the very songs that you could not previously hear in movies due to exorbitant licensing fees, has diminished now. Richard Curtis’ 'interesting idea to create an alternative world where a number of cultural phenomena have disappeared (not only The Beatles' music), turns out to be a bit of a half-hearted concept designed to string a number of ideas and jokes together (among them a pertinent jab at the modern trend of political correctness that the name of the legendary White Album is not racist), but in the end we have not found out much about its reasons for this world and its logic, plus how it actually functions. What is more, the muddled screenwriting seems a bit incoherent. Not to mention that there was a substantial intervention regarding the plot during post-production (they completely cut a subplot with Ana de Armas). The romantic storyline is really clichéd, and is simply there to frame the narrative. In addition, the wooden acting of Ed Sheeran had too much screen-time in the movie for my taste. Otherwise, it is, of course, a technically well-executed summer movie, which simply aims to create a feel-good nostalgic mood and entertain, which of course succeeds with most audiences. (23.07.2019)

After the immortal songs of Queen and Elton John, filmmakers resurrected The Beatles, whose equally timeless songs are suddenly almost forgotten. The premise is indeed interesting, and I liked that they made some effort to bring The Beatles and their universe up to date. The lovely Lily James charmed me again and I hope newcomer Himesh Patel appears in future films. I liked the funny cameo of Ed Sheeran, but on the other hand, I still can’t bring myself to like Kate McKinnon. If you look for flaws in the film, I'm sure you can find something, but I was satisfied in the cinema. I was carried away on immortal rock classics, I experienced with the main characters their turbulent relationship and last but not least I was moved and surprised by the participation of a certain unnamed singer who rose from the dead. It's cheesy and plays on the emotions in places, but it's delivered in such an endearing way that I swallowed hook, line and sinker. (07.07.2019)

Richard Curtis delighted me immensely with his imaginative and a bit wacky script. It's perhaps a pity that he didn't take the director’s chair himself, although the seasoned Danny Boyle made a pretty good movie using his screenplay. The musical comedy Yesterday helped me to forget the bleak reality of everyday life for a while. I was very happy to be carried away on a wave of romance to the sound of immortal melodies of the Beatles. I really needed to see and hear something so amazingly positive in these difficult times. (80%) (13.03.2022)