So I watched Yesterday a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd write about what's been on my mind for a while. I wanna start out by saying I actually love this movie, and it's really only because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's one of those movies (I think) you should watch as an experience, not just a regular movie. It's not THAT life-changing, but I think it's enough to make you think about it every once in a while.
(I'm gonna go a little music nerdy here, so skip this section if you want)
I think Yesterday also marks the end of an era (strangely). I'm referring to the "famous singers from the U.K." era. I mean, think about it. The last "super famous" singer to come out of Britain was (ironically) Ed Sheeran. In the 70s-2000s, there have been multiple successful bands and singers to come out of the U.K. The last band that got famous that came out of Britain was Arctic Monkeys, but that's it. (Also, Arctic Monkeys actually got famous by people posting about them and their debut album on MySpace) And looking towards the future, I don't think there'll even be another famous singer or band to come out of Britain. The music industry has changed so much in the last decade with the addition of streaming, platforms like Soundcloud, and the dominance of hip-hop and rap in the mainstream. Everybody's eyes are turned to America and the "pop" scene. I like to call it the "British drought". And sure, there could be some Brits making waves here and there, but usually this happens in Britain and they don't spread to America and won't be on the same level as Arctic Monkeys or Ed Sheeran. I think it's kinda funny because everybody is looking at America for good music when pretty much the whole rock and metal genre came from Britain.
Alright back to the movie. I thought it was great, overall. The chemistry between Jack and Ellie wasn't some cliché and overdone romance, but it was genuine, and you can really tell by the performance that they clearly put effort into it. I have conflicted feelings about Gavin's character and Ed Sheeran. I REALLY like how Ed Sheeran was kinda portrayed as the villain at the beginning of the movie (I like it because I hate him) but I didn't like how nice he was afterward. Gavin was cool to me because he looked like your typical 90s teenager who loved Britpop. And he made a Pulp reference. I LOVED THAT PULP REFERENCE. I don't like how the writers fleshed out his character just to make him a love interest to Ellie. Another thing I like about the movie is its strong British humor and biting sarcasm. I LOVED that whole joke about how Oasis is really just a Beatles ripoff and that they don't exist because the Beatles never existed. Nice little detail that made the movie just that much better for me. The only thing I can't get out of my head is the John Lennon scene. It was a very heartwarming moment and I was actually about to cry (Note: The only time I've cried at a movie was Forrest Gump). But the more I thought about how important he was, the more I thought about his not-so-nice attributes. He beat his wives, was a pathological liar, and was a big hypocrite. He's a genius for the most part don't get me wrong, but some of the things he did were inexcusable. In the trailers, it showed two people who claimed to have written the songs, but in the movie, it was all a dream. I thought this choice was genius AND lazy at the same time. I legitimately thought that Paul and Ringo were going to be like "Ha, we're the bad guys for trying to say that we wrote those songs." The only real thing I had a problem with was the ending. Jack never goes back to the world where the Beatles existed and just stays in the world where they don't exist and has a family. I feel like the writers picked this as the ending because they just wanted to end the movie on a wholesome note and just didn't think about the plothole.
Overall, I thought it was an amazing movie that I would recommend to any music nerd or basically anybody, to be honest.
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