Imagine... John Lennon's childhood. Liverpool 1955: a smart and troubled fifteen year-old is hungry for experience. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John: Mimi, the buttoned-up Aunt who raised him, and Julia, the prodigal mother. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into the new and exciting world of rock n' roll where his fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney. Just as John begins his new life, tragedy strikes. But a resilient young man finds his voice - and an icon explodes into the world.

Movie Review:

Perhaps the most enigmatic individual of the four Beatles is John Lennon, the de facto leader of the quartet and whose teenage years are the basis of British artist-turned-filmmaker Sam Taylor Wood’s feature debut. The biopic covers five years of John’s life, from the death of his beloved Uncle George (David Threlfall) at the age of 15 to his departure to Hamburg with fellow Beatles members Paul McCartney and George Harrison at the age of 19 (fans may recall that their Hamburg tour in August 1960 was one of the earliest of the group).

But those looking for some answers to the formative years of the Beatles better look elsewhere- Taylor-Wood mostly glosses over these events, focusing instead on John’s relationship with two mothers. The first is his birth mother Julia (Anne Marie-Duff), who had from a young age left him in the care of her sister, Mimi (Kristin Scott-Thomas) whom by default has become his second and true mother over the years. The death of Uncle George leads him to discover Julia, her free-wheeling spirit in stark contrast to the stern and emotionally distant Mimi.

The subsequent push-pull relationship among the trio of characters is the centrepiece of this film. Julia is fun-loving and happy-going, but the facade of her carefree smile hides a damaged inner core with a potentially devastating secret for John. Julia introduces him to the world of rock-n-roll, protects his rebellious behaviour and ignites his interest in becoming a musician. Compare Julia to Mimi- who insists on John’s proper education and regards his rock-n-roll interest with at best skepticism and at worst disdain- and you’ll understand why John is quickly drawn to Julia.

The first hour of the film takes its time delineating these relationships, but Matthew Greenhalgh’s script and Taylor-Wood’s direction presents the events too matter-of-factly. The result is a biopic that feels less engaging than a life of someone like John Lennon should be. Of course, the film would like its audience to see John as just a typical schoolboy rebel then, but the storytelling could still do with more spirit and less detachment. Fortunately, the last half-hour ends the film on a poignant note, the final confrontation between John, Mimi and Julia simply heart-wrenching stuff.

It is also a testament to the great performances that Kristin Scott-Thomas and Anne Marie-Duff have brought to their characters. Scott-Thomas turns in one of her career-best performances in years, bringing a subtlety and complexity to her prim middle-class housewife character trying her best to bring John up as her own son. Marie-Duff on the other hand balances a tightrope of emotions playing the emotionally disturbed Julia and while mesmerising to watch, it is more likely that one will take to Scott-Thomas’s more nuanced portrayal.

Next to the excellent Scott-Thomas, Aaron Johnson’s John Lennon seems too tamed and pedestrian to make much of an impression. Were it not for the fact that the audience knows he is going to grow up to be the Beatle, Johnson’s character would simply be just another portrait of a troubled teenager from a broken family trying to find direction in life. But John Lennon is the ultimate reason why we are watching this film (which makes the notable absence of any Beatles tunes- for copyright reasons- and other era-defining tunes starker) and this portrait’s failure to differentiate itself from any other such adolescent dramas does it- and also its audience- a disservice.

Movie Rating:

(You’d expect a biopic of John Lennon’s adolescent years to be a bit more lively and engaging, and despite a poignant finish, this film is too tame to match its subject's bravura)

Review by Gabriel Chong