Sam Taylor−Wood's "Nowhere Boy" is a surprisingly low−key drama about larger−than−life icon John Lennon's adolescence in Liverpool. While watching the film, it is easy to forget that this troubled kid will become one of the most influential musicians of all time; the movie feels like a simple family drama that could be about the lives of any of the hundreds of teens dealing with similar growing pains.
The film feels like a refreshing antithesis to the hugely popular "Across the Universe" (2007), which features one elaborate musical number after another and makes passing references to Lennon's career. "Nowhere Boy" avoids this route and instead creates a simple, character−driven film that is much easier to connect with on an emotional level. The film takes a musical legend and shows him as an insecure teenager, which most people have been at one time or another.
The movie focuses mostly on Lennon's (Aaron Johnson) relationship with his mother (Anne−Marie Duff), who had abandoned him as a small child, leaving him with his responsible but cold Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas), and on Lennon's early discovery of rock 'n' roll music. While this plot does tend toward the melodramatic at times, the small−scale look at Lennon's life allows for earnestness to shine through.
Performances are key to making a film like this work, and Thomas and Duff anchor this picture as the two maternal figures in Lennon's life.
Duff portrays Lennon's biological mother as ditzy but with a nervous energy that is almost palpable. It feels like Duff's character might fall apart during almost any scene, despite the smile and cheer she always wears. It would have been easy to vilify Lennon's mother for being irresponsible and giving him up, but the film wisely sidesteps this, making her at once fragile and one of the few sources of fun in Lennon's simple life. Despite her obvious flaws, she was still the one who introduced Lennon to rock 'n' roll and supported his music when others did not.
Thomas works with a character who is the polar opposite of Duff's, but she is equally effective. Thomas' character refuses to betray her stoic exterior with any real emotions. Even at her own husband's funeral, she remains stone−faced and even chastises Lennon for his tears, saying, "Don't be silly. If you're going to do that, go to your room." While this frigidness might make the character off−putting to the viewer, Thomas also makes it clear that Mimi was the one who took Lennon in as a child, raised him and gave him all that he had. While she is never as fun as Lennon's real mother, she was just as instrumental in his life.
The real treats of the film are the scenes in which Duff and Thomas appear together. Even though they are very different characters, the actresses do a convincing job of playing sisters. While acting together, they give the viewer the sense that they have known and have had to deal with each other over their entire lives. They could not be more different as people, but they understand their differences because they have dealt with them for decades.
The less compelling parts of the picture deal with the formation of The Quarrymen, the predecessor to the Beatles. This includes a few shorter scenes with a young Paul McCartney (Thomas Sangster), who seems far too serious and pompous in the movie. The film works too well as an intimate family drama for the introduction of Lennon's band members to work.
This will not be the film a lot of people expect, but that does not mean they will be disappointed. "Nowhere Boy" is a movie that favors strong acting, drama and emotion rather than the flashier alternatives seen in most biopics of famous musicians.
