Review Of John Lennon Biopic 'Nowhere Boy'

First of all, let me establish that I am not a fan of biopics. To me, they serve only the purpose of tediously relaying the details of someone's past, jettisoning any artistic merit in favour of the rigorous retelling of a life. As a result, they often isolate non-fans, providing interest solely to those interested in the subject matter in the first place. In short, biopics tend to do what a book can do much better.

Luckily, The Beatles remain the most popular band on the planet, so chances are the film will appeal to a fairly large number of people. Plus, thanks to Lennon's fascinatingly chaotic upbringing, the story of Nowhere Boy will likely interest his fans as much as the average cinemagoer.

The film is also successful through, wisely, attempting not to tread traditional biopic ground.

From the moment he meets her, there are incestuous undertones underlining John and mother Julia's relationship. Their initial time alone together makes for mildly disturbing viewing as mother and son act like two flirtatious teenagers, dancing together while gazing into each other's eyes, roaring animal noises at each other and, in one scene, cuddling up as young John daydreams about having intimate relations with a schoolgirl.

This isn't the only way the film differs from regular biopics. Choosing to focus on a significantly small portion of Lennon's life is an odd choice (especially when that section of his life is before he'd even had a glimpse of fame and success), but that Sam Taylor Wood's picture acts primarily as a drama about the relationships involving, and the power struggle over, a confused adolescent is the main reason that separates this film from other, more conventional biographical movies. Whether you're a Lennon fan or not doesn't necessarily matter - change the character's name from 'John Lennon' and the film would work just as well as an intriguing character study.

As Lennon, Aaron Johnson starts off slightly stiff (almost as though he has realised the size of the shoes he has to fill) but quickly settles into the role. The 19-year old is perhaps too thick-set and good-looking to be a physically accurate version of the wiry and plain Lennon, but he gets the inner-workings of the late musician almost spot-on.

Many have said that Ian Hart's Lennon in early-Beatles story Backbeat is the definitive version, but his portrayal of the man was too harsh, emanating the man's ferocity and bitterness but none of his positive elements. Johnson strikes a nice balance, ably capturing the boyish charm, the rebelliousness, the nastiness and, most importantly of all, the absurdist humour of Lennon. I suspect the reason that this depiction of Lennon is one of the best and most truthful yet is more down to Matt Greenhalgh's screenplay than Johnson's performance, but Johnson is a talent to watch nonetheless.

The supporting cast are fine, too. Thomas Sangster is a good Paul McCartney, and Anne-Marie Duff gets the sex appeal and unpredictable nature of the wild Julia just right. Best of all, though, is Kristen Scott Thomas as aunt Mimi. The uptight foster parent could have come across as one-dimensional but Scott Thomas brings compassion and warmth to the role.

The film does have its flaws - the main problem is that it looks no better than a TV production, the filmic aspect of the character study element offset slightly by Taylor Wood's lack of ambition visually. People expecting an extensive look at The Beatles in the early days may also be disappointed - that is relegated to a subplot here, with the band's name never even mentioned.

Still, these small faults do little detract from a film that succeeds so spectacularly in other areas. Crucially, unlike the vast majority of biopics that stick as religiously to the facts as Nowhere Boy, the film is never dull.