Yesterday

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)

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. (27/08/2019)

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)

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. (30/06/2019)

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)