kazmogroove

When I first saw the poster of this movie at a subway station, my reaction was "oh no, another movie about the Beatles that probably sucks!'. As a hardcore Beatles' fan, I carefully stay away from anything that might damage this sacred thing for me. But after this movie came out, a lot of people around me watched it and gave me their reactions. They either loved it or hated it. Now they were curious what I would think of the movie. So I finally watched it and really enjoyed it. Growing up listening to the Beatles' music, I'm as emotionally attached to all the songs in the movie as Jack is. And the great impact these songs have on the world audience is very natural for me. That's how the story has to go in this movie. But would they really have this great impact on the people today if all the songs were introduced as new songs? There are some scenes in this movie that throw that question, too. Jack's parents and his neighbor get kind of bored when he proudly starts playing "Let It Be" on the piano. And he sings other Beatles' hits at a coffee house and nobody really acknowledges the greatness of the music. But the movie doesn't really explore that direction and goes back to the miracle power of the Fab four. Jack has now hit a jackpot and entered the world of huge success. But the guild grows, too. There are many funny moments and bitter sweet feelings between Jack and Ellie, his old girlfriend, also his manager, driver, and probably his only fan (oh Lily James is so cute) as screenplay was written by Richard Curtis. And of course, a sweet happy ending is absolutely promised. But here is the big point of the movie, should somewhat self-absorbed Jack keep going with the success relying on the power of the songs he didn't write or confess everything and go back to the girl he really loves before it gets too late. And Jack chooses the latter. They get married and live happily ever after singing Ob La Di, Ob La Da in front of school children. And some criticized that this ending is too easy and too cliche. There is no enough suffering to reach the ultimate wisdom of life considering what the Beatles were saying through their music. 78 year old John Lennon appears in the movie and his appearance helps adding some philosophical message to the film. But that is not enough to satisfy certain minds that expect mind-bending, heart-wrenching, and longer and more winding complex scenario. I personally accepted this ending. I've been playing music all my life and never had a huge success like the Beatles or Jack. Maybe I've been playing to much much smaller crowd like the early Jack. And whether you are successful or not, you go through different phases and each time you say good bye to the people that belong to that period. (They may resurface later but let's not talk about it now). Some of the lines in the song "In My Life" say that, too. You don't have to be a musician to experience this. If you live long enough, you know what I'm talking about. So this ending is a fantasy for a lot of us, this young man Jack realizes what is the most important thing at relatively young age and grabs it. A lot of us moved on including the fab four. Paul McCartney was once talking about smoking pots. It was said once you smoke pot, you can never go back to where you were and he was a bit scared about that effect but John Lennon was rather excited and welcomed it. I think that's interesting. Anyway, I liked the idea of the world without the Beatles (and a couple other iconic things are missing) and a solo artist playing the Beatles tunes not a band with four people in it and all the acting was fantastic. I guess it's up to you to like the ending or not. That's probably the key to decide whether you like this movie or not.