Casting here was crucial, and director Sam Taylor-Wood struck pay dirt with Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass"), who looks enough like Lennon to be credible but never suggests for a minute that this is a "Saturday Night Live"–style impersonation. Johnson captures the nuances of Lennon and makes him completely believable. That said, acting honors here go to Anne-Marie Duff as the mother who gave young Lennon up and Kristin Scott Thomas as the aunt who took him in. The film was released in England last year, and the pair deservedly earned BAFTA nominations for their work. The story revolves around the influence of these women on Lennon. Many of the facts of these relationships came through Lennon's writings, effectively cobbled together and crafted into a screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh.
Set in Liverpool in 1955, "Nowhere Boy" focuses on Lennon's teen years as the 15-year-old tries to escape the dreariness of postwar Britain and deal with the hard hand life has dealt him at such a young age. His free-spirited but irresponsible mother, Julia (Duff), gave him up when he was an infant, to be brought up by her sister Mimi (Scott Thomas), Julia's complete opposite, leaving Lennon caught somewhere in the middle and trying to understand his worth. Music becomes his out, as he latches on to the rhythms of a new sound from America, rock 'n' roll, and forms the band that will become the core of the Beatles when he meets a like-minded soul in Paul McCartney (Thomas Brodie Sangster). Lennon's life is further complicated by tragedy, but his determination to better himself trumps circumstance and he strikes out on his own to a fate well-known around the globe.
Those expecting a good-time rock 'n' roll film along the lines of "A Hard Day's Night" or "Help!" will be sorely disappointed. This is not a flick loaded with Beatles tunes. "Nowhere Boy" is much more in line with the angry-young-man black-and-white British films of the early 1960s, such as "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" or "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," and Johnson is a worthy successor to the likes of Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, who brought the bleak English existence to life with a force that still resonates. Johnson captures the essence of Lennon so brilliantly, you forget you're watching an actor. Duff and Scott Thomas steal the film, though, in equal measure, with fierce and unforgettable portrayals of women who probably never knew what impact they were having on the future artistic genius known as John Lennon.
Genre: Drama. Written by: Matt Greenhalgh. Directed by: Sam Taylor-Wood. Starring: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, and Thomas Brodie Sangster.