Nowhere Boy (2009) is a biographical drama focused on John Lennon’s adolescence in the late fifties. Where most films have been primarily invested in the formation of The Beatles, Nowhere Boy prefers something less akin to myth making. There are numerous allusions to The Beatles to be sure, but the film itself almost deals with the legendary band as an after thought.
Nowhere Boy looks at two relationships Lennon had during his formative years. One with his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) and one with his mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff). Anyone familiar with Lennon’s biography is aware of the momentous impact and influence that these women had on his life. If it weren’t for the fact that Lennon is a celebrity Nowhere Boy could easily be about anyone the focus is so precise when it comes to this pair of relationships.
Thomas and Duff are excellent as the combative sisters that appear more different than similar. It’s these two central performances that elevate and sustain the drama of the film. Lennon (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the centerpiece of the film, needs only to react to these women to turn in a highly watchable performance. That isn’t to say that Taylor-Johnson isn’t good in Nowhere Boy. It simply means that despite his role the film belongs to his co-stars.
Fans of The Beatles will know all the information covered in Nowhere Boy. If mythologizing is what one wants, Nowhere Boy is positioned, temporally, right before the cult movie Backbeat (1994) begins. What links these John Lennon biopics is the filmmaker’s reluctance to judge Lennon. In both films Lennon, even at his worst, is depicted as a genius to be whose behavior is therefore excusable. Few artists have been as controversial as Lennon so this contentment with the narrative becomes frustrating.
This is why the only essential John Lennon biopic remains The Hours & Times (1991). Unlike Nowhere Boy, The Hours & Times isn’t afraid to show Lennon the bully or Lennon the layabout. Nowhere Boy is human drama while The Hours & Times is deconstructionist; attacking the myth head on. Nowhere Boy, by comparison, is quaint and safe filmmaking.
