Film Review: Aaron Johnson as John Lennon is a Real ‘Nowhere Boy’

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CHICAGO – The great John Lennon would have been 70 years old on October 9th, but never got to expand upon the journey that started in a small British port town called Liverpool, where a young Lennon was shuffled from home-to-home between his Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia. Aaron Johnson plays the teenage rock icon in a crucial point in his life in the poignant “Nowhere Boy.”

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 4.0/5.0
Rating: 4.0/5.0

Aunt Mimi (Kristen Scott Thomas) is John’s guardian in the beginning of the film. Lennon is a restless boy as depicted by Aaron Johnson, having trouble conforming in school, and developing a taste for the new American craze of rock and roll. His mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), is attempting to reconnect to her young son, but Lennon is somewhat afraid of his red-haired, high spirited mater, and Aunt Mimi is not too keen on John getting back together with her ne’er do well sister.

It takes John’s cousin to bring him to Julia, who was then living with another man and two additional daughters. They come together virtually immediately, each feeding on each other’s spirit for adventure, including John’s love for rock and roll. It is Julia who picks up a banjo and teaches John the first major chords that will someday start a revolution. Mimi is perturbed to hear of the reunion of John and Julia, bringing back hard feelings of why she had to adopt John.

Meanwhile the restless Lennon is having school troubles again. He is suspended for a week, and escapes to Julia’s home to play out his time. Julia buys him his first guitar, and together they work on some of the Elvis tunes that John can get from some of the sailors at the Liverpool port. His destiny is assured when he gets some schoolmates together to form his first band, The Quarrymen. At a church party after their second show a slight, gawky teenager named Paul McCartney impresses John with his rendition of “20 Flight Rock,” and is asked to join the band.

Nowhere Boy explores the circumstances of Lennon’s relationships with Mimi and Julia, and the birth of The Beatles. The wee lad that nobody seemed to want would soon lead the most successful rock band in history and this film is the origin of the hunger that got him there.

“Nowhere Boy” continues a limited release in Chicago on October 15th, check local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff and Thomas Sangster. Screenplay by Matt Greenhaigh, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. Rated “R”

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Nowhere Boy”

The Lad Who Rocked the World: Aaron Johnson as John Lennon in ‘Nowhere Boy’
The Lad Who Rocked the World: Aaron Johnson as John Lennon in ‘Nowhere Boy’
Photo Credit: © The Weinstein Company

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Nowhere Boy”

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