Beatles-Inspired ‘Yesterday’ Is Nice — Just Don’T Overthink It

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2019 | SERVING CHICAGO’S LEGAL COMMUNITY FOR 164 YEARS | CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM VOLUME 165, NO. 135 Beatles-inspired ‘Yesterday’ is nice — just don’t overthink it “Yesterday” is a charming dark. A bus slams into him as his own creations. It’s his bauble. Not a diamond. Per - and sends him flying. Jack ticket to ride. haps a rhinestone — gets his lights knocked out, But the greater his fame, sparkling and attractive, yet and in the moments he is the greater his guilt, and the unable to withstand any aloft, lights go off all over the more distant he grows from scratching of its surface. world in some sort of magical Ellie. Like “Bohemian Rhapsody” mystery blackout. In 12 sec - Patel, a soap opera star in and “Rocketman,” “Yesterday” onds, they’re back on again. the United Kingdom, is hand - offers nostalgic pleasure by Except they’re not, exactly. some in a character actor sort reciting from the baby- When Jack comes to after of way, like John Cusack. He’s boomer songbook. the smash-up, minus his front malleable and can swing suc - Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is teeth, it’s to a different world. REBECCA L. FORD cessfully between goofiness a struggling musician who has There are products, perform - and swagger. Patel is every - given up his teaching job to ers and people, most signifi - man, and the audience relates devote himself to his music. cantly the Beatles, that have REBECCA L. FORD is counsel at to him, even in Jack’s early- He works part time in a been erased — not just from Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, and stage musical mediocrity. hardware store, playing collective memory, but from concentrates her practice on Once Jack begins his ascent, sparsely attended gigs under ever having existed. complex litigation, compliance, Kate McKinnon, in the guise festival tents, where he To its credit, “Yesterday” board governance and of a smarmy Malibu-based strums and warbles before doesn’t try to explain this col - specialized employment issues. music manager, arrives to per - indifferent audiences. lective amnesia. No happiness She is the former executive vice form her repertoire of “Satur - His music career isn’t going could be gained by examining president for litigation and day Night Live” tics and anywhere, and he’s lost confi - the film’s theory of physics. intellectual property at MGM. quirks. dence. Jack’s old guitar was She can be reached at Written by Richard Curtis Jack’s manager and would- destroyed in the accident, and [email protected]. (“Four Weddings and a be love interest, Ellie, (Lily his friends come together to Funeral”) and directed by James) is a schoolteacher who present him with the gift of a He tests the new instru - Danny Boyle, “Yesterday” is also resides in Jack’s pictur - new one. ment by singing “Let it Be.” neither edgy like “Trainspot - esque overcast British seaside Jack is Pakistani-British, his No one else has ever heard it. ting,” nor bristling with sus - town and chauffeurs him to mates are not. The movie Their verdict: It’s nice, but it’s pense and tick-tock urgency his gigs. prides itself in pretending that no Coldplay. like “Slumdog Millionaire,” One especially disappoint - this difference makes no dif - Jack realizes he’s onto two of Doyle’s most memo - ing night, Jack finally decides ference. All members of this something, but no one seems rable films. to give up on music. After clique of young people are willing to hear his secret. He It is a balmy summertime Ellie drops him off at the bike- well-integrated into the banal - almost has no choice except pleasure, a reminder of what park, he pedals away in the ities of small-town life. to present the Beatles’ songs romantic comedy can be. Copyright © 2019 Law Bulletin Media. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Media..

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