EIGHT REASONS TO SEE NOWHERE BOY
- Aaron Johnson’s thoughtful-anarchic 16-year-old John Lennon, young enough to blush.
- Kristin Scott-Thomas’s ferociously understated Aunt Mimi, a broadax
in pearls. - Anne-Marie Duff as Julia Stanley, John’s natural mother, whose
guilt smothers him with too much and the wrong kind of love. - For the way Bill Justis’s “Raunchy” rings out of the young
George Harrison’s guitar during his impromptu audition on the back of a bus. - For David Threlfall (once and future Smike from the RSC’S Nicholas Nickleby) as Uncle George, the
kindest older man in young John’s life, a wreck of a man. - For the way Thomas Sangster as Paul McCartney bashes out
“20-Flight Rock” to Lennon at St. Peter’s church hall as the more proficient (though
less handsome) future Beatle. - The disarming use of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell
On You,” which should be way too literal, but works anyway. - For the choice soundtrack cuts like “Wild One,” by Jerry Lee
Lewis, and “Rockin’ Daddy” by Eddie Bond and the Stompers.
See Also: PBS AMERICAN MASTERS series in November
The Quarrymen on tour.
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