Nowhere Boy

Acting-wise, it's fine. The family drama angle didn't pull me in, though, and it all got a bit sappy.

Simple, sensitive and touching film about the years that preceded the creation of The Beatles, from the perspective of John Lennon. As is common in British cinema, the biographical reconstruction is not only well produced and convincing. Avoiding the obvious choice to show Lennon as someone specially gifted or clearly predestined to success, the film gives us the feeling that the whole thing could have happened to any one of us.

Very good performances all around, especially by Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff. Undertones of Lennon's relationships with his mother are a bit disturbing, and after a while film feels stuck on one issue for too long. As someone put it, it's just underwhelming. Interesting feature film debut by video artist Sam Taylor-Wood, I'm curious about her next projects, as she seems to bring out the best out of actors.

This film is a very well-acted family drama / coming-of-age story, set in the 1950s with exceptional attention to period detail. And we would appreciate the story for all its merits, if only we could ignore the context of who John Lennon grew up to be. The film's stolid refusal to step into any Beatles territory is a brave move but ultimately works against it, as this is the story the audience came hoping to see. A top-notch film but can't help wishing it had a little more "That Thing You Do".

Some good actors giving good performances, but it's pretty dry.

Entertaining, and well played out characters

This biopic is about John Lennon's teen years, specifically focusing on his relationship with his aunt Mimi, who raised him, and his estranged mother, Julia. Paul and George are there, but secondary to the story. Some decent acting but feels like a made for TV production. Probably the best Beatles biopic, which is sad, because they deserve much better. Why does Ray Charles get Ray and Johnny Cash gets Walk The Line while the Beatles have Backbeat, Nowhere Boy, and Birth of the Beatles???

Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays a convincing John Lennon, but I can never see Thomas Sangster as Paul McCartney. Though made out to be a tragic genius, John Lennon's upbringing wasn't very interesting, at least that's how Nowhere Boy portrays it. When are we going to get that biopic about the whole fucking band already? There's a great story.

The baby-faced Thomas Sangster nearly steals the show in the much smaller role of Paul McCartney.

This is an enjoyable look at John Lennon's early life. Aaron Johnson gives a good performance in the lead role and Kristin Scott Thomas also shines. I recommend this film to non-Beatle fans as well as fans.

Really well made. All 'round good job.

Johnson does an incredible job as young John Lennon, and I believe that choosing to remove this as much from the context of A BEATLES MOVIE made the film all-the-more emotionally powerful.

"As a broad-strokes account of Lennon's complicated family dynamic, trouble-making youth, and first tentative steps toward rock stardom...succeeds as both entertainment and rumination on the roots of one man's nascent artistry."

Nowhere Boy is a wonderfully done and surprisingly fun movie that makes you understand and appreciate John Lennon as a man and an artist.

Many if not most hardcore fans of the Beatles will probably appreciate what this films contributes in terms of Lennon's painful background before he and McCartney formed what would become the greatest rock & roll band in the history of music. For those who want more, I'd suggest continuing with "The Beatles Anthology," which provides, as they say, the rest of the story.

There are some emotional bright spots and the acting is quite good but much like its title, this tepid account of Lennon's earlier years kind of goes nowhere.

Kristen Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff are great, and Aaron Johnson is very good too, playing just the sort of prick I always thought the teenage Lennon was. The movie helps you understand why he had that gigantic chip on his shoulder, and that is one of its virtues. The grand confrontation between the three principals seems too melodramatic and contrived, but I loved the early '60's Liverpool atmosphere, the music and the look of the clubs and the bands.

An all right biography, nothing more.

As someone who doesn't give a shit about The Beatles and generally finds musician biopics tedious, I found this to be a well-acted, interesting, and fairly compelling film. Great performances especially from Kristin Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff.

"Nowhere Boy makes Lennon's rocky personal journey parallel the cultural upheaval of rock 'n' roll -- a revolution that changed social custom, family life and private instinct."

"How could we hate or humiliate Lennon any more than he'd been trained to hate and humiliate himself?" - Joseph Jon Lanthier

I personally loved this movie, great settings, gorgeous acting. And i'm no john Lennon fan, but i thought they showed him in a very real way (human) watch it!

I don't know why people are bugging Aaron Johnson, I think that this film and Kick-Ass - none of them popping any champagne for me - prove that he is as versatile an actor as ANYONE would or could be at his age. Yes, I believe he is a natural: what makes this film only a bit above average is - to me - the music (not Beatles, dah) that is telling me too much what to feel. The script is light and fun, a light version of An Educations witt, and heavy and drastic. Ambitious; succeeded nonetheless.

This was a well acted, well directed nice movie. It missed something that I Just can't put my finger on. Still, a good watch.

Not mentioning what John Lennon became or The Beatles at all, I think runs against this movie a lot. Just doesn't feel right, chronicling the early years is fine but after 90 minutes, there wasn't that much progress where there needed to be. Still a well made film with notably good acting (Aaron Johnson is someone to watch) that does pack a blast. Enough ticks to be a good movie but can't shake an underwhelming feeling.

Great performaces from Kristen Scott Thomas and Anne Marie Duff and superb attention to detail in the settings and costumes make for interesting viewing but the film adds little to either what I already know about John Lennon or what I love about film.