Last Thursday, the night of it's release, one of my best friends and I went to see the new movie "Yesterday," and it was a magical two hours that I cannot wait to experience again. We had been excited about this movie since we first saw the trailer months ago for two main reasons: first we love Lily James and essentially every movie she's ever been apart of, and second, we love the Beatles (because who doesn't?). However, we had been so excited for such a long time, it became one of those situations where due to so much anticipation, right before it happens you're suddenly terrified you'll be disappointed. And most of the time you're about 60 percent satisfied, and 40 percent wishing it was better. But thank God this was not one of those times. We left the theater singing Beatles songs, raving about Lily James's outfits, and incredibly relieved. But we weren't completely out of the woods yet, because then there are those times when you leave a movie on like a weird movie high, intoxicated by the large screen, relaxed from the reclining chairs, dazed in a candy coma, and you're certain that it was one of the best movies you've ever seen. You plug it to all your friends and family, then they all see it and you see it again and realize you're credibility is completely gone because it wasn't nearly as good as you initially said it was - or sometimes it may even be bad. But this was not one of those cases, after having days to come down from my movie high, and even seeing it a second time, I stand by my initial statement that it is a magical two hours.
The music was (obviously) amazing, watching it was fun, listening to it was fun, the cast was great, the location was great, and the story was so great. The sheer creativity of the film idea made the movie great just from the initial release of the trailer. You know how you see a trailer and just know immediately from that 3 minutes if the movie will be amazing or terrible. I loved that the movie resurfaced - resurfaced being the wrong word considering most of the songs were never not surfaced - more like reminded the world about amazing Beatles songs, and I started thinking about how lucky the world is to have had the Beatles. How incredibly fortunate we are to have the melodies and the lyrics put together to make songs like "Let it be," and "Yesterday." And I can't help but wonder if we'll ever have anything so revolutionary again. I thought of my 60 year old film historian professor Kathy who showed our class the Beatles in their first performance on the Ed Sullivan show and sang and danced to "I want to hold your hand" throughout the entirety of the video. I thought about my 16 year old autistic brother who loves to lay in his room and listens to "Hey Jude," and "Elinor Rigby." I thought about being 6 and dancing to the target commercials from the early 2000's that played "All you need is love" as actors ran through target. How did four people create such a groundbreaking presence, such lasting influence? How incredible is it that songs and lyrics and melodies and arrangements can mean so much to a person? Or even more incredible, when they mean something to a large population of persons, to generations, to the world. It's the only intangible thing that is for everyone, and means different things to everyone. It's rather profound, and quite romantic if you really stop to think about it.
If you have not seen "Yesterday" I think that you should. It is a fun and exciting magical two hours that you will be very happy you got to experience.
