By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
What would you do if you, as a struggling rock ‘n’ roll musician, woke up one day to realize that you’re the only person in the world who remembers the Beatles’ songs?
In “Yesterday,” that’s the dilemma facing Jack Malik (Himish Patel), whose lack of success is very discouraging. His biggest fan is his devoted road manager/best-friend Ellie (Lily James), who’s obviously in love with him.
One night, just as Jack has decided to quit, there’s a mysterious 12-second global blackout. In the darkness, Jack’s bike is hit by a bus, landing him in the hospital.
When he recovers, his friends give him a new guitar, so Jack starts strumming “Yesterday.” His astonished pals act as if they’ve never heard that song before. Which, as it turns out, they haven’t. No one has ever heard of the Beatles. Google only comes up with images of bugs.
So Jack immediately starts trying to remember the Lennon-McCartney catalog, chagrined that the lyrics to “Eleanor Rigby” and “Penny Lane” are so elusive. When he’s able to get some tunes recorded, Jack catches the attention of Ed Sheeran (himself!), who invites him to go on tour as his protégé/opening act.
“You’re Mozart,” Sheeran tells him, “and I’m definitely Salieri.”
Enter Debra (SNL’s Kate McKinnon), a ruthless Los Angeles music agent, who vows to make Jack a pop icon. But at what cost? What about sweet schoolteacher Ellie? And, deep down, Jack’s afraid that he’ll be exposed as a fraud.
The clever premise, scripted by Richard Curtis’ (“Love Actually,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”), skirts deep philosophical issues, while director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “28 Days Later”) channels his edginess into a feel-good dramedy, filled with rom-com sentimentality.
Too bad that the Jack/Ellie love story is the weakest element. Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar are charming as Jack’s proud, if puzzled parents, while Joel Fry plays Jack’s buffoonish best mate.
FYI: Since it appealed to their sense of humor, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr gave full approval.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Yesterday” is an engaging, enjoyable 8. “Let it Be.”
In “Echo in the Canyon,” veteran music industry honcho Andrew Slater (former Capitol Records CEO) recalls a bygone era, focusing on the folk rock bands of the 1965-67 Los Angeles music scene.
In the early part of the 19th century, bucolic Laurel Canyon, nestled behind Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills, was known for its rustic cabins and hunting lodges.
But 50 years later, some of the most melodic and memorable music came from its residents, including Roger McGuinn & David Crosby of the Byrds, Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield, along with music producer Lou Adler, Ringo Starr, John Sebastian and Eric Clapton.
Serving as interviewer/commentator, taciturn Jakob Dylan (son of Bob) explains how the neighborhood’s reputation grew. Legend has it that eccentric rock star Frank Zappa rented a cabin on Lookout Mountain. Friends enjoyed his wild parties, settling near him in the area above the Sunset Strip.
What sealed Laurel Canyon’s appeal was George Harrison’s 12-string Rickenbacker guitar which sparked interest in — as Roger McGuinn put it — “taking an old folk song and souping it up with a Beatle beat.” Tom Petty noted that his colleagues walked the line between “cross-pollination” and “outright theft.”
It’s amazing that residents dropped into one another’s homes for jam sessions and impromptu parties. “The Manson murders ruined the L.A. music scene,” Michelle Phillips recalls. “That was the nail in the coffin of the freewheeling, let’s get high, everybody’s welcome, come on in, sit right down. Everyone was terrified. I carried a gun in my purse. And I never invited anybody over to my house again.”
On the other hand, Slater’s inclusion of footage from French director Jacques Demy’s “Model Shop” (1969), as a cultural artifact, strikes a discordant note, along with too much emphasis on Jakob Dylan’s musician friends performing covers of the ‘real’ thing.
On the Granger Gauge, “Echo in the Canyon” is a star-studded 6, a nostalgic blast-from-the-past.
You gotta admire idiosyncratic filmmaker Jim Jarmusch assembling a star-studded cast — Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Chloë Sevigny, Tom Waits — for “The Dead Don’t Die,” a laidback zombie comedy with an environmental message.
And, perhaps, if you’ve never seen a zombie apocalypse before, you might find this one amusing.
Even in a small town like Centerville (population 738), news of “polar fracking” is causing some consternation. Electronic devices aren’t functioning properly, pets are running away and the sun refuses to set. Could the Earth be thrown off its axis?
“Somethin’ weird’s goin’ on,” says Police Officer Ronnie Peterson (Driver) to his laconic older partner Cliff Robertson (Murray). “This isn’t going to end well.”
Which means a stolen chicken complaint, lodged by cranky Frank Miller (Buscemi) — whose red cap proclaims “Keep America White Again” — that implicates Hermit Bob (Waits), will be ignored.
Because the corpses start coming. At first, it’s just hands clawing out of the earth near a gravestone. Then two ravenous ghouls (Sara Driver, Iggy Pop), muttering “Coffee,” chow down at the diner. Yearning for what they had in life, one (Carol Kane) chants “Chardonnay”; others utter “Wi-Fi,” “Siri” and “Xanax.”
Everyone seems totally clueless about how to handle the situation except Zelda (Swinton), the mysterious Scottish Samurai warrior mortician. Instead of characters, Jarmusch relies on cameos: RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan driving a Wu-PS truck, Rosie Perez as a TV anchor named Posie Juarez.
There are many allusions to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” and a “Samuel Fuller” cemetery headstone references director Sam Fuller with whom Jarmusch collaborated on “Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made” (1994).
On the Granger Gauge, “The Dead Don’t Die” is a fatalistic 5, filled with deadpan dummies.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
