“Yesterday” puts forth a world in which The Beatles do not exist, except for Jack Malik (Hamish Patel), who is a struggling musician on the verge of giving up. This mass amnesia happens after a twelve-second worldwide blackout results in him getting hit by a bus and waking up in the hospital. Armed with arguably the greatest catalog of songs in history, Jack lives an unstable balance of success and dread in what is one of the most delightful films I have seen in years.
It would be easy to simply categorize this film as “that movie with all The Beatles songs in it,” but there is so much more going on here. From dealing with love to the risks taken to make a career and the potential for dishonesty therein, there is no simple distinction to what this film actually is. “Trainspotting” director Danny Boyle creates a universe at play in what is a rare PG-13 film in his resume. Even a its worst, this farce seems like it could have been straight out of one of the band’s films, with one of the most fun pieces was how even the fonts they used are employed throughout the film itself.
Patel performing all of the music in the film was even more of a bonus for me, which was shocking considering the material he is working with, I really would recommend the soundtrack, but not until after the film is seen as some of the track titles could be seen as spoilers. Complimenting Patel is Lily James as his manager and best friend, Ellie, Meery Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar as his parents, Joel Fry as the bumbling sidekick, and even Kate McKinnon who still is on her A-game and Boyle’s muse, Robert Carlisle (in an uncredited role). Even through all of this, I simply want to see Ed Sheeran win an award, even though he is playing a version of himself in this wonderful film I highly recommend.