'Nowhere Boy'

'Nowhere Boy' (R) (3 1/2 stars)

Writer: Matt Greenhalgh
Director: Sam Taylor Wood
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne Marie-Duff, David Morrissey, David Threlfall, Thomas Brodie Sangster

I didn't know what to expect going into the John Lennon movie "Nowhere Boy" but what I found was a very interesting and well told story. I actually found this movie to be much better than I expected with three of the best performances of 2010. "Nowhere Boy" deals more with the younger John Lennon, doesn't use any of the Beatles songs and is not the story of the formation of the iconic band. This deals with the young adult Lennon and the story of his upbringing by his aunt Mimi. John was raised by his aunt after his mother abandoned him. The movie gives us flashbacks to his childhood as we see his mother giving him up. We can't quite piece it all together at first but we learn in a touching way what happened. After his uncle George's death Lennon reacquaints himself with his mother Julia who tries to come back into his life. We see that Aunt Mimi is strict and that she doesn't seem that nurturing but little by little we see that she really cares about John. His real mother has her moments of frivolity sprinkled with moments of depression. John starts to see her as more loving and kinder to him then his aunt. The movie delves then into that struggle of John trying to see why his mother left him and trying to get her back into his life.

Aunt Mimi is played by Kristin Scott Thomas and she is wonderful as usual and we can see shades of her love for John mixed in with her strictness. Kristin Scott Thomas is an amazing actress and she gives a performance that is layered and intriguing. We know Thomas is one of our best actresses but the real finds here are Anne Marie-Duff as John's mom Julia and Aaron Johnson as Lennon. Anne Marie-Duff gives an outstanding performance of joy, sadness and complexity. She gives a touching and powerful performance and she is a real discovery here and I hope to see more of her. Aaron Johnson might not look like Lennon at first but a lot of us don't remember what he looked like as a young adult. Johnson shows us how great an actor he will become and is here compared to his other work this year. He does make us believe after a little that he really is John Lennon. Aaron Johnson gave a different kind of performance in this year's "Kick Ass". After his work here you can see he is an actor that can stretch and play totally different types of characters in small films or big Hollywood products. I was touched and intrigued by this story more than I thought I would be. I loved how Lennon met Paul McCartney, played by Thomas Sangster (Love, Actually), and formed his first group "The Quarrymen". I also liked how Lennon discovered he wanted to make music by watching Elvis and being inspired by his mother. This is a great coming of age drama about a real life legend and we find out a lot about him that we never really knew that well. Sam Taylor Wood does a great job putting us right in that time and place and the performances are wonderful.