Backbeat movie streaming8/21/2023 ![]() But then the production seems to be much more fascinated by Blood’s 21st century gym-sculpted body, an anachronism that only the most punctilious among us will mind.īlond, arty, Teutonic and fey, Best’s Astrid is a series of adjectives in search of a noun. ![]() His tragic ending (spoiler alert: This historical character dies young) keeps the writers from digging too deeply into his psyche. His journey is enticing only because he’s John Lennon.īlood’s Stuart looks good in dark sunglasses and knows how to project artistic sensitivity, but the inner torment of his character, a painter who has to forgo the opportunity of a lifetime to realize his true calling, is only superficially captured. (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in attendance wishing that Yoko Ono would enter the scene to rehabilitate this stunted fellow.) Regardless of whether the portrait is true to life, the character is too one-dimensional to be dramatically interesting. Knott’s John, manic, immature, always spoiling for a fight, is insufferable. The other big issue is the characterizations. ![]() PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times (To be fair, the film, written by Softley, Michael Thomas and Stephen Ward, does only a slightly better job of illuminating John’s curiously intense attachment.) The early scenes in Hamburg take too long setting up the basic situation of the band, and there’s not enough time for exploring the nuances of John and Stuart’s complicated relationship. One problem is the way the story has been adapted by Softley and Stephen Jeffreys from the movie. So with so much to appreciate, why does “Backbeat” so often seem out of rhythm? The background projections by Timothy Bird and Nina Dunn add a kinetic kick to the staging, which is further enhanced by Howard Harrison and David Holmes’ moody lighting and a propulsive sound design by Richard Brooker that complements Paul Stacey’s punk-edged musical supervision. Edwards following an original concept by Christopher Oram), emerges almost surreally from the music. The action, encapsulated in a nightclub bubble (designed by Andrew D. Goode” and “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” and the backstage drama of a group searching for its own distinctive sound and style. And there’s plenty of room left over for jealousy, especially when Astrid Kirchherr (Leanne Best), the sprightly German photographer whom Stuart falls madly in love with, comes between John and his bosom buddy, whose brooding James Dean seductiveness puts both sexes under its spell.įluidly directed by David Leveaux, “Backbeat” floats between barroom gigs, in which the Beatles play their own edgy versions of “Johnny B. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are given their due. All of The Beatles have said that Astrid, more or less, kept them alive and healthy.But this unusual tale of platonic love and loss involving a snarling, wild, dementedly ambitious John Lennon (Andrew Knott) and Stuart Sutcliffe (Nick Blood), a talented, dreamy-eyed art student who temporarily trades his paintbrush for a bass guitar, is part of a kaleidoscopic view of the band’s origins. However, after Stuart Sutcliffe began dating Astrid Kirchherr, she would feed the band and wash their clothes and allow them access to her bathroom for bathing. ![]() Because of this, and their horrible living conditions in the Kaiserkeller Club's back room, The Beatles were often sweaty, smelly, pale and shockingly thin (speed pills back then doubled as diet pills) because they rarely bathed, hardly ever washed their clothes or, more importantly, ate healthy meals. Whenever they grew tired, the bartenders or the waitresses would often give them (and other performers) uppers to keep them going. According to all of The Beatles in various interviews (most prominently in the "Beatles Anthology" film and book), the band was forced to perform up to eight hours a night, far and away more than a band can possibly play given the normal fatigue that sets in from singing and playing. The reason for this is that the uppers were actually prescription-strength "speed" pills. Also, as seen in the shot after John accepts the pills for the first time, The Beatles are performing "Long Tall Sally" like crazed maniacs with eyes bulging and sweating profusely. As seen in the movie, The Beatles are given "uppers" pills so they can keep performing when they're getting tired.
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