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DVD Description
Full of vitality and heart, with a soundtrack that includes rock and roll classics, including music from Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), David Pirner (Soul Asylum) and Mike Mills (R.E.M.), "Backbeat is a thrilling spectacle that rocks the house... Defiant, raucous, erotic." -ROLLING STONE
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes, Still Gallery, Interview with Director Iain Softley, Interview with actor Ian Hart, Director's Essay, Casting Sessions, Fetaure Commentary with Director
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Customer Reviews
Overall, The Beatles are presented as a very loose set of relationships, John Lennon appears to hate everybody and while many biographies describe Lennon as a man with a twisted sense of humour, the kind of antics described in the Hunter Davis and Philip Norman biographies are missing completely. George and Paul are little more than extras much of the time which, as a devotee of history, grated rather a lot with me.
However, the film is about the relationship between Stu Sutcliffe and the beautiful Astrid Kirscher and this is dealt with sensitively and tenderness. Throughout, they are presented as beautiful people, made for each other but tragically torn apart.
Opening with Sutcliffe and Lennon being set upon by a bunch of Liverpool heavies, the die is cast for young Stu within five minutes, setting up the tragedy of this brilliant but humble and hugely likable young painter who keeps telling Lennon how great the Beatles are destined to be and seems quite happy to step aside and watch them rise to fame, happy to have stepped off the bandwaggon. Who knows, if Sutcliffe had lived he may have risen to similar heights himself in the art world. Perhaps the Sgt Pepper or Revolver album covers might have gone his way if he had been around to do them. . .
Musically, the film rocks from start to finish with excellent arrangements of classic Beatle covers and a recreation of the recording of My Bonnie with Tony Sheridan which actually comes out sounding much livlier than the original.
Although the Beatle history freak in me longs to see a film about the band in Hamburg, this is not a historical documentary. It's a film based on the tragic story of a Liverpool painter who was struck down far too young and the beautiful woman he loved - and who loved him. As a tale of tender love set against the backdrop of the Beatles in Hamburg, it's a fine film with a rocking soundtrack.
Ian Hart plays John Lennon (with a grouchy catchphrase, throughout the film, of 'It's all dick') - he's brilliantly cast, as the actor looks so much like the singer! The soundtrack is made up of early Beatles hits ('Rock and Roll Music', 'Twist and Shout', 'Twenty Flight Rock') all originally recorded before the band started writing their own material. The difference here is that the songs are revitalised by 'The Backbeat Band', a one-off combination of grunge / rock artists such as Greg Gulli (Afghan Whigs), Dave Grohl (Nirvana / Foo Fighters) and Mike Mills (REM) and the new versions are all fantastic. Get this video! Stuart Sutcliffe trivia: several of the artist's paintings were recently used as covers for Mansun's "Closed for Business" EPs.
Having read many a biography about Lennon and the Beatles as a band, I had a fair old knowledge about this period in the bands life, but the gaps I had were all to do with Stuart Sutcliffe whom I knew little about, other than his love of art, and his relationship with Astrid.
The film is only 96 minutes long - so you can't expect a true historical account of the `Hamburg period', and this film is mainly concerned with the story of Sutcliffe. It's for those reasons that you more-or-less forgive the exclusion of McCartney and Harrison from the film - they are relegated, it seems, to extras, but here it doesn't matter. This is the largely untold story of the fifth Beatle.
Stephen Dorff does an admirable job as Stuart Sutcliffe, the likeness is uncanny. In fact, during the photo session with Astrid, the Stephen Dorff Sutcliffe looks as identical to the actual Sutcliffe in the real-life photos. Sometimes he struggles with the accent, but it doesn't detract much away from a good performance.
It's Ian Hart though who steals the show. His John Lennon often seems a like a caricature - his lines saturated with witty one liners, but this feels like the concentrated essence of Lennon. The energy he gives lifts the film, without it the feature would seem a bit flat. I've yet to see Ian Hart in a film where he falls anything less than fantastic.
In a nutshell: This is a good film and does a great job of portraying the Beatles before they gained international fame. It would have been nice to have seen McCartney performing the lead vocals (especially for the songs he used to lead on!), but the film successfully tells the story of the man who stepped out of the limelight to follow his love of art, and the love of his life. After watching Ian Hart's high-octane youthful Lennon, the final text epilogue stating that John Lennon was shot dead in 1980 seems ultra poignant. The impact is heightened and you realise that the film was maybe more about Lennon than Sutcliffe for many of the viewers.
a year ago. This is a follow on from John Lennons No where Boy, taking
you up to the start of the beatles. Read more
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