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DVDfever.co.uk – Nowhere Boy Blu-ray review Dom Robinson reviews
Icon Home Entertainment Blu-ray: 
DVD:
Soundtrack:
- Cert:
- Running time: 98 minutes
- Cat no.: SBR60620
- Year: 2009
- Released: May 2010
- Region(s): 12, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD-MA, DTS 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD50
- Price: £17.99 (Blu-ray); £17.99 (DVD)
- Extras: Making of Nowhere Boy, Lennon’s Liverpool, Anatomy of a Scene, Theatrical Trailer, Extended interview with Sam Taylor-Wood, The Re-Creation of Lennon and the Quarrymen, Deleted Scenes, Photo Gallery, Audio commentary
- Vote and comment on this film: View Comments
Directors:
- Sam Taylor Wood
(Love You More, Nowhere Boy)
Producers:
- Robert Benjamin, Kevin Loader and Douglas Rae
Screenplay:
- Matt Greenhalgh
(based on the memoir by Julia Baird)
Music:
- Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory
Cast :
- John Lennon: Aaron Johnson
Mimi: Kristin Scott Thomas
Julia: Anne-Marie Duff
Paul McCartney: Thomas Sangster
Bobby Dykins: David Morrissey
Uncle George: David Threlfall
George Harrison: Sam Bell
Marie Kennedy: Ophelia Lovibond
Pete Shotton: Josh Bolt
Stan Parks: James Johnson
Michael Fishwick: Andrew Buchan
Nowhere Boy charts the early life of Quarrymen founder, later becoming The Beatles, John Lennon (Aaron Johnson).
Set in the mid-to-late 1950s, we see a 17-year-old John living with his Uncle George (David Threlfall), who dies early on in the film, which leaves him with his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas), while also coming to terms about the fact that he hasn’t lived with his Mum, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), since he was five. As Mimi brings the cold, hard facts of life into play, it’s easier for John just to run out and live at Julia’s house with her husband, Bobby (David Morrissey), and their children, spending days doing very little apart from going to Blackpool and getting the ambition to be a pop star after seeing Elvis on a newsreel.
While suspended from school he learns how to play the guitar at Julia’s house, which includes a clever visual effect as Julia and John are on opposite sides of the room at normal speed, while there’s time-lapse movement from her daughters in the middle – and then the camera zooms in on John. Very subtle and very clever.
As the film progresses, we see the band form as John meets 15-year-old Paul (Thomas Sangster) and George (Sam Bell), but before long, John soon turns into a cocky, arrogant prat and the realities of family life kick in again.
Nowhere Boy is well-filmed with lots of period detail and reasonable acting from all concerned, but no-one feels like they’re really pushing the boat out and while the story may be of great interest to Beatles afficianados, it’s not a major draw if you just like some of their music. From the hype surrounding the film I was expecting something special, but it plays out more like a TV drama.
The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and evokes the period detail with no problems. It possibly looks a little soft at time but, again, that could be to do with period detail of the piece and in aiming for a certain look. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound is in DTS-HD MA 5.1, although I only had access to it in DTS 5.1, and is mostly used for dialogue, soundtrack and ambience with no issues at all.
The extras are as follows:
- Making of Nowhere Boy (8:34): A brief and mainstream ‘behind the scenes’ with key cast and crew members giving soundbites inbetween clips. This featurette sets the tone for the rest. Oddly, all the film clips are cropped to 16:9 and really suffer for it.
- Lennon’s Liverpool (4:47): Scriptwriter Matt Greenhalgh tells how put the screenplay together, with some other brief contributions.
- Anatomy of a Scene: “That’s when I stole him.” (12:29): An in-depth look at a certain scene in the final act, the details of which I won’t go into here for fear of giving spoilers, but fans will want to hear more about it. With four chapters to this piece, it’s better-chaptered than the film itself!
- Theatrical Trailer (2:00): Cropped to 16:9, and mixing in soundbites from Lennon, himself, which aren’t in the film.
- Extended interview with Sam Taylor-Wood (10:17): Does what it says on the tin, and also mixes in film clips.
- The Re-Creation of Lennon and the Quarrymen (8:10): The director says that she could’ve got numerous lookalikes to play the parts in her film, but none of them could act, so she went for people just a bit different.
- Deleted Scenes (9:39): 4 scenes, each introduced by the director. For once, all the clips are in the original 2.35:1 ratio, and anamorphic.
- Photo Gallery: A mere 21 of them.
- Audio commentary: From director Sam Taylor-Wood.
The menu features scenes from the film mixed together its incidental music. There are English subtitles only. However, the film’s chaptering is woeful with a mere 12 across the 98-minute running time, whereas I would only consider one every five minutes, plus one each for the opening and closing credits, to be acceptable.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.