BACK BEAT
A film review by Sue Roberts
Copyright 1994 Sue Roberts
Director: Ian Softly Producers: Finola Dwyer and Stephen Wooley. Starring Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, Sheryl Lee, Gary Bakewell.
From the UK publicity of this film I anticipated it would be a music documentary paying homage to early Beatlemania, however the result was a far more interesting. The writers (Softley, Ward and Thomas) examine the embryonic band, and succeeded in showing the breadth of their influences. The Beatles ability to absorb not only musical ideas, but those of painting, photography, Hamburg counter- culture and Sixties socialism, allowed them to evolve a unique style.
John (Ian Hart) is shown railing against the merely fashionable in his search for the truly expressive and avant-garde.
I was impressed with the performance (by Stephen Dorff) of Stu Sutcliffe, the introvert, gifted beyond his years, with all the confusion and angst of youth. He achieved an intense and exhilarating portrait of an artist at work.
One of the things I most liked about this movie was the way it indicated that, from the start, only John Lennon had a real sense of destiny for the band. A key theme of the story is the reaction of the rest as they realise quite how this is likely to affect their future. Their competitive desire for Astrid mirrors a similar desire for quality in their work.
Some of the characterisations are low key, but this serves to reinforce the point that together, they were greater than the sum of individual artists and musicians.
Within minutes of commencing, this picture betrayed it's homage to SCANDAL. With wit and discretion it managed to achieved a UK-15 certificate. For a teenage audience, an understanding of their aspirations. For the rest of us, a reminder of a time before mortgages, when we may not have had many of the answers, but at least we were asking the questions!
Sue Roberts chrisrob@cix.compulink.co.uk
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