"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, December 29, 2013

John and Yoko: A Love Story (1985)

 
An early project today; we’re going back in time to when PC played one of the Fab Four in what I think is pretty middling made-for-TV film.  Despite some good performances (and of course some good music,) it’s too long and too much of a by-the-numbers biopic.
 
The film begins shortly before John Lennon meets Yoko Ono and depicts the ups and downs of their relationship until John’s assassination.  There’s art and music, there’s religion and politics, and there are drug-hazed love nests and family outings.  Events just sort of meander by, with the songs and the hair letting you know where we are in history.
 
PC plays George Harrison, who obviously doesn’t need an introduction.  George seems concerned chiefly with the music, and more importantly, with the quartet’s camaraderie that comes from their music.  He’s the first to side-eye Yoko and the first to complain when the group starts drifting from their center.
 
It’s a role that’s nice to have on you résumé, but there’s not a huge amount for PC to do.  All non-John Beatles are essentially window-dressing for the first part of the film and pretty much disappear for the latter part.  PC’s main jobs are as follows:  pretend to sing/play guitar, wear all sorts of fake wigs and mustaches, and look dissatisfied.  Not really a tall order.
 
John Lennon, I should tell you, is played by Mark McGann.  I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything else, but he looks so much like his older brother, Paul McGann, that I had to run to IMDb and make sure I wasn’t watching the Eighth Doctor.
 
Accent Watch
 
What could generously be called a Scouse accent.  I can tell he’s shooting for that Scouse cadence, but it’s pretty rough.
 
Recommend?
 
In General – Nah.  Overly long and not terribly exciting.
 
PC-wise – Not necessarily.  Even though he has an okay amount of screentime, PC just doesn’t get to do much.
 
Warnings
 
References to sex and drugs, brief violence.

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