September 27, 2019 - 14 - "I Believe in Yesterday"

  * Spoiler Alert *

If you haven't seen the movie 'Yesterday', do not read this.  It will definitely ruin it for you.

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     We've been meaning to see Danny Boyle's movie 'Yesterday' since the first preview came out.  What an awesome premise! It’s one of those story ideas you just can't believe hasn't been done before.

     I had the release date on my calendar for months but one thing or another kept us from seeing it.  Then I put the video release date on my calendar and that date came and went.  Finally, last night we got to watch it.  And it was everything, and nothing, I'd expected.

     I expected a light-hearted look at all the lovely gifts the Beatles gave us.  I did not expect to be sobbing uncontrollably by the end.  I did not expect to be discussing and thinking about the movie for hours.



     A lot of the movie really was a light-hearted look at all the contributions The Beatles made.  It was about a loveable guy bumbling through a crazy situation.

     The premise is there's only one guy who remembers that The Beatles ever were.   Their existence is erased. Jack Malick, this singer songwriter who'd had zero success in music, begins performing Beatles songs as his own and is suddenly extremely successful.

     At one point in the movie the main character, Jack Malick, visits Liverpool.  It flashed through my mind to wonder if any relatives of The Beatles were there, but that's as far down that thought path I went.  Boyle beautifully crafted the story to make a scene toward the end an utter surprise.

     Jack Malick finally meets two other people who remember as well.  They give him information that leads him to a remote seaside cottage.  He goes there, knocks on the door, and it is opened by a 78 year old John Lennon. 

     I gasped and had an instant of complete confusion where I was genuinely thinking:  How is this possible?  There he is!

     My suspension of disbelief was complete and my nostalgia for all things Beatles was high.  I was caught entirely off guard. And it looked so much like I would expect John Lennon to look if he were alive today. 

     Michael said he immediately wondered who the actor was, but I felt, if only for a moment, that I actually got to see John again.

     I started crying and couldn't stop.  It felt so good to feel the presence of this beautiful creative  spirit again.  It ripped the scab off the old wound of grief I think most of us have.  That deep ache for what could have been.  What if he'd lived?  What would he be doing now?  Would he have performed with The Beatles again?  How much more music could we have had?  How much art?  How much wisdom?

     It also made me wonder if it was worth it?  What if John Lennon hadn't hooked up with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr?  Ultimately their success caused John's death.  What gifts would he have given if he'd pursued his art, rather than his music?  The thought of him alive and well and living by the sea somewhere made me feel so incredibly happy.

     Michael and I talked for hours about life, death, reincarnation, creativity, joy, grief, and what goes into a life well-lived.  We talked about the theory that each tiny decision we make leads to a million alternate universes of where the unmade decisions would have taken us.

     As I drifted off to sleep last night it gave me peace to come to this conclusion:  We shouldn't cry for the 'what ifs' and 'never weres' of life, but focus on the 'what is right now in this very instant'.

     So here we are right now, and I am deeply grateful that I grew up with the words and music and ideas and imagination of all of The Beatles.  I am thankful for every song, movie, and image created from the synergy of those four lads from Liverpool coming together.

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Life is very short

and there's no time

for fussing and fighting

my friend.

-Lennon and McCartney

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You may say

 I'm a dreamer

but I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

and the world will live as one.

-Lennon and McCartney

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There's nowhere you can be

that isn't where you're meant to be.
-Lennon and McCartney

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And in the end 

the love you take

is equal to 

the love you make.

-Lennon and McCartney

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All you need is love.
-Lennon and McCartney

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