BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

MaxHaydon1994 I couldn't believe i'd never heard of this film before. But 8 years after it's release I finally got round to watching it.. all of 30 minutes after finding out about it's existence. An undoubtedly interesting topic for a film. The younger years of John Lennon were something of a mystery to me. As I suppose is natural for someone in their 20's.. I do not know a hell of a lot about Lennon, despite growing up with the sound of 'Imagine' as it is my mum's favourite and one of my favourite songs.My minimum expectation was that I would come out of watching this film with new information, having learnt something new about the beetles and Lennon in particular. What i gained from the film was so much more. The film is beautifully directed by Sam Taylor Johnson and stars a young Aaron Taylor Johnson. The two of course met on the set of the film and later married. Perhaps the only thing I did know about this film. I however didn't know it was about a young John Lennon. As I had only heard the film mentioned in passing remarks with barely enough detail to catch my interest.This film seemed to become more famous for controversial romance between the film's star and director (due to their 20 odd year age gap) then it did for the film itself. In truth this film is short, sweet and extremely well made. It left me feeling like there could have been a sequel, which we know now obviously never came. However I think most people could appreciate this for what it is. It's a very small part in the life of John Lennon but perhaps a defining time in his young life. I rate this film 7/10, with my only criticism that it could have been longer and fed my appetite slightly more for information .

Amal Varghese *Mentioned in the trailer "Why can't God make me Elvis?" "Because he's saving you for John Lennon" That is so deep, if you love John Lennon, do watch this movie, goose-bump is all you get. I was introduced to Beatles at an early age, their music and lyrics laid a firm foundation in my mind. There are several moments in the movie that are exceptionally brilliant, that feel and the life brings a smile on any Beatles' fan. No Beatles movies will be complete without the first meeting of John and Paul, Nowhere Boy does it well and every viewer can see the revolution in front of their eyes. It is worth watch movie to any music lover. *Spoiler People are confused if the movie will introduce you to any Beatles' concerts or fame. Let me make it clear, the movie is only about John Lennon's mid-teen age and the formation of Quarrymen and barely about the Beatles.

Dan Sessions Being a massive Beatles fan probably made me appreciate and enjoy this film a lot more than others who aren't fans of The Beatles. Following John Lennon's teenage years, his relationship with his aunt Mimi who raised him from a small child and his relationship with real mother who enters his life at a very important stage of his teenage years, this film is just absolutely amazing! Aaron Taylor-Johnson portrays John Lennon brilliantly and I personally think, makes the film. Nothing else really needs to be Said, apart from watch it! Beatles fan or not this heart warming comedy set in the great 50's is just a brilliant film which will defiantly put a big smile on your face, no matter what your music taste is!

italo505 Aaron Johnson stars as the young John Lennon who is always causing trouble for riding on the roof of a bus, getting into brawls with bullies, or flashing girls in school, or missing class and never paying attention in class whenever he decided to attend class (it sounds a lot like me, actually LOL) and lives with his Aunt Mimi (the wonderful Kristin Scott Thomas in a superb supportive role here). Little did I know about his troubled childhood and I was taken aback when I saw what unraveled during Nowhere Boy: John didn't actually know his mother and grew up thinking that she was somewhere far, far away along with his father and was left to Aunt Mimi's devices to raise this rebellious yet lovable character. I love how the film star never tries to imitate or glorify John Lennon in any way, there are some acts that John does to his Aunt Mimi, his friends and even his mother during this film that made my jaw drop.Speaking of his mother Julia, in his search for her it's a friend of him (or was he his cousin, I can't quite remember) that tells John where she is, his cousin shows him that Julia is actually at walking distance from where he's always lived, a few blocks from Aunt Mimi's home. The first meeting John ever had with Julia was awkward: a sixteen year old confident boy suddenly becomes very sheepish and vulnerable in front of your very eyes, it was touching watching John melt in the sight of his real mother whom he had given up on, the thought of seeing her was beyond belief and was more than a dream come true, it was as if the boy had hit the jackpot and was suddenly in the presence of his other half, a part of him that had been ripped from him when she was out of his life for 12 years or so and suddenly he felt the urge to catch up with Julia.Julia, as it turns out, had remarried and had 2 daughters and lived her life as if she had never had a son before. Upon seeing John at her door you could tell that a dark episode in her life had returned to haunt her yet she didn't let it show to John and they began a strange and wonderful bond where they would go on dates to the movies or buying records or out and about. She also introduced him to music and her love to play music. It was Julia that awoke a part of John that was always there yet he never knew it until he met Julia.The real drama begins on John's 17th birthday when Julia decided to throw a party in his honor. The drunken teenagers playing rock'n'roll music while John was being his bad self in spite of his mother, he started to resent the fact that she pretty much abandoned him without a trace and the fact that they had lived so close all this time and never had bothered to be part of his life when he needed his mother the most. Aaron Johnson does a great job in containing all that anger and rage inside John for as long as he could in order to explode in front of the camera when he finally confronts Julia in her front yard and demands that she tells him what was the reason she abandoned him with his Aunt Mimi and never looked back.And that is probably the most heart breaking moment when, upon coming back home with his Aunt Mimi along with Julia, that he learns the awful truth that he was seeking all his life: when John was a little boy, around 5 or 6 years old, he'd watched his parents get in a huge argument that turned a bit violent and John was given a choice: You want to go with mommy or daddy? Just thinking of the scene bring chills down my spine, how can you have a young boy make such a horrible choice? What kind of parent would ever do that to their child? Having come from a broken home myself, I had to make that same hard decision but it was my own decision to go with my mother. Nobody had sat down and explained what was wrong with my family but I wasn't five years old trying to make an adult decision. To think that John had to make this hard decision at such a tender age was just too much to bear. Then we get to see how Aunt Mimi came to John's rescue when she witnessed Julia and her husband get into a heated argument and took it upon herself to get this innocent boy out of harm's way and hid him in her own home where she would raise this kid as her own. It's the ultimate sacrifice that a woman can ever make, a sacrifice of love for a young boy who has no knowledge of what's happening in front of his very eyes. John's father apparently took off to Germany to never return again while Julia came to see John at Mimi's house. That was the haunting image of Julia knocking on their door, the image that will forever be stuck in John's memory and one that will keep coming back as if it were a horrible nightmare, a troubling dream that John can never quite put together until this very moment. It's a scene so emotionally charged and performed quite well that I needed a few moment to contain my own tears, it's certainly the best scene in NOWHERE BOY.