...and see if you can see any sense of continuity between the characters. (I'm betting it will become pretty hard to see the two Johns as the same person.)
I like this film, but I feel grittiness and angst is quite out of step with reality. The actors' performances lack any sense of youth or freshness, qualities which the Beatles possessed in abundance.
You know A Hard Day's Night isn't a documentary, right?
shareWow, a snarky comment that avoids addressing the topic in any meaningful way. I'm shocked.
AHDN is scripted, but is very much reflective of the Beatles themselves at that time. And that's how a lot of people watch it - conscious of the fact that they are watching the Beatles goofing around with pre-written lines. People aren't seeing John as a character, in the way they would see Jack Sparrow as a character - they are aware that they are watching the real John Lennon reciting lines in a superficial environment. The reality of AHDN is impossible to escape. Try watching any of the numerous interviews from around this time, or archival footage; it's all the same people. The fact that AHDN is a comedy and not documentary is pretty much irrelevant.
The point is that the characters in Backbeat, though it's a well-made film, are overwrought. Continuity between the angsty Beatles depicted in that film and those of reality falls apart when viewed side by side.