MovieChat Forums > Yesterday (2019) Discussion > Cute movie with one HUGE flaw (Spoilers!...

Cute movie with one HUGE flaw (Spoilers!)

posted 5 years ago by sarahb2 (69)
12 replies | jump to latest

...at least for me.

I think that the two characters who also remembered the Beatles should have been introduced much earlier.

Why? Well, for me, I spent most of the movie waiting for the explanation. Waiting for someone to show up to explain to the audience what was going on - how the alternate reality happened, was Jack in a dream, or was this being done by aliens, angels, etc.

I didn't realize we weren't going to get an explanation until the two characters showed up who told Jack they remembered the Beatles too - apparently the only two people in the world who did.

Once I knew that we weren't going to get an explanation, I was able to relax into the storytelling. But up until that point I was just impatiently waiting for the explanation, and was really irritated when it finally showed up 15 minutes before the end of the movie.

If those characters had shown up earlier, they could have been there to give Jack guidance and sympathy; as it was I don't think they got nearly enough screen time. But oh well.

[–] Bripod75 (106) 5 years ago

Well that’s your opinion not a flaw. Also that guy at the Russian concert was fairly early in the movie which was hinting at the story development.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 5 years ago

If all three had gone to scientists to tell them what happened, would they have been believed or treated as lunatics? It would seem strange that Jack suddenly knew such awesome songs, and that he and these two other people had a consistent story about their origin. But of course it’s also hard to believe that something so extraordinary really happened.

[–] JustinUK (49) 3 years ago

Why does there have to be an explanation? If there was many on MC would accuse us of being spoon fed the storyline. I would. Sometimes films should leave loose ends and leave us wondering.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I think the entire movie was flawed, from concept to execution. To me it’s Danny Boyle’s most disappointing film, by far.

[–] liscarkat (18367) 3 years ago

Danny Boyle's best film by far. Excellent, from concept to execution. Brilliant!

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Huh, you’re cute.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8705) 3 years ago

For me at least, Danny Boyle's best film is easily Steve Jobs. That movie is criminally underrated.

[–] diagoro (490) 3 years ago

But going down the rabbit hole of what heppened, why, etc....would have changed the plot line from a cute romantic film about two people, into a science fiction film about the event. True, I wanted to know the how and why it happened, but in the end, that's just a plot point.

[–] bozo_500 (13100) 2 years ago

From imdb trivia
'It could be argued with various fan theories as to what actually caused the massive The Beatles "memory wipe", could it be an alternate universe (surely a subtle playful reference to "Across the Universe"), some weird solar flare thing, or even a theory that when Jack had his accident was it some weird "coma dream" hallucination.'

id add to those something like The Matrix resetting itself (like at the end of Revolutions - another Beatles connection!) and obviously the Mandela Effect

the two older people were obviously teased as something sinister like they were onto Jack and going to reveal the truth, and maybe offer some explaination on how it came to be.. but it was the reverse in both cases.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) a year ago

Exactly ... they were teased as something sinister, which for a moment felt like a cheat when their actual agenda was revealed

Then I accepted it because, in my opinion, they NEEDED to seem "sinister" because they personified Jack's own guilt

When they thanked him, they helped him see the positive side of what he was doing, i.e., bringing great songs back to the world

By the way, there's no logical reason that could explain what happened -- wiping out the Beatles songs without the Beatles themselves? Yet everything else remains the same? It's too fantastical, and therefore doesn't need an explanation.

Does that make sense? I'm not sure how to express it, but the film isn't hard science fiction so much as a fanciful fable, so a logical explanation would not only be unnecessary but actually counterproductive

[–] Where (1494) 8 months ago

I figured the solar flare incident was supposed to have removed chunks of time in the past - hence no Beatles records ever made, no cigarettes ever invented, no Harry Potter books ever written. But that reveals a REAL plot hole - if those things were erased, than actual people would have never been conceived or born either. If the time deletes date back to the invention of the cigarette, it would mean entire family lines would have disappeared in that moment too. The movie never even hinted at that.

I have no problem with the two Beatles fans revealing themselves at the end. They fit into the story arc perfectly like that. Jack’s guilt about stealing the songs grew more and more throughout the story. The fans presence hinted that this would grow into a big problem for him. Revealing these characters too early on would have destroyed all of the mystery that built up to the finale.

[–] JackNorth (244) 8 months ago

"Once I knew that we weren't going to get an explanation, I was able to relax into the storytelling. But up until that point I was just impatiently waiting for the explanation..."

That tension of waiting for the explanation is part of the fun, just as not knowing the murderer is what makes a whodunnit-style mystery entertaining.