Alternate Best Actor 2009: Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nowhere Boy

Aaron Taylor-Johnson did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying John Lennon in Nowhere Boy. 

Nowhere Boy depicts the early life of John Lennon ending just before the official forming of The Beatles. 

Taking on a role of a famous individual is always difficult, more difficult is perhaps when they have very specific mannerisms and an accent. That is certainly the case for John Lennon, however, Aaron Taylor-Johnson's performance has a little bit of an out, in that he is only depicting pre-fame Lennon, which gives a needed leeway in terms of finding the character before he kind has become the man that we "know". In fact, you wouldn't necessarily think that Taylor-Johnson is playing John Lennon at all in the early scenes of the film, he could be any ole' English schoolboy in the 50s. And I actually think this is the right approach, and nicely sort of doesn't perform to expectation nor does he sort of do the classical, and often hackneyed, allusions towards the future success. He isn't someone who envisions his fame at his age, he's just a bit of a rebellious, underachieving teenager, who has an interest in rock 'n' roll. Speaking of expectation, Taylor-Johnson is an actor who I often am rather mixed on, however, what seems to benefit him is staying far from a plain American accent, which seems to enforce a blandness on him, and if he's working with a bit more substance within the part. Thankfully that is the case for Lennon, who while he's not the Beatle he will eventually be, there is a lot going on with him as a young teenager, right from the start as he lives with his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott-Thomas) and Uncle, not his mother. Initially, we get a good sense of the loving relationship he has with his Uncle and his tough love relationship with his Aunt, and I do quite like how much innocence that Taylor-Johnson brings in these moments. He's very childlike in these moments, without being broad about it, rather he effectively shows sort of the playful relationship he had growing up with Uncle, and creates a moving sincerity in these early moments, while also setting up Lennon as still the boy in some respects. 

When his Uncle suddenly dies, Taylor-Johnson is very moving actually in just the simplicity of the scene in showing the boy dealing with the loss, and we do contrast this against the rebel we see in school. Something that I like is that he doesn't overplay Lennon, showing him more wayward with a bit of rebellion and more than anything not at all focused on that world. He's effective, particularly in showing what eventually be a more pronounced anti-establishment streak though only budding. Taylor-Johnson in these moments brings enough confidence but still the confidence of a teenager. Speaking of contrasting that again is in John's relationship with his actual mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), who has a whole family away from John, though is very eager to try to create a relationship with him. Julia is the polar opposite of her sister, though consistent in that they do both care about John, however, Mimi is duty bound while Julia has, fittingly I suppose, is a "All You Need is Love". Julia comes on as strong as possible, to the point it is very easy to read almost incestuous qualities towards her son with just the intensity of her and her eagerness to speak so frankly about sex to him. Again I really like how Taylor-Johnson plays John in these scenes. Bringing this eagerness to connect and a real striking earnest sense of a son wanting his mom. Though really when she is more overt, Taylor-Johnson is effective by becoming more so the boy in these moments, and his reactions are awkward bordering on even fearful at times. Taylor-Johnson effectively shows John is not sure what to do with his mom's intensity, and even more so expresses potently the shyness of the young man as he seems the odd man out when with her "new" family. And where I think Taylor-Johnson excels in these moments is forgetting any notion of playing John Lennon, and instead powerfully articulating this struggle of a young man's shattered home life. 

The place where John of course finds confidence is in music. And I think Taylor-Johnson is terrific in the moments of just talking about the music with this sincere eagerness and engagement. He shows well a distinct solace in this part of his life, as someone who can hold onto something with such sincerity and striking simplicity. We see this only expand and we see this one place where he connects more with Julia more overtly, who encourages his love of his music and encourages his playing of music. There I like Taylor-Johnson creating this realistic sense of a young man just learning an instrument at times, while also strongly invoking the passion that fuels him. Of course, all of this goes on a fast track when he meets Paul McCartney, a poorly cast Thomas Brodie-Sangster, where Taylor-Johnson is hardly a dead ringer for Lennon but at least is in a stratosphere of type, Brodie-Sangster is in an alternate universe, also I'm sorry, he's not a bad actor but from everything I've seen he's very much a "kinda there" actor. I bring all that up because I do think there is a missed opportunity in creating a true sense of brotherhood between the two, mainly because one half is underwhelming. Though, again I do like what Taylor-Johnson brings as he just lights up when the two talk music, and you see the spark of genuine inspiration. Again I think he makes the right choice in not overdoing this though to show suddenly a master, but rather creates the sense of a growing confidence towards someone who become a legend. He's not a legend yet, and Taylor-Johnson brings just the right indication of the growth toward something greater than himself. 

And as the film progresses I think Taylor-Johnson does something pretty effective which is slowly becoming more specific in his manner and leaning towards the famous version of Lennon. He starts sounding more like him, his physical manner becoming closer, though I think he makes the right choices to make it quite natural and never feels like an imitation. He gradually does it and for me, I just wholly accepted it. Again he's not Lennon of the Beatles, but he is as wholly convincing as Lennon before the Beatles. Now also in the last act is when the film gets more melodramatic, to be fair, much of the main broad strokes of the story are true in terms of his mother and aunt, and even the rather traumatic death of the former. I would say the directing Taylor-Johnson is at its weakest when she really has a tendency to want to pull as much emotion out of the situation and probably going a bit quieter at times, and leaning more so on her performers would've been more ideal. And to their credit, I think they do deliver as extreme as the moments get, I did think Taylor-Johnson is effectively moving in bringing back often really the troubled boy behind it all in these moments and I feel earns leaning so strongly into the emotions in these scenes. They are messy, and I think rightfully so as he shows someone who at this point cannot really reckon with them fully, and in a way, Taylor-Johnson shows the wounds that won't probably ever fully heal in John even as he matures in other areas. And perhaps a bit to my surprise, though I have liked Taylor-Johnson in other performances, I found this a rather winning performance overall. One that isn't a definitive depiction, but is one that successfully creates a strong sense of the humble beginnings of a legendary journey.