nowhere boy, sam taylor-wood, aaron johnson and the quarrymen

My review can be seen in today's Echo -
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2009/11/24/review-john-lennon-biopic-nowhere-boy-gets-its-charity-premiere-at-the-odeon-liverpool-one-100252-25235647/

I had a few misgivings before I settled down in the cinema, only because particularly in Liverpool you want to be sure you've done him justice.
But I have to say that I was captivated - and very impressed with Aaron Johnson who plays the troubled teen himself.
He didn't got for a direct impersonation, instead he and director (and latterly his fiance!) Sam Taylor-Wood managed to capture the essence of Lennon. It creeps up on you until you think to yourself, blimey, that IS John I'm watching.
In between the two screenings I interviewed Aaron Johnson and David Morrissey - you'll have to wait until closer to Christmas to hear what David had to say - and then after the premiere there was a party at Palm Sugar by the big Liverpool One Wheel.
In the film, John's mother Julia hangs around with the teenage Quarrymen and I felt a bit like that last night at the party when most of the lads who play the band were in attendance and we had a bit of a chat!
What was lovely was that local lad Josh Bolt, who plays John's bezzie mate Pete Shotton, finally got to meet the man himself and they had their photos taken together.
Pete doesn't normally give interviews, but he told me the real circumstances of a scene in the film where John - at his 17th birthday party at Julia's - smashed a washboard over Pete's head.
The real Pete told me it wasn't at a birthday, but rather that they were just sitting around having a beer when he told Lennon he didn't really like performing on stage so John whacked the skiffle washboard over his head and said "well you won't have to worry about that now, will you?" All done with affection apparently!
Seeing the film twice in one day also gave me the opportunity to pick up on bits of dialogue I missed the first time, like John cycling past and shouting at a schoolmate: "oi Tarbuck, keep out of the chippy you fat bastard!". Or words to that effect.
There were however some niggles. At one point John is seen being turned away from the Cavern in the dark. Well, I seem to recall that in 1957 of course the Cavern was only a lunchtime jazz venue, not an evening rock 'n' roll one.
And keep your eyes peeled for the modern Dublin/Isle of Man ferry in the Mersey.
Still, it's a great film of a part of Lennon's life which hasn't been explored in detail before so I'd urge you all to get along and see it when it opens.