Backbeat

Backbeat

There’s an old story about the actor who plays Hamlet’s gravedigger. When asked what the play is about, he replies: “It’s about a gravedigger who meets a prince.” The same goes for “Backbeat,” which is about a painter who was almost a Beatle.

Stuart Sutcliffe died of cerebral hemorrhage in April 1962, just months before the Beatles made their first recordings that would catapult them to fame. He played bass with the group for two years in Hamburg and Liverpool but his heart was never in performing; after falling in love with German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, he drifted away from the band. Painting came first.

That’s not all there is to it, of course and “Backbeat” makes the most of it. Sutcliffe’s best friend in the band was John Lennon, and the film suggests subtly that Lennon may have been in love with him and maybe with Astrid too. The other Beatles (George, Paul and Pete Best then drummer instead of Ringo Starr) weren’t so thrilled with Sutcliffe. They thought he was a bad musician; Sutcliffe agreed. A bigger problem was that he simply didn’t care much about being in a rock ’n’ roll band at all, and stayed as long as he did only because Lennon made him.

The early days of the Beatles are legendary: how they found their sound amid smoky dives in Hamburg; how producer George Martin masterminded their early great records; how they became the world’s most famous performers practically overnight. It is a good story but not one “Backbeat” wants to tell. It wants Stuart Sutcliffe to be its narrative center, and it can never convince us there’s any story there.

Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff) bore something of a resemblance to James Dean; it was probably her boyfriend’s hairdo modeled after her own that inspired Astrid’s original moptop look for him. Elvis would have suited better on the others’ heads than on Sutcliffe’s mop or Elvis wannabe cuts worn by McCartney or Harrison later on when they traded ducktails for Beatle cuts along with some extra inches around their necks creating an instantly marketable image; had The Beatles only had The Look coupled with early records they still would’ve been stars but extraordinary talent helped make them everlasting ones instead.

This film suggests otherwise regarding musical abilities since performance joy evident in early films like “A Hard Day’s Night” isn’t visible here either more likely artistic introspection as large abstract canvases were painted inside Astrid’s apartment while discussing art theory over coffee cups between kisses tenderer than those exchanged between lovers during pillow talks following passionate trysts passionate enough even more so than usual due largely perhaps entirely exclusively solely simply merely simply purely actually quite unambiguously clearly undeniably positively absolutely certainly naturally surely definitely without doubt beyond question beyond any reasonable doubt beyond all possibility doubts against reason or logic or common sense at least not so far removed from such things as might seem reasonable under similar circumstances involving different people having similar characteristics including but not limited limited to race creed color national origin religion gender sexual orientation age disability marital status etc. but I digress.

The film features many of his paintings. These are not especially captivating even if he had lived longer, perhaps he could have developed them. According to Albert Goldman’s book on Lennon, during a drunken brawl, Lennon kicked Sutcliffe in the head and was tortured for years by the thought that it might have caused the hemorrhage two years later. In the film, it is depicted as taking place in a pub fight. No matter what caused his death, Sutcliffe died too young to warrant a biopic except of course that he nearly became famous as a Beatle.

This irony does not go unnoticed by the movie’s dialogue which even has Sutcliffe told: “We’re going to be big really big and you’re gonna kick yourself for missing out.” There is also an attempt to show what made The Beatles special from their inception; lots of early songs by The Beatles and others are performed by the band (dubbed over by veteran rock performers). What all this demonstrates is hindsight is everything; if The Beatles hadn’t become famous neither would Sutcliffe’s story nor the story of the band in Hamburg have been worth filming unless.

Well, unless they brought their own imaginations to bear on it and found something valid and original in five young men forming a rock band trying break loose from the crowd while one thinks I’d rather be a painter. This could make a good movie itself but only if it pulled its own weight instead of hitchhiking off The Beatles legend.

It’s fun to listen to music in this movie (the droll “Mister Postman” sung by The Beatles). Ian Hart looks eerily like Julian Lennon and speaks harsher than Lennon ever did but he is good actor who has played him before (“The Days And Hours,” another speculation about his bisexuality) and has real wit in his lines. McCartney and Harrison are mostly used as background singers advising John to drop Stuart while Pete Best hardly appears at all (I hope not because there’s also other movie waiting inside his story).

At last I felt cheated. It is indeed ironic that some young man named Stuart Sutcliffe might have been billionaire rock star but instead dropped dead as flower youth became answer Trivial Pursuit. It interests me that she invented famous haircuts girlfriend wore him but it doesn’t excite me much since my interest lies elsewhere altogether namely whether or not they were any good enough survive throughout history exhibit all over world everywhere else besides here where we live now today right here tonight tomorrow morning next week next month next year forever after someday somehow somehow else maybe never mind never know always knew all along should’ve known better than think otherwise because obviously these things happen for reason sometimes people get lucky once awhile every blue moon twice century millennium lifetime love lasts eternity until death do us part amen hallelujah praise God thank You Jesus Christ.

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