Euphorically entertaining

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2015)

In the space of 10 years the Beatles completely changed the face of music. A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' film debut, was released a little over a year after their first album Please Please Me. Not even two years later they'd release the double-punch of Rubber Soul and Revolver, and just a year after that they'd rewrite the rock-and-pop rulebook with the seminal Sgt Pepper. Their energy must've been ferocious.
A Hard Day's Night captures this energy. We're introduced to them as they run, beaming, from their frenzied fans. They jump on a train. They catch their breath, but the frame doesn't; the British countryside roars past the window. They get off the train and run some more. They talk for a bit. They dance for a bit. They sing for a bit. Then they run again. The black-and- white photography and quick edits makes the thing feel like a slice of European New Wave, but injected with wry British humour and punctuated with a handful of the finest pop songs of the 60s.
The clang and subsequent clamour of the opening minutes is a dizzying amalgam of music and images. It's a giddy experience. Immature? Sure, but euphorically entertaining.
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