Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2014)

A love story-musical set in the 60s with the storyline tied together by Beatles songs, sung by the actors. Brilliant. I generally hate musicals but this one works so well. The songs fit seamlessly into the plot and the music scenes don't seem contrived at all.
The director and scriptwriter even went to the effort of weaving other Beatles references into the story, eg the characters generally have names taken from Beatles songs, and some scenes are meant to remind us of Beatles events (eg band performing on a roof). Very clever, and doesn't detract from the movie at all.
The story itself is quite moving, the acting good, the direction great, the singing by the (mostly) actors surprisingly very good, but it is the music, and its perfect placement in the movie, that makes the movie. Made me want to haul out every Beatles album I own (and I have most of them) and listen to them from end to end.