‘Eight Days a Week’ Doesn’t Skip a Beat

‘Eight Days a Week’ works to restore the classic fanfare of Beatle-mania, while simultaneously tearing down its own walls for the sake of perspective.

Director Ron Howard uses ‘Eight Days a Week’ to place us in the Beatles’ shoes.

eight days a week review
Photo courtesy of Steven Zang.

What comes up must always come down, even for the greatest music group of all-time. Critically-acclaimed director Ron Howard brings global audiences The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, an introspective look into the rise and fall of Liverpool’s finest. However, before one debunks the film as “just another Beatles documentary,” one should be well-aware of Howard’s genuine goals.

Even from the opening credits, the audience is established in this realm of restoration, a sharper and more colorful perspective of the quartet that has never been quite accomplished before. With color correction and a fully-defined composition by Giles Martin (son of the Beatles’ legendary producer, George), we are instantly swept back into Beatlemania, removing measly sight for the closest sense of texture imaginable.

Furthermore, Eight Days a Week strictly focuses on certainties. There’s no talk of Yoko Ono or the Beatles’ disputable final years. Rather, we see John, Paul, George and Ringo as people. That’s the root of its selling point. The unseen footage of the four Brits not only gives fans an up-and-close experience, but they are even given a hint into their downtime, their humor, their wants and their needs.

In the end, there is a toll for striking a chord with the right audience, leaving music to fall second to the chaos.  It’s in this grey area that Howard finds his strive, revealing the band to carry the essence of a tragic hero. We see their flaws and we understand them, even though the chances of us experiencing their legacy are slim to none. Their world was big, but their problems were small enough to grasp in 97 minutes of screen-time.

“Being a long-time fan of their music and seeing many of their ‘behind-the scenes’ looks, Eight Days a Week seems to stick out for me,” said Jenna Stuiso, 20. “It shows how they never took themselves seriously outside of their music, and I think that’s pretty interesting in itself.”

That’s what makes Eight Days a Week stand above the bells and whistles of its side-perks, whether it be its restoration or its intimate discussions with the surviving members. Sure, sprinkle in some celebrity glitz here and there, but none of it holds a light to the simple and innate truth of it all: The Beatles wanted to play music. And Howard highlights this concept with ease, reminding us that even though it’s eye-catching to see them in their prime, nothing compares to the influence of their compositions.

As Ringo Starr would say, the proof is surely in the pudding. If it’s pudding that you’re looking for, let me assure you that Eight Days a Week holds the perfect recipe.

Though Eight Days a Week is only playing in select movie theaters worldwide, Bow Tie Clairidge Cinema is its exclusive venue in the Northern New Jersey region (right in the heart of downtown Montclair)! For a list of show-times at this local theater, visit fandango.com and begin planning your next trip to the movies today!

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