Review of 'Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years'

eight_days_a_week.jpg “Eight Days a Week” tells the story of the years when the Beatles toured beginning in the 1960s. Through the use of archival footage and modern interviews we follow the group from their initial performances in the Cavern Club in Liverpool where spotted by the promoter Brian Epstein who greatly influenced the early years of their popularity by first adopting the clean, cool look of their iconic suits and put on as many concerts as possible. The film makes it clear the ever increasing and unprecedented hysteria surrounding their public appearances until the band simply could not take any more of it and decided to concentrate solely on their real love: Creating music in the studio ending with their final performance on the roof of a London studio.

On of the draws of this film was the use of clips never previously aired which does put together quite a complete picture of what was happening at the time and how it effected the fab four and their fans. The concert footage looks and sounds incredible though the animations and movement added to the still images while perhaps expected is often distracting. The Beatle's personal lives are touched on only briefly with the majority of the time spent documenting the tremendous impact of their performances - The controversy with insisting on a non-segregated performance in Jacksonville (it was in their contract; 1964), the riot resulting from their performance in Vancouver (1964) and the truly massive 55,000-strong crowd in Shea stadium (1955).

Throughout several famous modern personalities chime in with their personal recollections of the Beatles which gives us their outsider's perspective of Beatlemania. This is not a strict documentary but seeks to explore the Beatles phenomenon but with just the right amount of music to keep fans entertained. Be sure to stay for the credits where the audio is a message the Beatles recorded for fans in their early years.

This film looks and sounds great - Enough to make you fall in love with the Beatle's all over again…

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2017-09-24


Directed by: Ron Howard

Studio: Apple Corps

Year: 2016

Length: 106 minutes

Genre: Documentary

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2531318/


Other reviewed films by Ron Howard: