In Danny Boyle’s new film Yesterday, a struggling musician named Jack (Himesh Patel) wakes up after being hit by a bus during a 12-second global blackout to discover he is the only person in the world who remembers the Beatles. After a brief will-he-won’t-he, Jack relaunches his failing career to stunning success by claiming the songs of Lennon and McCartney as his own.
Immediately, it was apparent to me that our new home was different. Orthodox Jews in their raven-colored hats threaded the street, sharing sidewalks with Muslims in their hijabs and white taqiyahs. Two Swedish American shops stood side by side on Foster where blond, blue-eyed descendants of earlier immigrants cheerfully ordered open-faced meatball sandwiches dressed in doe-colored gravy. On our block, kids shouted in Spanish as they chased after the paleta man, the bells on his cart a gleeful jangle, so much more inviting than the droning loop of “Turkey in the Straw” played by the ice cream truck. The public library on the corner had a dedicated room for Korean-language books, a room where I would later spend countless hours flipping through thick glossy magazines, each page slick and cool to the touch, marveling at how easily I could now find published photos of Asian women.
Directed by Danny Boyle. PG-13, 112 min. In wide release.
