Let Him Be (2009) User Reviews

Charming and typically Canadian

[moonmcmullen · 8/10 · 30 January 2011]

This was a modest movie in many senses: technically, theoretically, and emotionally. Nevertheless, it charmed.

'Let Him Be' took the celebrity of John Lennon, and recovered from it something human common to all of us. I have read the other external, 'commercial,' reviews of the movie. It seems to me that they all hung up on the plot device -- which is intriguing and amusing, of course -- but lost the understanding the movie extended to us. The movie discovers much more about identity and love than it does about the possibility of a surviving John Lennon. And it has some fine music, too.

Sadly, 'Let Him Be' seems doomed to wander in distribution limbo, as mega-million American monsters trample our intelligence and homogenize our sensibilities. In other words, a typically Canadian movie.

Alive and well and having a good time

[moustasch1 · 9/10 · 28 December 2011]

What would you do if you could never have a moment's peace because of who you are? This is one of those movies that makes you stop and think about what the lives of rock stars (or anyone else famous) might be like and the lengths they might go through to have a little privacy. Granted, too many people push to be famous, just thinking about the money and the notoriety, and not caring about anyone around them but themselves, but this is a movie about a guy who was "known" to millions of people around the world and spoke out about anything that he was passionate about, but who very few people actually knew. So, what if John Lennon had survived his assassination?

This is a great little film about a documentary film-maker who happens upon a tape of someone, who he thinks is, John Lennon. Since he's obviously much older then when he "died" the guy believes he has the story of a lifetime and convinces his girlfriend to help him find the man on the tape. While the whole thing is shot as a documentary of his search for "the truth", the actual story is about privacy, and is it really okay to invade another person's, even if they are famous.

The two film-makers are both fine actors, and what happens to them over the course of the film was done very realistically, but the real star of the film is Mark Staycer, who plays the enigmatic loner, living his life out in the backwoods of Canada. His look, his mannerisms, his guitar playing and especially his singing WILL make you believe Lennon is still alive, and still making music. The film's songwriters really got Lennon's style down pat and wrote some great songs for the soundtrack to help make the star that much more believable. You can almost imagine that they're something that he really might have done in his later years, if he'd had them.

If you liked The Beatles, or Lennon's solo career, see this movie. You'll walk away realizing what the world lost and maybe hoping it really didn't. So, in the movie, was he really John Lennon or just someone who looks like him? See the film to find out.