‘Two of Us’: The Beatles bio movie that everyone neglects

The entire concept of a Beatles biopic has almost been played out at this point. While there are many avenues that people can take when picturing what the Fab Four were really like behind the scenes during their prime years, they certainly don’t deserve the same kind of standard rock and roll story that would feel like Walk Hard if it was being played deadly serious. The Beatles’ story has always had a few twists and turns, though, and some of the best times that they have worked are when the directors decide to play a little bit fast and loose with pieces of history.

However, there’s a difference between the kind of movies that detail the band’s life together and those that seem to take their music into different worlds. Yesterday is a cute enough premise for what it is, and Across the Universe is flawless in terms of jukebox musical standards, but when looking at where Michael Lindsey Hogg went when making the film Two of Us, this felt like the rewrite of history that always seemed to be a missing chapter in the band’s post-breakup years.

Because if there was one thing that everyone dwelt on after the band’s demise, it was whether or not John Lennon and Paul McCartney genuinely hated each other. They were throwing slight jabs at each other in the press and could get even more vitriolic on record, but any of the kind words they had to say about each other were always in passing, with Lennon admitting that he liked Band on the Run or being encouraged to get back into music when hearing the McCartney song ‘Coming Up’.

Since this movie takes place in the mid-1970s, though, this depicts a version of Lennon and McCartney when they are still at odds with each other in some respects. During many of their conversations in the film, you can hear the fundamental differences in their approach as clear as day, with Jared Harris’s Macca insisting on making people happy and Aidan Quinn’s Lennon trying to be more blunt and honest.

And for all of the fine interpretations of the band that have been done over the years, the real star of the show is the chemistry between the two of them. From one shot to the next, they seem like the ideal version of the cheeky lads from Liverpool, always finishing each other’s sentences and having that same sense of comedic timing that came through in some of their greatest interviews, including a sly jab Lennon makes when calling Macca’s songs ‘nursery rhymes’.

Anyone could have spent a year in this creative space with them, but the real heart of the film comes when Lennon is forced to open up to his old friend a bit more. From every look on Quinn’s face, it’s clear that his version of Lennon had grown cold and distant from those years of Beatlemania and God knows how many lawsuits, but Harris’s McCartney does everything he can to remind him what he means to the world and how much can be gained by sharing genuine joy with the people you care about.

Although the movie ends on a bit of a cliffhanger with the alleged story of both of them planning on surprising the crowd at Saturday Night Live by going down to 30 Rock for a one-off performance, the bittersweet tone is much closer to the biopic genre. Up until this point, it had the kind of wish-fulfilment conversations that everyone wanted them to have, but hearing them call things off but still be on good terms is the kind of attitude that fell more in line with where both of them were during that time. They had become friends again, but things were kept at a distance a little more.

Despite the movie only being made for TV at the time, it serves as a great way of remembering both men’s incredible impact on the world, with even McCartney saying that he wished that history were closer to what the movie was about. As much as people like to fawn over the drama of the band’s later years and whether or not they all got along, Two of Us is the most accurate portrayal of what happens when two friends grow apart. They were the same people in many respects, but time had simply pushed them in different directions.