MIDAS MAN Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Joe Stephenson
Stars: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Eddie Marsan, Emily Watson, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Ed Speelers, Jonah Lees, Blake Richardson, Campbell Wallace, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Adam Lawrence, Darci Shaw, Jay Leno, Eddie Izzard.
Most people are aware that Brian Epstein was the manager of The Beatles, and he steered them to global fame and success in the 60s changing rock music forever in the process. But less is known about his personal life and his demons. This biopic from director Joe Stephenson (the 2018 documentary McKellen: Playing The Part, etc) serves up a revealing, warts and all look at the man who Paul McCartney described as “the fifth Beatle.”
This drama that follows his life from 1961 to 1967 when he died from a drug overdose at the age of 32. Epstein (played by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, from the miniseries Wolf Hall, etc) was the son of the stern Harry (Eddie Marsan), who ran a furniture store in Liverpool. But Brian was not content to remain as a salesman for the rest of his life and he convinced his father to allow him to expand their record sales department. He moved beyond the classical records on offer to also sell record players and include more modern pop music, drawing especially on the local scene. Business boomed. Epstein received requests for records from a German recording of an obscure local band called the Beatles. Out of curiosity he ventured into the Cavern Club to see the band perform; while their act was raw and unpolished he saw some potential in the quartet.
Convinced that they were going to be a huge success – bigger even than Elvis – he took over management of The Beatles from their manager Allan Williams (Eddie Izzard, in a cameo appearance) and introduced them to George Martin (Charley Palmer Rothwell, from Dunkirk, etc), a producer at Parlophone Records, which at that time basically specialised in comedy acts such as the Goons. Epstein also went on to manage other local acts such as Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers, who came to typify the so-called Merseyside sound. Epstein was a workaholic and fiercely loyal, and he worked hard to promote and support his acts.
The film unfolds at a fast pace and Epstein occasionally breaks the fourth wall to directly address the audience and fill in details about the Beatles and their successful tour of the US, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and Japan and the Philippines. But he also talks about some of the controversies that dogged the band, including John Lennon’s claim that the band was “bigger than Jesus”, which resulted in a backlash and some damage control.
However, the film, written by first time feature writer Brigit Grant and Jonathan Wakeman (To Catch A Killer, etc), also delves into Epstein’s troubled personal life. He was gay at a time when homosexuality was illegal. His furtive nocturnal encounters with other men in darkened alleys and piers were fraught with danger and the possibility of arrest and imprisonment. His illicit encounters also opened him up to blackmail threats from young hustlers. Both Harry and his mother Queenie (Emily Watson) worried about his dangerous lifestyle.
Fortune-Lloyd brings plenty of charisma and charm to his portrayal of the enigmatic Epstein. Stephenson has cleverly cast a quartet of young look-alike actors to portray the fab four, although Jonah Lees (from The Phantom Of The Open, etc) stands out as he captures John Lennon’s broad accent and off-kilter sense of humour. Watson is strong as Epstein’s supportive and sympathetic mother. Ed Speelers (from the tv series Picard, etc) is also good as the unlikeable Tex Ellington, a brash American actor with whom Epstein begins an ill-fated relationship.
The period detail is authentic and recreates Liverpool of the 60s, imbuing the material with a strong sense of nostalgia as it captures the energy and excitement of the music scene, while Birgit Dierkens’ cinematography is evocative of the period. Alex Baranowski’s understated score is also effective. However, for a film set around Liverpool and the Mersey sound of the era of the Beatles there is very little of their music used in the film’s soundtrack as the producers were unable to acquire the rights to use the music.
For all of that though, Midas Man Stephenson’s film unfolds in chronological order and while it follows the usual trajectory of the biopic of musical artists it doesn’t dig deep enough. This was a troubled production with numerous personnel changes and it shows in the final product. There have been plenty of other films – both fictional and documentaries – that have explored the rise of the Beatles, but this film only scratches at the surface of the complex and flawed Epstein and his influence in shaping the band into the biggest group in the world, without giving us much more insight into what drove him.
★★★
