The early days of The Beatles in Hamburg provide a colourful backdrop for the story of Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff), the original Beatles bassist who dies of a brain haemmorhage in 1962.
Backbeat centres on artist Stu’s intense affair with style-setting photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee).
The film’s main asset though, is the charismatic performance of Ian Hart as a sardonic, angry young John Lennon, loving, envying and influenced by Stu and Astrid.
While a huge improvement on the dismal TV movie Birth of the Beatles, Iain Softley’s account of the Fab Four’s Hamburg days is rather like their music of the time: loud, raw and full of energy.
Astrid Kirchherr
Sheryl Lee
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stephen Dorff
John Lennon
Ian Hart
Paul McCartney
Gary Bakewell
George Harrison
Chris O’Neill
Pete Best
Scot Williams
Klaus Voormann
Kai Wiesinger
Cynthia Powell
Jennifer Ehle
Ringo Starr
Paul Duckworth
Director
Iain Softley
