Mersey Boys: A Letter from Al Moran

I feel quite honoured to write my first IMDB review for this compelling piece of work - a short film that tells so much.

We open in Chicago where a father & daughter arriving home from their Uncle Al's funeral. While going through his letters, we flashback to Liverpool in the early sixties where Al began a job as a professor at Liverpool Art College. During a spell in a pub (the Cavern Club) he is taken by a lovely barmaid named Ginny & meets three young men who happen to be John, Paul and George.

I don't want to give too much away. It may be a short story, but its littered with so much of interest. It was the verge of the Beatles and through Ginny, Professor Al sees how women will be going through the cultural changes that depicted the 60s. Revolution is in the air.

One reviewer states this short is a teaser, & I can agree with that. The film itself captures the mood of the time, reflected in Paddy Murphy's tight script & economic direction.

Performances also capture the resonance of the era. Everyone is in good form, but will single out Fiach Kunz as Al, a slightly out of his depth American lecturer beginning to find his feet in a new country, intimidated, but attracted to this new way of life represented by Ginny & John. Jessica Messenger is equally brilliant as Ginny, an ordinary working girl with visions of future. One can event a predict a relationship going between them.

All in all a lovely provocative film with so much to offer

We know a lot about The Beatles. But what lurks in the minds and hearts of many are the private and public encounters, both real and imagined that shaped people's memories of The Fab Four. In Steve Farrell's fictious (or not), rendering of memory and encounter (Mersey Boys: A Letter from Al Moran)--we get an intimate knowing across intergenerational time and space. He offers a memoire of what was, and maybe what never was. But through the excavation of a life gone-by, we come to know of a particular life-lived, which also offers a fresh-take on the boys from Mersey who changed the world through music. Kudos for Farrell who takes us, and himself into the scene of knowing and rediscovering the past, and what he (and we), never knew. Bryant Keith Alexander, PhD, Communication, Cultural and Performance Studies scholar.

What a great idea to see the Beatles before they were the world famous BEATLES! I think my only criticism is about the men's hair. This is either later 1950s or very early 1960s. The bartender has a pony tail and Paul and Al both have longer hair that looks more like today.

Having already read and enjoyed the Mersey Boys book, I really enjoyed the short film. One thing I loved about it was that it used subtlety when introducing the Beatles. The film did not blatantly present them as "The Beatles," but introduced them as if they were regular British teenagers. I also loved the way the story was told. Ger reading the letter allowed for a smooth introduction to Al Moran. Lastly, I enjoyed how the actors spoke to each other in a regular tone and not overacting. This allowed for greater empathy from the audience. All this being said, I cannot wait for a full film adaptation when it is finally done!

I never knew much about the Beatles, but this short movie very well introduced me to them, and I felt like I knew them. The quality was wonderful, and the story structure was excellent. I would love to see this continued and furthered.