LET IT BE is essentially a musical about four musicians at a critical moment in their long and successful collaboration. It's 1969 and Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison -- the first three Beatles -- had been performing together since the late 1950s. (drummer Ringo Starr joined in 1962.) By this time, they'd had years of fame, and John was ready to bail, according to lore, and the somewhat retiring George, gifted lead guitarist, seems in the film to be feeling a bit underappreciated. George wrote and sang lead on his own songs but far fewer were promoted on the group's albums than those by Lennon-McCartney (who generally wrote individually). Ringo demonstrates his piano-playing and songwriting skills here as well. Paul, who is often seen taking the leadership role in this intimate record of rehearsals and recordings, still seems as enthusiastic for the group's work as ever in this film, but perhaps is a bit oblivious to the fact that not everyone else is on the same page. Nevertheless, the minute one of them begins a riff just for fun, the rest jump in and seem to enjoy each other as much as they did in their hardscrabble years playing in Hamburg dives from 1960 to 1962. The chemistry is still there even if their lives have begun to diverge. The rooftop performance that ends the film was the group's last live performance together. This is a rare record of creative spark and collaboration that shows that art lives on beyond personalities and friendships.
