Midas Man review: the captivating new Brian Epstein film

It’s no exaggeration to say that without Brian Epstein there’d have been no Swinging Sixties.  

In the absence of his drive and flair, The Beatles would almost certainly have never been offered a record deal, Cilla Black would never have made it out of Liverpool, and the highlight of Gerry Marsden’s career would have been topping the bill at the Locarno Ballroom in West Derby Road. 

There’d have been no Mersey sound, no Beatlemania, no British invasion of America, no psychedelia, no myriad of other ingredients that made the 1960s the most exciting, creative and colourful decade of modern times.   

What might we have had instead? The Staid Sixties? The Solemn Sixties? The Sober Sixties? 

The man who made it all happen has been portrayed as a secondary character in numerous movies and TV dramas, but until now he has never been the subject of a full-length biopic.  

In Midas Man, Epstein — Eppy, as he was known to his stable of chart-topping stars — at last takes centre stage in a fast-moving, energetic and visually appealing treatment of his all too brief life. (He died in 1967 aged 32, three months after the release of Sgt Pepper). 

Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Wolf Hall and The Queen’s Gambit) is perfectly cast as the man who helped to revolutionise the music industry, managing just the right blend of showy swagger and crippling insecurity as Epstein transitions from manager of a family record store in Liverpool to global pop mogul. 

Much of the epic story is familiar but nonetheless enthralling — how he signed up the Beatles after being mesmerised by them at a lunch-time gig in the Cavern, his much-mocked prediction that they’d be "bigger than Elvis," the demoralising stream of rejections by London record companies and the sneering (though later disputed) comment of a Decca executive that "guitar groups are on the way out."

In previous dramatisations, Eppy’s relationship with the group in those early days has generally been depicted as a clichéd maelstrom of tension and mistrust, with the young musicians brutally mocking and belittling him at every turn as they despair of his efforts to secure them a recording contract. 

Midas Man takes a subtler and truer-to-life approach. Aside from some playful joshing and a brief Lennon diatribe, the emphasis is firmly on how much they liked and respected him, and ultimately how grateful they were to him.  

There's a moving scene near the end of the film in which Brian says to the by now phenomenally successful band: "You're a hard act to follow," sparking John’s heart-felt response: "No, you are."

During the bumpy journey to unprecedented showbiz success, the film explores Epstein’s tortured private life as a gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, compounded by an addiction to gambling and an increasing reliance on alcohol and drugs. His canniness as an impresario is neatly contrasted to the naivety he displayed in his sexual encounters, which all too often saw him the victim of violence and blackmail. 

An impressive cast of actors and musicians

Fortune-Lloyd is backed by an impressive supporting cast, including Emily Watson as Epstein’s ever-supportive mother, Eddie Marsan as his often exasperated father, and Eddie Izzard in a cameo role as Alan Williams, the hustling Welsh promoter destined to be remembered forever more as "the man who gave away the Beatles."

Darci Shaw, whose previous movie roles include playing the young Judy Garland, makes a brief but compelling appearance as Eppy’s adored Cilla, the closest he ever came to having a soul mate.

There’s also a fine performance by Charley Palmer Rothwell, who perfectly captures the mixture of intrigue and uncertainty that Parlophone boss George Martin felt when he first heard the Beatles play. 

Replicating the Fab Four on film is a near-impossible task, but the young actor/musicians chosen to play them do a commendable job, notably Blake Richardson, who brilliantly captures the on-stage mannerisms of his real-life hero, Paul McCartney. 

Director Joe Stephenson and writer Brigit Grant have placed great store on authenticity. Rare permission was secured to shoot key scenes in the iconic Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios, and the interiors of both the Cavern Club and Epstein’s NEMS Music Stores were painstakingly recreated.

People consulted for the film included Beatles fan club secretary Freda Kelly and the late Gerry Marsden. 

Beatles buffs will note a handful of historical inaccuracies as, for instance, when the band is shown closing their legendary Royal Variety Performance appearance with "Money" instead of "Twist and Shout", but these small niggles do little to detract from a captivating portrayal of the talented and troubled man who took the Beatles to the toppermost of the poppermost.