Danny Boyle imagines a fable of musical inspiration in a world with no Beatles

Imagine there's no Beatles. It's easy if you try - even easier if you see "Yesterday," a flight of pop culture fancy from "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" screenwriter Richard Curtis, opening in the U.S. on June 28.

As the film's trailer has telegraphed, "Yesterday" posits a world without the Fab Four, without Beatlemania and, most disconcertingly, without "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Revolution," "Let It Be," "Something" or "The Long and Winding Road."

At least, the world appears to spin for a time minus this celebrated body of music after the movie's central character - struggling