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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 9.Apr.25

One to One: John & Yoko
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir Kevin Macdonald
prd Peter Worsley, Kevin Macdonald, Alice Webb
with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Jerry Rubin, David Peel, Stevie Wonder, Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, Shirley Chisholm George Wallace, Billy Graham, Walter Cronkite, Lesley Stahl
release UK/US 11.Apr.25
24/UK 1h41

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Using archival film footage and audio recordings, this documentary traces a period in the life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the context of historical events and cultural touchstones. It's a quick-paced film that feels like time-travel channel surfing. Previously unseen musical performances are terrific, as are the private moments, and the film is equally concerned with the bigger picture of a major shift in global society.

After 18 months living in a Greenwich Village apartment, Lennon and Ono put on their One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden in August 1972, the only full-length performance Lennon gave after the Beatles split up. At the time, their life was a flurry of stop the war protests, as they and their fellow musicians created work that spoke out on the key issues of the time. Meanwhile, Lennon and Ono grapple with personal issues, press intrusions and threatened deportation. And there are also clashes within their political movement.

Filmmaker Macdonald illustrates sound clips with gliding new footage that establishes their home and the period. Newly discovered recordings of phone calls are transcribed on the screen. The range of clips is astonishingly varied, depicting news, art, ads, TV shows and much more, all circling back to the way Lennon and Ono soaked this up and let it inform their work. Activist Jerry Rubin is a continual presence, setting up rallies and events. And the performance footage from the One to One concert has been carefully restored, with a beautiful sound mix.

While the pace of this film wanes in a few long stretches, the kaleidoscopic way it is assembled cleverly recreates the barrage of disparate information in the mix, with a range of frivolity distracting us from the serious issues of the day. Lennon and Ono have a warm sense of humour that comes through even in their most impassioned moments. There's also a running sense of how Nixon polarised the nation, which of course adds a zing of present-day resonance.

themes, language, violence 7.Apr.25

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL