One to One: John & Yoko, 2024.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald.
Featuring John Lennon & Yoko Ono.
SYNOPSIS:
Set in 1972 New York, this documentary explores John and Yoko’s world amid a turbulent era. Centered on the One to One charity concert for special needs children, it features unseen archives, home movies, and restored footage.
There have been no shortage of films on John Lennon and The Beatles but the majority of these document his years within the band, with less focus given to his years in the US and political activism while there. This is the focal point of Kevin Macdonald’s new film One to One: John & Yoko which covers the couple’s move to New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1970s and the One to One concert which would be the only full show he would stage while living in the US. It features archival footage from shows the pair watched, interspersed with archive footage and frequent clips from the concert.
The decision to build itself around film/tv footage of the era makes this feel wider reaching than simply just covering John & Yoko with plenty of material focused on the latter part of the Nixon presidency, war in Vietnam and political activists of the era including Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Rubin. A particularly intriguing part of the film talks of his involvement in freeing Poet John Sinclair. A lot of this era of Lennon’s life is not so ingrained into the British consciousness and so this will be informative for British fans in particular. The build up to the cancelled Free The People tour which would have raised money for freeing incarcerated Americans is a key theme of the film and something rarely touched upon.
Some stories like the reason behind the One to One concert may be new, coupled with the pair’s fight to gain custody of Yoko’s daughter Kyoko, who she didn’t see until the 1990s. The contrast between the career and relationship of the pair and the cultural and political climate of the time is really what makes this film stand out and feel earned rather than simply another John Lennon documentary. Diving more into the pair behind closed doors there is a wry sense of humour especially via the phone conversations, particularly funny is a reoccurring gag about hiring flies for an art project Yoko was working on.
The concert footage is thrilling with a raucous version of Come Together and his solo hits including Instant Karma, Imagine and Mother culminating in a jam like version of Give Peace a Chance with an appearance from Stevie Wonder.
We may be tired of Beatles related films by now but One to One with its different structure made up of phone calls and concert/archival footage feels like it has a story to tell that will paint John & Yoko in a slightly new light, covering a period of their lives that is often overlooked especially in British consciousness. The concert footage is thrilling and provides a rare glimpse at Lennon as a solo artist in concert.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Connor
