Eight years after John Lennon's death, and seventeen years after John's most popular solo album "Imagine" came out, this documentary was released. It was 1988 and the shock of Lennon's murder was lessening, and then they released this. But this documentary wasn't made to make people feel sad, but instead, it showed John Lennon's life from his early days living with his aunt, to his days with the Beatles, to his radical solo work and life with Yoko Ono. John is put in neither a positive nor a negative light here, so you can make the decision yourself. Was John a nut case, or a genius, or both, or something completely different altogether?
This documentary is full of old interviews, archive footage of the Beatles concerts, and along with that it has new interviews from Cynthia Lennon, Yoko Ono and Julian Lennon, among others. It shows John's time in the recording studio, and his life with Yoko and how much he loved her, and she loved him. It gives us interesting footage from his home too.
The more interesting scenes in this film are one's that we wouldn't normally see. A bum was walking around in Lennon's flower garden, and John asks him why, and this man believes John is writing his music for this man. They end up inviting him in for some lunch. That was probably the best scene in the movie, and the one that described John's overall attitude throughout his life. He was writing for himself, and for his wife, but if any other person felt personally touched by his music, then his message was universal. As shown in this movie, it wasn't his goal to reach others, only himself.
All of John and Yoko's more artistic moments are featured here too, including their bed in's, and their artistic ideas like covering themselves with a blanket so no one can see what they look like. During their bed-in, they invited over Al Capp, creator of the Lil Abner cartoon strips, and he tries his hardest to rip them to pieces, which is irritating, but yet again, one of the best scenes in the movie.
This documentary has some really neat footage, and that's the stuff that makes this good. The 1988 interviews were interesting on giving insight, but the footage from Lennon's solo work prime in the early 70's is what shows what he was about, and is what makes this documentary.
My rating: *** out of ****. 100 mins. Not rated, contains language and nudity.
This documentary is full of old interviews, archive footage of the Beatles concerts, and along with that it has new interviews from Cynthia Lennon, Yoko Ono and Julian Lennon, among others. It shows John's time in the recording studio, and his life with Yoko and how much he loved her, and she loved him. It gives us interesting footage from his home too.
The more interesting scenes in this film are one's that we wouldn't normally see. A bum was walking around in Lennon's flower garden, and John asks him why, and this man believes John is writing his music for this man. They end up inviting him in for some lunch. That was probably the best scene in the movie, and the one that described John's overall attitude throughout his life. He was writing for himself, and for his wife, but if any other person felt personally touched by his music, then his message was universal. As shown in this movie, it wasn't his goal to reach others, only himself.
All of John and Yoko's more artistic moments are featured here too, including their bed in's, and their artistic ideas like covering themselves with a blanket so no one can see what they look like. During their bed-in, they invited over Al Capp, creator of the Lil Abner cartoon strips, and he tries his hardest to rip them to pieces, which is irritating, but yet again, one of the best scenes in the movie.
This documentary has some really neat footage, and that's the stuff that makes this good. The 1988 interviews were interesting on giving insight, but the footage from Lennon's solo work prime in the early 70's is what shows what he was about, and is what makes this documentary.
My rating: *** out of ****. 100 mins. Not rated, contains language and nudity.