One to One: John & Yoko
Avant-garde rock doc deepened critic Alec Toombs' appreciation of John Lennon and had him reappraising Yoko Ono.
Film Yap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
As a lifelong Beatles fan I looked forward to watching the documentary “One to One: John & Yoko (in select theaters including Indianapolis-area locations Landmark’s Glendale 12, Landmark Keystone Art Cinema, Living Room Theaters and Regal Shiloh Crossing beginning Friday, April 18), but must admit I inaccurately and unfairly blamed Yoko Ono for breaking up the group in my youth. I left “One to One” with much more respect and empathy for Ono and came to realize I can like and appreciate what an artist is saying even if I don’t dig the way in which they’re conveying it.
“One to One” is co-directed by Scottish filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (helmer of documentaries “Touching the Void” and “Marley” and narrative features “The Last King of Scotland” and “The Mauritanian”) and Sam Rice-Edwards (co-editor and co-director of “Meet Me in the Bathroom,” a rock doc chronicling the New York music scene of the early aughts).
They employ a somewhat avant-garde approach with the material – which admittedly took me a while to vibe with – but once I did it paid great dividends. The film chronicles the 18 months in the early 1970s that John Lennon and Ono lived in Greenwich Village and their involvement with the counterculture movement. During this period Lennon and Ono spent a lot of time in bed watching television, which lends the film its framing device. We’re treated to era-appropriate commercials, news clips and snippets of other programs like we too are hanging out in bed with Lennon and Ono.
These bits are interspersed with clips of the One to One shows held at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 30, 1972 benefitting the special needs children at Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School. These were the only full concert performances Lennon ever gave after the Beatles’ breakup and are the basis of his posthumous Live in New York City album.
These performances look and especially sound great. Lennon and Ono’s son Sean Ono Lennon oversaw the audio mastering of the concert footage and served as an executive producer alongside Brad Pitt and the folks at Plan B. I was moved by Lennon and Ono’s motivations as the proud uncle of a nephew with Down syndrome and I dare y’all not to be moved by Lennon’s performance of “Mother” if you know anything about his familial history.
Speaking of knowledge, I learned a lot here. I wasn’t aware of Ono’s daughter Kyoko Ono Cox nor that Lennon was threatened with deportation from the United States for being a political dissident.
“One to One” is an immersive experience which deepened my appreciation for an artist I’ve long admired and had me reappraising the wife he loved so dearly.