One to One: John & Yoko (15) |Close-Up Film Review

The lives of the Beatles and particulary John Lennon are always intriguing and this film throws light on the 18 months that John and Yoko lived in Greenwich Village. Moving to a two-room apartment in 1971 following the hostile Press and hate campaign in the UK in relation to Yoko, and after the breakup of the Beatles, the couple settle down in their tiny apartment. The couple have left their large estate in Ascot to move to the US.

The apartment in Bank Street is faithfully re-created in this documentary by Macdonald’s set decorator wife. And the images show what is going on in America at that time. Much time is spent watching and listening to Lennon on the phone – believing he is bugged, John records his own conversations – and we also hear Yoko talk in her own words about how she’s feeling both about her treatment in the UK and her artwork.  We learn that Yoko had three miscarriages. Both are fascinated by the number of channels on American TV. We see snippets of the programmes coming on the television including the adverts in between.

John watches a lot and the TV is at the end of their bed . 

We learn that a major part of the reason to choose to live in the US is that Yoko is seeking her daughter who is living with her American ex husband. In New York. In fact she it’s not reunited with her daughter until 1994 . 

The couple meet with Allen Ginsberg,  Jerry Reuben and other well known artists and activists of the period.  We see Nixon and recognise his shifty appearance. Vietnam is part of the terrible political background of the time.

The movie culminates in the One to One benefit concert in Madison Square Garden given in support of the Willowbrook school for disabled children.

Directors Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards seem as fascinated by American TV as John and Yoko. Sean Lennon has assisted in the making of the film.

While there are a number of omissions, including John ‘s affair with May Pang, the film is very interesting to watch as we see Lennon getting excited over new experiences and the development of his music and political persona.