NZIFF: One to One: John & Yoko (1)

This immersive portrait of the time John and Yoko spent living in Greenwich Village is a vivid time capsule of America in the early 70s. A time of extreme political polarisation which may seem uncannily familiar.

Escaping the backlash from The Beatles’ dramatic breakup, John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono relocated to New York in 1971. They moved into a tiny Greenwich Village apartment with a massive TV propped at the end of their bed. Lennon exclaims that TV was his “window to the world” and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald picks up this cue, transporting us back to the early 70s by channel surfing through a dazzling array of archival material, home movies and audio recordings. The result is an absorbing portrait of what was a very turbulent era of radical change and counter-culture.

Anti-war protestors John Rubin and A.J. Weberman feature prominently, as do polarising presidential candidates Shirley Chisholm and George Wallace. But Macdonald also focuses on more domestic matters such as Yoko’s custody battle over her first child Kyoko, while in a more amusing running joke we get to hear several exasperated assistants trying to find flies for one of Yoko’s performance pieces. Interspersed throughout the film is beautifully restored footage from John and Yoko’s 1972 One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden. It was Lennon’s only full length concert performance after leaving The Beatles, and it’s a joy to experience. — Michael McDonnell

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