Preview of One to One John and Yoko – Regent Theatre Ballarat 20th June 2025

When John Lennon and Yoko Ono left their palatial English country home in 1971 for a two bedroom apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village, they couldn’t believe their luck.

No getting hassled by the general public, no being vilified by a scandalous press and no bullying and racism directed at Yoko.

They found themselves in a friendly environment within the vibrant arts district of The Village  where they felt unconstrained and free.

Award winning Scottish director Kevin Macdonald has provided an opportunity to venture into this rich period in the couple’s life via rare private moments and for the first time, vision of a fundraising concert recorded originally as a live album.

There are a number of interesting narratives weaving their way through this brilliant documentary. The first one is the TV.

Macdonald has set up a reconstruction of the apartment where a TV sat at the end of the bed. John loved watching TV and especially in New York where it ran twenty four hours a day as opposed to a test pattern after midnight in the UK.

Throughout the film there is intermittent channel surfing to the era’s TV shows and commercials which are both fascinating and bizarre.

Of course Vietnam was the TV war so it was inevitable that the couple would be engaged in the protests. Despite being actively involved in the movement, the couple drew the line at performing at the Republican Convention of 1972 because of the physical risk involved.

Nixon was intent on deporting Lennon and as we are seeing today in the US, he was prepared to use maximum force to clean the streets of protesters.

The similarities to Trump’s regime are frightening although Nixon was far sneakier compared to the bankrupt intelligence of Trump who leaves no one in doubt as to his agenda.

There are many recordings of phone calls that Yoko handed over which are interesting and proof that their phone was being tapped by the secret service. This was a volatile period in history and John and Yoko were unfairly being dragged back into the public’s view.

So one night whilst watching TV, a story about Willowbrook, a state supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities on Staten Island suddenly appeared.

Five to six thousand children lived in the most appalling conditions imaginable. Some kids naked, some in rags, one or two support staff, little toileting and food. Truly shocking. John and Yoko were immediately whipped into action.

So this is where the concert comes in. Songs from the concert are shown throughout the film but we get the true meaning of it towards the end. The band played two shows in one day on 3oth August 1972 which raised $1.5m to staff the facility properly. Hence The title One to One.

In tandem with the concert was a huge fundraiser and free day for kids with intellectual disabilities held in Central Park which left Lynda bawling her eyes out along with plenty of others in the cinema. (I may have emitted some salty discharge).

The concert footage was produced by John and Yoko’s son Sean and he’s done a cracking job. John’s performance just shows what a genius he was. His voice live was incredible and in particular his version of Mother sent shivers down my spine.

This film will take you to a time of authoritarianism that is not dissimilar to what we are witnessing today around the world.

Middle aged white men murdering innocent civilians is unacceptable and I hope the voraciousness of the protests of today can match what happened in the early 70’s.

On a lighter note, cannabis was obviously a big part of the counter culture at the time, but watch out for the bloke who turns up at the concert having forgot to put any clothes on. He calmly searches for his seat and in classic New York style, no one reacts to him!

New York brought out the best in Lennon in particular although it wasn’t until he quit drugs and alcohol completely a few years later that he reached his peak only to be murdered.

For all the films made about the Beatles and Lennon, I think this one brings out the truly authentic side to John and his beautiful relationship to Yoko. Yoko’s toughness and devotion  for John is unequivocal and it was nice to see her in a natural environment where she wasn’t seen as a ‘spare wheel’. A ripper of a film 9/10.