Imagine: John Lennon
Imagine: John Lennon | |
---|---|
Directed by | Andrew Solt |
Written by | Andrew Solt Sam Egan |
Produced by | Andrew Solt David L. Wolper |
Narrated by | John Lennon |
Cinematography | Néstor Almendros |
Music by | John Lennon The Beatles |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date | 7 October 1988 |
Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom[citation needed] |
Budget | $6.5 million[1] |
Imagine: John Lennon is a 1988 documentary film[2] about English musician John Lennon. It was released on 7 October 1988, two days before Lennon's 48th birthday (and nearly eight years after his death).
The film chronicles Lennon's life and musical career as a member of
Imagine: John Lennon, with its wealth of archival footage and narration, received generally positive reviews. The film's soundtrack was also successful in the United States, reaching No. 31 on the charts and going gold.[citation needed]
Synopsis
The film is narrated by John Lennon from over 100 hours of interviews,[1][4] and also features interviews with his first wife Cynthia Lennon; his second wife Yoko Ono; his sons Julian and Sean Lennon; record producer George Martin; and his and Ono's personal assistant May Pang. Lennon discusses living with his aunt Mimi during his early childhood, as well as his relationship with his mother Julia prior to her death when he was a teenager. He recalls meeting Paul McCartney and forming the band the Beatles with him, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr; Lennon and his first wife Cynthia recount that his massively successful career with the Beatles inhibited him from helping raise their son Julian.
Lennon's career as a member of the Beatles is chronicled, including his writing of the song "
Following
Lennon's "
Production
Imagine: John Lennon was commissioned by Yoko Ono in 1986.
Comparing the film to the 1988 biography The Lives of John Lennon by author Albert Goldman, a book whose critics (including Ono) have asserted presents an unfairly negative representation of Lennon, Solt stated that "We decided to try to tell John's story in John's words. To basically let John tell his story directly to the audience, so the audience can decide. John was very, very honest about who he was. [The Lives of John Lennon] is such a skewed view of the guy, when [Lennon] really went out of his way to tell us what he was going through. I don't think we were all duped by him for 20-some years, and it was big sham. I don't buy it."[1]
Solt called the film "an open view of John that is basically showing us many different facets of his personality: the angry John, the outspoken John, the critical John, the hurt John, the outrageous John, the egomaniac John, the publicity seeker, the sensitive recluse. If there had been film of John in some of the situations that [The Lives of John Lennon] claims he was in, we would certainly have used it."[1]
Release
Imagine: John Lennon was released on 7 October 1988, weeks after The Lives of John Lennon was published.[1] Ono called the timing of the documentary's release "a beautiful coincidence. In the sense that the truth of what John was like is really revealed in this film, and that it came out at a time when somebody was trying to tarnish John's image and bring out a fictional image of him into the world. The phony image of John might have stuck a bit if there was nothing counteracting it."[1] It was released to VHS video in 1989, and to DVD in 2005.[6]
Reception
Imagine: John Lennon received generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.35/10.[7]
Roger Ebert, in his review of the film for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it three out of four stars and called it "the portrait of a man who was complex, sometimes confused, not always very happy, but a great artist all the same."[5] Christopher Hicks of Deseret News called Imagine: John Lennon "far from a perfect film, glossing over certain aspects of Lennon's life, and with a narrative structure that jumps around occasionally without transitions [...] however, there is a tremendous power to this film - it has humor, poignancy, tragedy and a sweetness that is hard to resist."[4]
Reactions from the former Beatles
According to Solt, though former Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did not agree to be interviewed for the film, they all mostly approved of it.[1] Solt stated that "Paul was very positive. You could tell by the way he reacted and was singing along that he was enjoying it. [...] He knew every one of John's solo songs from all those years, and he was singing along with them, too. [...] Harrison had some comments about John having such a strong character. [...] and Ringo was very emotional and very broken up, very affected by the movie."[1] After a screening in which Solt and McCartney were in attendance, McCartney reportedly said "A good lad he was!"[1]
See also
References
- ^ The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ISBN 978-0893569884.
- ^ Jacobson, Colin (30 November 2005). "Imagine: John Lennon (Deluxe Edition) (1988)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
- ^ a b c d Hicks, Christopher (7 October 1988). "'Imagine' Gives Surprising Glimpses into Lennon's Life". Deseret News. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger (7 October 1988). "Imagine: John Lennon movie review (1988)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ https://www.discogs.com/master/1196014-John-Lennon-Imagine [bare URL]
- ^ "Imagine: John Lennon (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 12 October 2020.