Imagine: John Lennon

Forget the unmistakable legend of the Beatles for about two hours! This one is entirely about John! I give kudos to the producers who show how this complex and fascinating artist was also a brilliant man and a wonderful human being with strengths as well as frailties! Just listening to and watching the people from John's life (his two wives and sons especially) as they talk about him clearly shows how much they not only loved him, but that they miss him terribly. I went out and rented this film for the first time in years last December around the 20th anniversary of John's cruel and senseless murder! I loved seeing him triumph over the crooked Nixon White House in the latter's attempt to deport him. I also had to smile when the so-called "lost weekend" was over and he was back with Yoko, which only got better with Sean's birth! I found myself touched by the scene where he tells the vagrant the truth behind his songwriting, and then invites him in for a meal. I never met John personally, but after seeing this film I felt like I knew him. By the time the film got to the footage of the Lennons walking in Central Park shortly before his death, I cringed when I heard John's recorded voice saying "...until I'm dead and buried; and I hope that's a long, long time". The slowed-down footage against the background music of the crescendo coda of "A Day In The Life" leading up to the tragic event was well-edited and made its desired impact (the glasses falling and shattering on the cement). Then the newsreel footage of the mourners from around the world. As a fan of John's, I didn't have to look at that footage for very long before losing my composure and feeling the profound sense of loss I felt years ago when it happened. In short, I cried long and hard. I won't give the son of a bitch who shot him the satisfaction of mentioning his name. He is the lowest form of life on earth, and this film does John justice by not giving any mention of his name either. Those who love John will love this film. It doesn't portray him as a big shot rock star! It portrays him as I think he wanted to be seen: as a vulnerable human being, just like us!

As a big Beatles fan, I've seen lots of documentaries and shows about them; but this one has a lot of stuff I've never seen before, mostly because it focuses on John. The music of course is fantastic as always but what's most valuable is the candid looks we get at Lennon. A vagrant, probably stoned, confronts Lennon at his home in England, asking what the different lyrics mean and the ex-Beatle tries to talk some sense, comforting the confused man, and inviting him inside for a meal. It's even eerier considering what a later confused fan was to do. And some of the strongest parts of the film are long sequences of John confronting someone over his antiwar politics and tactics. Particularly Al Capp, famous cartoonist of "L'il Abner" who proves to be a royal a**hole here, insulting Yoko and John stays surprisingly level-headed throughout. It's a really dynamic scene. He actually loses his temper more when confronted by a NY Times reporter who tells him how immature it was for him to send back the MBE; he shouts back that maybe she liked the old him, the mop-tops and A Hard Day's Night but she needs to grow up. And finally, there's some footage taken not long before Lennon's death when a young man is thrilled to meet him, asking inevitably "When are you guys gonna get back together?" Little did he know that in a few days (or weeks, I'm not sure when this was taken) that dream would be shattered once in for all.

This was my bad, I mistook this as a Yoko exploitation vehicle when it was released and really deprived myself of an excellent biography. John Lennon, The Beatles still loom very large in pop culture and may for quite some time. But as a fan, I find most film documentaries generally are either too lengthy and even preachy or too segmented and incomplete; with nothing really doing the trick. So much so, that I think their music or silly Hollywood movies are still the best and most candid contact we have available. Having said that, by concentrating on John Lennon only, I think this film is able to rise above the rest of whats out there. It cleverly makes use of interviews and sound bytes by John so that he's almost narrating the entire film. It does not dwell too much on his time after the Beatles and with Yoko. Instead its a pleasant balance on all phases of his most fascinating life. There's a ton of stuff I had never seen before and even better, some complete takes of the familiar stuff we know too well. For instance, there is a comprehensive bit involving John and Yoko's bed in for peace that includes a nasty exchange with a pompous cartoonist. Also a terrific scene in a recording studio. The real stuff baby. I think its interesting that as time has passed, John's ideas just don't sound so ridiculous and drug induced as they once did. He instead really comes across as a visionary trying to make dullards and dimwits understand what are now extremely sane concepts. Very odd I must say.

I can't say enough about how much John Lennon's death still hurts me when I think about it, and I wasn't even alive when that terrible date (8 Dec 1980) transpired. But through the duration of "Imagine: John Lennon," I felt at ease with his death. I felt that Lennon was sitting there next to me telling me that he's fine, and that he will never be dead as long as his music live forever in the minds of his fans. Lennon's life was captured brilliantly in this documentary. His brilliance, his unique spirit, and his controversial opinions about the crooked elements of the world are reverently presented. I thanks the makers of this film for omitting the name of the eternally damned soul who selfishly brought the end to the physical life of Lennon. Lennon lives on, but the scars left by his passing will remain. For those who do not know Lennon's life very well, this film is perfect for them. Together, you, me, and Lennon can imagine a world free of hatred in our lives and the lives of future generations. It is possible if we just give peace a chance. I love this movie and it's portrayal of the life of the most influential entertainer of the past couple centuries. What more can be said about such an amazing life?

There are rock musicians, rock stars, rock gods and than there is John Lennon, the man who embodies Rock and Roll and changed the world with his heartfelt and joyous words. Now we are given the privilege to see this genius and former Beatle as the human he was in the documentary Imagine: John Lennon.

The movie's main focus is on, of course, John Lennon. Not the critics, not the fans, not the Beatles and not the walrus...John Lennon, a human being. The movie is filled with home videos of Lennon and friends working on the Imagine album and videos of Lennon and his family enjoying life away from his hectic life as a musician. There is even a video of Lennon inviting an obsessed fan into his house for breakfast.

Still, even with the videos of a simple Englishman goofing off with friends there are many clips of the music itself. It includes Lennon's Elvis inspired rock genesis in Liverpool and Hamburg with the Beatles that launched their successful career. The movie moves on to Lennon's tour of America that took him away from the wife and kids, and then onto the unbelievable Sgt. Pepper album that is still critically acclaimed as the greatest album of all time.

Yet you can't fit everything about a legend like Lennon into a one hundred minute documentary, so all of the other Beatles albums were cut. Instead there is again more of the man behind the legend, such as him spending time with his newborn son Sean and instead of showing the breakup of the Beatles, it shows him sailing on a boat smoking a cigarette. Workingman's hero.

Now if you want a movie that explores the many dimensions of this rock icon than this isn't it. No this movie doesn't go into his spirituality, his thoughts on music, his influences and the Beatles nor does it even mention the name of the person who killed him. Yet this movie shows what John Lennon truly was: a father, a friend, a man.

Just like Lennon said, "I don't believe in Jesus....I don't believe in Elvis....I don't believe in the Beatles...I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality."