winstonengle

When I first saw the title "LennoNYC," I thought, "Cool! An in-depth look at Lennon's years in New York, his involvement in the art scene and all that. That's new." But while the film makes an initial stab in that direction, by the half-hour point it's fully in the mode of "Standard Lennon Biography, Years 1971-80." No mention at all, for instance, of John and Yoko's film work with Adolfas Mekas (who only appears for a few seconds of interview footage). But the film does follow Lennon through his "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles - about as far from the promise of "LennoNYC" as it could get. It's a solid production, and the recording session outtakes are fun to hear, but there's very little here that's news to all but the most casual Lennon fan. It's easy to imagine the filmmakers having made a much more original and insightful film with the same material.

If this wasn't a deliberate test by D.W. Griffith of his new actresses, it should have been. Griffith calls upon Lillian and Dorothy Gish to act in more or less of a vacuum, against a pistol stuck through a hole in the wall. And they pass with flying colors, hitting just the right note of terror, and demonstrating (especially Lillian) a captivating screen presence.

Meanwhile, Griffith passes his own test, elevating a fairly ludicrous premise to become, by turns, funny, tense, and (in one of his trademark races to the rescue) suspenseful and exciting. All in all, a taut and thoroughly fun example of the state of the art of American filmmaking in 1912.

The first half of the film is slow, talky, and one-act-play-ish. The only good part-- and pretty much the film's only real attempt to build character --is Daniel L. Haynes' fine performance as Number Two. He also has the best line, where with a smiling but sardonic edge, he doubts he'll meet his death-house fellows on the other side, because white people probably won't let a black man share Hell with them.

The movie finally picks up at the midpoint as it suddenly becomes more of a thriller, and the tension ratchets up and up for the remainder of the film's brief runtime. So don't let the Generic Serious Depression-Era Play feel of the first half put you off, because it transforms into a much more rewarding experience.