One to One: When America Was For or Against John and Yoko

It was 1971 when John Lennon was persuaded to leave behind the hallmark of his financial success – a 10-acre estate in the much sought-after Ascot area – to go live in a tiny apartment in New York. A double futon, a television at the foot of the bed that is always on, an upright piano, a few furnishings, large windows overlooking the metropolitan skyline.

For Lennon, who had a stormy and not wealthy childhood, the estate in Ascot was a tangible symbol of revenge for the lack of well-being of his childhood. He ended up living his American adventure in a few square meters in New York for the love of Yoko, and he never regretted it. The three years spent in that small alcove were happy for the couple, who fell in love with the city of New York, determined to immerse herself in American reality in the midst of the Nixon era.

Presented at the Venice Film Festival, “One to One: John & Yoko” is a documentary without a narrator, but with a very effective story, rich in meanings and reflections on a couple of artists and musicians so iconic that they do not need surnames or introductions. The film is signed by Kevin Macdonald, documentary filmmaker of twentieth-century musical icons such as Mick Jagger, Bob Marley, Whitney Houston. With the help of Sam Rice-Edwards, MacDonald tells how the couple organized the historic concert “One to One”, with what purpose and with what outcome. Interspersed in the story are the beautiful color images of the stage performances, which culminate in the inevitable “Imagine” (rarely used in such a congruent and effective way as in that concert and in this documentary).

It was the last concert the former Beatle performed before moving to his final, fateful New York residence.

“One to one” is zapping along with John and Yoko

Concert clips, rare private family films, TV and radio appearances, recorded phone calls between John or Yoko with their gallery owner, assistants, journalists: these are the archive materials that the documentary has at its disposal to to tell a rather brief temporal parenthesis of two of the most famous people in the world at the time. Macdonald’s brilliant winning idea is to create a sort of continuous media zapping in the editing of the proposed contents.

John and Yoko themselves explain why They always kept the television on, 24 hours a day. They saw it as the new home, the means by which the United States and the world constructed their visual identity. TV tells how we see ourselves and want others to see us: John and Yoko began to see and listen.

To reach its 100-minute running time, “One To One” combines unreleased recordings with a flood of period material not directly connected to the two figures it tells the story of. Commercials, news reports, documentaries, interviews, video clips. The impression is that of sit on John and Yoko’s bed, with and Yokocontinuing to change channels with them.

Who had John and Yoko become after the Beatles?

The flow of suggestions and contents is not casual, however, quite the opposite. In fact, “One to One” ends up telling with great acumen what point the two protagonists were at in their lives when they decided to start their American adventure. The Beatles were now firmly behind them, thanks to Yoko John they had fully taken awareness of non-violent and feminist battles and struggles, acting as a peacemaker and supporter of a large group of personalities of the time that extended from Bob Dylan to Allen Ginsberg. For example, it reconstructs the behind the scenes of Dylan’s incredible sulk in the guise of one of the many solidarity initiatives of the time, guilty of hosting the man who he had rummaged through his garbage and shown it to the world, artfully implanting remains that suggested drug use, criticizing him for becoming a millionaire, everything he had always been against.

In his early American years instead Yoko transforms, his words, “from bitch to witch”. After being demonized by the English tabloids, the Japanese artist finds herself having to deal with the American public who underline her nationality, her lack of attractiveness and, despite being a strong woman, for the first time knows this particular kind of female oppression. The one who asks her to take a step back from her husband, silently. Because of the deafening silence of the Beatles members on the matter, Yoko must also fight against an accusation that will follow her throughout her life: that of having caused the breakup of the band.

“One to One” tells the story of the United States seduced by both Lennon and Nixon

What strikes most about the materials that tell the story of John and Yoko is their profound sincerity. For example, we listen to private phone calls that demonstrate how minimal the gap between the public and private persona of the two was. What is striking is the profound honesty of John and Yoko, as if they were on the scene (and in the firing line) with no protection or privacy, other than each other’s support.

The personal and professional events of the two, their personal insecurities overcome or at least mitigated thanks to an incredible dynamic of the couple, however remain on the margins. In fact, “One to One” focuses on the story of the United States and the New York that welcomed the couple, retracing the social and political climate through television narratives. The result is a sometimes breathtaking snapshot that makes us understand the ups and downs of the relationship between the Ono Lennons and American public opinion.

John and Yoko taste it first handin contradiction to a nation crossed by a deep antimilitarist sentiment connected to the war in Vietnam, where their friends moved on the scene, spokesmen of a great protest movement. At the same time, month after month, the nation proves equally fascinated by the icon of everything that John and Yoko oppose. The New York and the United States with which the two relate become more and more seduced by President Nixon’s conservative, moralistic, “good” vision. While young people show off their long hair and protest signs, another part of America is already working to carry out a restoration of customs and morals that will soon close – with a shot – the era of John and Yoko.

Having at your disposal as the only narrative means is editingcarefully choosing in which order to show the materials, which to juxtapose, with what rhythm to develop and explain the various narrative lines told, the documentary is easy to enjoy, but at the same time manages to obtain a high degree of sophistication, bringing forward a series of important reflections on the great artistic personalities it tells, on the collective public opinion with which they measure themselves as stars, as foreigners, as artists. “One to one” even manages to find in that ideologically distant era the common thread of the contradictions of the contemporary United States.