Yes, I’m a witch for not recommending this music doc.
“One to One: John & Yoko” is a documentary that focuses on John Lennon and Yoko Ono, their relationship during a turbulent era, and their collaboration on the “One to One” concert dedicated for children with special needs from Willowbrook. My cousins and I saw this at the Boulder International Film Festival last month, and we have mixed feelings about it, because while it has good intentions, its structure was underdeveloped. I think it has to do with the directors’ techniques and the editing, which needs to be more consistent.
This doc uses unused archives, home movies, and restored footage, but it also has to use phone calls, which seem repetitive. A documentary on these two people and what was happening during the 1970s should be inspiring and informative, and there are fine moments, but it doesn’t justify itself.
The next day at the film festival, my cousins and I also saw “Devo,” which focuses on how that band saw the world during the Vietnam War and was spreading the message about “De-evolution.” That was more inspiring, not just for the topics, but also for how the band had a story to tell about themselves.
There are many challenges in John and Yoko’s lives, such as him being threatened with deportation and her losing custody of her daughter. There are also some colorful lighting for the music segments, including “Come Together” being shot in light blue, and “Mother” being shot in blue, red, and orange. And there is the canceled “Free the People” tour, which was dedicated to raising money to free innocent African-American prisoners who couldn’t afford bail.
“One to One: John & Oko” is also presented in the style of changing channels. There are very few snippets of classic commercials, but bigger attention to such names as the title singers, Shirley Chisholm, John Sinclair, and Richard Nixon, and the Vietnam War, which sparked major protests. At least this style of filmmaking is more interesting than the phone calls, which basically go on repeat, especially with all the talk about flies, which I believe was for the short film John and Yoko were making.
I’m a Beatles fan, and my reaction to this doc has nothing to do with my age. It has to do with the filmmaking techniques presented by Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards. A film made by these two should know the directions a story like this should be presented, but this one misses the mark.
It seems to be indulged in all the channeling changing and phone calls and how colorful the archival music segments look than on the very importance in John and Yoko’s relationship and what Willowbrook was like for those kids. I may have Autism, which is a different disorder than what those kids have, but I still show my respect for them. I suggest this doc does, too. A little more to be exact.