Recommendations of the Editorial team
Kevin Macdonald told the “Guardian” how he received access to intimate archive material about John Lennon and Yoko Ono and made it a Fil M. Already in May “One To One. John & Yoko. A Year of Love and Transformation” comes to German cinemas.
The director focused on the years when the couple tried to settle in New York City: “[John Lennon und Yoko Ono] flea [1971] from England. Before the Concit to have dissolved Beatles. And before the terrible misogyny and racism, which is why Yoko Ono was discriminated against. They turned optimistically and the creative excitement of the New York art scene. “
For a film, the director needed the permission of the Lennon heirs: “We had to obtain the approval of the Lennon estate, i.e. Sean Ono Lennon. […] He just did it to us: “It sounds like a film that would like my mother.”
To this end, the Briton received previously unknown recordings of the two: “I tried to add this time by using a wealth of previously unadorned telephone recordings, home videos and archive material.”
The title of an iconic moment of Lennon/Ono: “The focus is on the one-to-one concert, which the couple gave in Madison Square Garden in the summer of 1972.”
The trailer for “One To One”
The world situation made John Lennon depressed
Most of the documentation is about a time when brooding for the Beatle were the order of the day. MacDonald: “During this time, Lennon was obsessed with a series of questions: Where did the Flower Power go? Why didn’t it work? […] How could he use his celebrity as an ex-beatle to improve the world? “
In addition, no more for a second of his life was private: “How could he ever regain a private life if the majority of the world still considered him a beatle?”
For the director, the re -election of Nixons is also a reason why Lennon and Yoko Ono diverge for a moment: “Their separation in the summer of 1973 was indirectly due to the re -election of Nixon in November of the previous year (the two reconciled in 1975). […] Nixon won a landslide and won 49 out of 50 states, and Lennon was standing before nothing. […] Ultimately, it was probably this depression after the election that led to the separation of Ono. ”
Kevin Macdonald has already caused a sensation in the past. In 2000 he received an Oscar for “One Day in September”. Three years later he received a BAFTA for “Touching the Void”. And for the feature film “The Last King of Scotland” (2006) he was again awarded an Oscar and a BAFTA.
The music world is also not new territory for him either. Macdonald was nominated for a Grammy for “Marley” (2012) and “Whitney” (2018). Most recently, “High and Low: John Galliano” (2024).
“One To One. John & Yoko. A Year of Love and Transformation” is also produced by Brad Pitt.