One to One: John & Yoko
Kevin Macdonald & Sam Rice-Edwards / United Kingdom / 2025 / Danish Premiere / 100 min
A lively and compelling account of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's first year in New York. A year of political and cultural turmoil culminating in Lennon’s only solo concert.
The year is 1972. The Beatles are over, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono have just moved to New York, living in a humble two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. Lennon himself has said that they spent that year just watching TV. This film proves that was far from the truth. In the midst of a politically turbulent time, we find the creative couple in a new city, immersed in music, art, politics and activism.
The film recreates the creative whirlwind the couple found themselves in. With footage from unseen archives, phone calls and home movies, John and Yoko’s wild year culminates with the ‘One to One’ charity concert for kids saved from the hellish Willowbrooks State School. This was Lennon’s first full-length concert after The Beatles, and tragically, it turned out to be his last.
Fortunately, with newly restored footage from the concert, it’s a small masterpiece of a live musical testament that he leaves behind.