Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
This documentary covers Lennon's transformation into an antiwar activist and his conflict with the Nixon administration. The narrative is compelling and well-structured, drawing on archival footage and interviews with key figures. However, the cinematography relies heavily on archival material with little visual distinction, and as a talking-heads documentary it offers no performance dimension to speak of. The subject matter gives it some novelty — the FBI surveillance angle is genuinely interesting — but it treads familiar biographical documentary ground without reinventing the form. The ending is emotionally resonant given Lennon's legacy but doesn't surprise.