A capsule review by my friend, David O'Flaherty, of "Imagine: John Lennon":
This documentary was released in 1988 and is one of my favorites. A friend gave me the DVD for my birthday. If you have even a passing interest in The Beatles, watch this movie. It turns out that Lennon had himself filmed constantly (a rock star, a narcissist? you bet), and these private home movies form the basis for this film, narrated by Lennon himself from countless interviews he gave over his lifetime.
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The narration has been edited seamlessly and it's as if Lennon has purposefully provided a voiceover for a documentary of his life. The movie begins with Lennon putting "Imagine" together at Tittenhurst Estate and recording songs with crazy Phil Spector (Lennon even has Spector sing background, I suspect to his great regret).
One of the things I liked about this is that it's not afraid to show Lennon at his worst (happily sitting with George Harrison while cattily sniping about Paul McCartney "I see Beatle Phil is making a pig of himself") before the two record Lennon's famous putdown of McCartney, "How Do You Sleep?" "How do you sleep, you ****?" Lennon asks during one outtake (answer: probably not very well after seeing this footage).
There's also Lennon at his most humorous and warm, and the film captures a wonderfully weird moment when Lennon confronts a burned-out fan who it turns out has been living in the garden of Tittenhurst (I strongly suspect this man went on to become Dan Quayle).
"Imagine: John Lennon" is a warm and complicated portrait of an imperfect human being, from birth to death, and told in that person's very own words.
I give it 10 out of 10 white pianos.
David O'Flaherty
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