Imagine: John Lennon (1988)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Andrew Solt's "Imagine: John Lennon" is a documentary about the singer. There's plenty of focus on his music and activism, but mostly it looks at him as a person. In addition to the ample footage of John making his inimitable music and expounding on philosophy, there are interviews with people who knew him (Yoko, Sean, Cynthia, Julian). And the scene of John and Yoko's bed-in for peace makes clear that Al Capp was a real creep.Another documentary about Lennon that's worth seeing is "The US vs. John Lennon", about Nixon's efforts to keep him out of the country. Both documentaries note that, while Lennon got taken from us, his dream of world peace lives on. Indeed, political movements the world over take inspiration from him. May his memory live forever.Great documentary.

Imagine John Lennon (1988) **** (out of 4) One of the best documentaries out there takes a look at John Lennon from his early days to The Beatles and his assassination. I ended up watching this at the perfect time since a few days earlier I pretty much became a big fan of Lennon's and especially his album Imagine, which this doc features many in the studio moments from. The doc did a great job at showing what Lennon was all about and that includes the rather ugly side of things. Great music, great stories make this a highly entertaining little film.

As a big Beatles fan, I've seen lots of documentaries and shows about them; but this one has a lot of stuff I've never seen before, mostly because it focuses on John. The music of course is fantastic as always but what's most valuable is the candid looks we get at Lennon. A vagrant, probably stoned, confronts Lennon at his home in England, asking what the different lyrics mean and the ex-Beatle tries to talk some sense, comforting the confused man, and inviting him inside for a meal. It's even eerier considering what a later confused fan was to do. And some of the strongest parts of the film are long sequences of John confronting someone over his antiwar politics and tactics. Particularly Al Capp, famous cartoonist of "L'il Abner" who proves to be a royal a**hole here, insulting Yoko and John stays surprisingly level-headed throughout. It's a really dynamic scene. He actually loses his temper more when confronted by a NY Times reporter who tells him how immature it was for him to send back the MBE; he shouts back that maybe she liked the old him, the mop-tops and A Hard Day's Night but she needs to grow up. And finally, there's some footage taken not long before Lennon's death when a young man is thrilled to meet him, asking inevitably "When are you guys gonna get back together?" Little did he know that in a few days (or weeks, I'm not sure when this was taken) that dream would be shattered once in for all.

The 9th day of October in 1940 a great man called John Lennon was born.That was the time when an idiot called Adolf Hitler was in control. The 8th day of December in 1980 an idiot called Mark Chapman shot John Lennon to death.That was 20 years ago.John Lennon was a man of peace.For years he fought for it.He was against the war of Vietnam and Nixon.The wars still ain't over.He was in the legendary band called The Beatles.John once made some religious people mad by saying they were bigger than Jesus.I'm not saying they were but they got pretty close. The music of The Beatles will never die.In the 70's he did some solo projects.In the late 60's John married a Japanese artist called Yoko Ono.Many people blamed Yoko for finishing the tale of The Beatles.I wouldn't.They loved each other but people just couldn't allow that.Some people can be stupid.Imagine:John Lennon from 1988 is an interesting look at the master's life.It includes some brilliant musical material and people who were close to him tell their stories.You can see Yoko Ono, Julian, Sean and Cynthia Lennon there with some others.Then there are some great home videos with John Lennon and the family.I really enjoyed watching this documentary.And so will you if you are a true fan of John Lennon.Long live Mark Chapman behind bars!