reviewing Black Doves; Countdown; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Dexter: Original Sin, Resurrection; Dune: Prophecy; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; MobLand; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Prime Target; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Stranger Things; The: Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Way Home; Your Friends and Neighbors +books, films, music, podcasts, politics
George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.
I just watched Bugonia (a movie) on Peacock. It's billed as two conspiracy theorists kidnap a CEO because they believe she comes from the Andromeda galaxy, and now I'll warn you about spoilers...
For most of the movie, it surely seems as if the kidnap victim is as human as you and me, and the kidnappers, also human, are out of their minds (actually, one of them, brilliantly played by Jesse Plemons, much more than his sidekick). This part of the movie is lifted by Plemons' acting, but has little else to commend it. I don't especially enjoy narratives about psycho conspiracy theorists, and never less so than nowadays, when we have them running our government.
The big twist in the movie, which comes near the end, but I guessed as soon as I read the description, was that the CEO was indeed someone from distant outer space. And this might have made, could have made, a good story, except that the plot was like a grade B movie made a century ago. Who knows, it might have been a great silent movie, and I certainly wouldn't have objected to less screaming throughout.
As it is, we're treated to lots of blood and gore, and the ending, in which the interstellar overlords decide to kill the entire human race, was so ridiculous, I can't say it even qualifies in this century as science fiction. Itsmorality was high, or attempted to be, and its science close to nil.
But I guess we're in increasing need of morality plays, as we struggle with this increasingly immoral government that we find in our nation these days. A movie that jokingly or otherwise offers the thesis that conspiracy theorists are sometimes right is certainly not the answer.
Well, I thought a good way to conclude the first week of the New Year, 2026, is to share a cover I found on YouTube, late last year. It's the Missioned Souls' recording of one of the best love songs ever written (and performed), "Take A Chance on Me" by ABBA.
Lots of things to love in this video -- the vocal and harmonies -- which rival ABBA's, the expressions on the faces of the singers, the way the 10-year old drummer pounds the drums ... but listen and see for yourself.
Binged The Copenhagen Test -- eight episodes -- on Peacock the past the two nights. It's billed as a spy thriller, which it certainly is. But in as much as Alexander Hale (powerfully played by Simu Liu, pretty much first time I've seen him, ok I saw him in Barbie) is a spy who discovers he's been hacked -- everything he sees and hears is streamed by his brain to whomever has the receiver -- I'd say The Copenhagen Test easily qualifies as cyberpunk, a well-known branch of science fiction. I mean, I guess this kind of neural hack is related to Elon Musk's Neuralink, but that's a very first step, and the hack in The Copenhagen Test is already serious big business for the Orphanage, the US spy agency that monitors the CIA, the FBI, etc.
Now, I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot, because one of the many strengths of The Copenhagen Test are the twists and turns which multiply faster than Frank the Bunny in Donnie Darko. Indeed, just when you think you've been told the whole story, you're dealt another curve ball, and the only way to really know the story is over is when the eighth episode is completed, and even then, well ,,,
Along the same lines, the morphing of heroes into villains and vice versa is the most I've seen or read in any story. But it all makes pretty much sense in the end, and my only regret is that The Copenhagen Test didn't have the Beach Boys' "Heroes and Villains" as its theme song.
About the acting: As I said, Simu Liu was superb. So was Brian d'Arcy James as Peter Moira, someone pretty high up in the Orphanage, whom my wife immediately recognized from The Family McMullen, which we saw last week. Sinclair Daniel and Melissa Barrera were both indelible in their parts, and you can't go wrong with Saul Rubinek, especially when there's so much action in his character's restaurant.
And trust me, if you're a fan of spy narratives and cyberpunk, even if you're not, you can't go wrong with The Copenhagen Test.
I'm a big fan of Harlan Coben's adaptations on the screen -- I've reviewed 10 of his series here since 2017 - and am happy to lead off the New Year (once again) with a review of his latest, Run Away, an 8-part series that went up on Netflix on New Year's Day. I'd say this eleventh Coben series I'm reviewing is, once again, one of his best, because:
Lead actor James Nesbitt puts in a standout performance. I've been enjoying his work since Bloodlands, tied in my opinion with the superb Blue Lights (in which Nesbitt doesn't appear) as a tour de force story taking place in Northern Ireland. Nesbitt expertly delivers the wide range of human emotion required in Run Away, and is especially effective with his blend of heartbreak and fury.
Coben's specialty is packing in all sorts of major clues at the beginning, like people being killed for apparently no reason, then coming up with a plausible explanation in the final episode.
Also lighting up Coben's narratives are at first seemingly incidental characters, whom you find yourself really caring about as you're drawn into their personalities and stories. Elena Ravenscroft (played by Ruth Jones), a private detective (formerly police), is such a memorable character.
Speaking of police, it was great to see
Alfred Enoch (Raych in Foundation! and Dean Thomas in four Harry Potter movies) as the indefatigable DI Isaac Fagbenle. His partner, redhead Ruby Todd (played by Amy Gledhill) was very good, too.
Now, as you may have noticed, I'm talking more about characters than story here, because I don't want to give anything away. But, trust me, you'll have butterflies in your stomach and tears in your eyes (of joy and sadness) when you see Run Away.
So I just saw the Stranger Things series finale -- on Netflix. Here's a critique -- with spoilers.
The whole ending hinges on El no longer being available to her friends, who in effect are her family. She's either no longer alive -- though we didn't see her die -- or she has deliberately made herself unavailable. Everyone, except Mike, seems to accept that.
But why did El do that? Vecna's dead. Henry is therefore no longer significant. So what's the threat? What is El trying to protect her friends and family from? The U.S. military?
That vicious force, led by Dr. Kay, was already no match for the Hawkins contingent. So El left the people she had come to cherish because of that? I find that hard to believe. I think that El would have found another way.
Perhaps the Duffer brothers intend to make some sort of sequel in which Mike searches for El. He certainly makes clear to his friends that he doesn't think she's gone for good. The Duffer brothers have made clear that they're finished with the 1980s ambience, but they could show Mike and El in the 90s and beyond, or change their mind and revisit the 1980s after all.
The five seasons were a fun ride. As I've said, I thought this fifth and final season really shone. And the finale had its moments. But I can't say that I'm a fan of the way it ended. But also on the strengths of Stranger Things, I'll definitely take a look at anything else the Duffer brothers do.
Well, I said in my review of Stranger Things 5.1-5.4 last month that I thought those first four episodes of the final season were the best in the series so far. I continue to think that, and include the next three episodes in that assessment, having just seen episodes 5.5-5.7.on Netflix.
Here is what I especially like about these penultimate episodes (the final, ultimate episode coming next week) (no spoilers ahead):
Someone says that Vecna and everything our brave crew is fighting is not science fiction but supernatural. Now, on the one hand, labels don't really matter. I said years ago, when my first novel, The Silk Code, was published, that it was science fiction/detective. After all, it features an NYPD forensic detective who discovers Neanderthals may still be among us. But some devotees of mysteries said it could not be a detective or mystery story, because it contained science fictional elements. I eventually got tired of trying to convince those readers the novel was a hybrid or co-genre, and said, it doesn't matter what genre it is, just read it.
But, actually labels are necessary. If I walk into a restaurant that says it offers Japanese cuisine, but it serves only lasagna, I might well be disappointed, even though I love Italian cuisine as much as Japanese. In other words, labels in cuisine and culture have value, because they help us make selections that reflect our tastes and moods. So I think it's helpful that Stranger Things -- or at least, this rendition of Stranger Things in what might well be a larger universe -- identifies itself as a story of the supernatural, even though it has some significant science fictional trimmings.
And, in fact, we get a glimpse of more of those trimmings in these concluding episodes. Talk of outer space, alternate universes and realities -- hey, that's right up my alley, I'm down with that.
And I'll be back here next week after this series, and its part in a larger universe, concludes.
My wife and I binged All Her Fault on Peacock the past two nights. It's a riveting, powerful, different kind of kidnap drama, with all kinds surprises and twists and turns in family relationships.
Herewith some of the highlights, with no spoilers:
The lead detective -- Detective Alcaras (very well played by Michael Peña) -- has real heart. My wife said he reminded her of Brandis in Task, and she's right. You know, it's hard to come up with a fresh take on a genre as well worn as the detective, which goes at least as far back as the 1840s with Poe, but All Her Fault (and Task) does that, and does that very well. I hope we see more of this character (his partner, Det. Greco, played by Johnny Carr, is good, too).
Most kidnap stories focus on the angst of getting the child back home, which All Her Fault does, too. But it also delves deeply into who did the kidnapping, and how and why this came to happen.
The immediate family of the kidnap victim of course is always a central part of a kidnap drama. In All Her Fault, that family is a little more than immediate, and they each have significant stories as well.
Friends and business associates also have important stories, which intersect with the kidnapping story.
Back to the kidnapper's story: there's quite a narrative there, too. Indeed, All Her Fault is as much the kidnapper's story as the family whose child was kidnapped.
Marshall McLuhan liked to talk about synesthesia, the rare blending of senses, that a few people have, in which hearing a sound can immediately generate an image, and more. This plays a crucial role in All Her Fault.
I guessed who the real villain was pretty early on in the eight-episode series, but it was exciting seeing that play out.
How's that for a review without spoilers? I will say that the acting was excellent -- Sarah Snook, who was so good in Succession, is superb as the mother of the kidnapped child, Dakota Fanning was fine as friend Jenny, Jake Lacy was memorable as the father, and hats of to Duke McCloud who played Milo the victim.
I binged Down Cemetery Road -- all eight episodes -- on Apple TV last night. It's being billed (on Screen Rant) as "the perfect replacement" for Slow Horses, in between its fifth and six seasons, also on Apple TV. Both are adaptations of Mike Herron's novels, and both sport a spiffy amalgam of snappy dialogue and spy-on-spy lethal mischief. But Down Cemetery Road doesn't have a theme-song co-written and performed by Mick Jagger (the best theme for a spy series since "Secret Agent Man"), a lead character who flaunts his flatulence in every episode, and quite the speed of narrative of Slow Horses.
Here's what Down Cemetery Road does have:
Two brilliant and famous lead stars (Ruth Wilson and Emma Thompson) in contrast to one (Gary Oldman). And I thought Wilson's Sarah Trafford was really exceptional.
A really world-class villain, Amos Crane (played by Fehinti Balogun), who could have worked in any Bond movie.
Speaking of Bond, Down Cemetery Road has a train scene nearly as edge of your seat as the scene in From Russia with Love.
Down Cemetery Road has, I don't know, call it more of a soul, than most spy stories, including Slow Horses. I don't recall many tears in my eyes watching Slow Horses, unless they came from laughter, which of course is fine in its own right.
Down Cemetery Road may have slightly hipper dialogue, with a pretty funny extended disquisition over the term "mansplaining".
But the truth is, there's no need to compare Down Cemetery Road to Slow Horses. Cemetery is a unique TV series, with a deft blend of humor and life-and-death excitement. By all means see it.
Well, as much as I really enjoyed the seventh Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise (MI: Dead Reckoning) when I streamed it on Paramount Plus this past May, and said I'd be back soon with a review of Final Reckoning (which was Part 2 of Dead Reckoning), which was opening soon in theaters and I intended to see ... well, the beaches on Cape Cod were just too tempting.
But I did manage to see MI: Final Reckoning tonight on Paramount Plus, where it started streaming yesterday, and I thought it was great, for all kinds of reasons. Here, without spoilers, are some of them:
As the eighth and (at this point, at least) the final Tom Cruise MI, Final Reckoning did a fine job of bringing into play elements from the previous seven movies. I guess my favorite was bringing back the Phelps story, which made this eight-movie arc even more a direct descendant of Mission Impossible on television, where of course the story was born with Phelps in command.
I said in my review of Dead Reckoning that the enemy being AI made Ethan Hunt more modern than Bond (at least so far). In every Bond movie, an evil human being has been the prime enemy. There were evil humans to be sure in Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning, but the worst of the villains indubitably is an AI. Thus not only did Final Reckoning delve into Terminator territory, you can throw in Tron, and while we're at it, War Games and lots of other literally bloodless arch-villians as well.
To be clear, as I've been saying in lots of places these days, I'm not concerned about AI replacing us, destroying us, or anything that's been a favorite of fiction at least since Karel Čapek's R.U.R more than a century ago. And I like those fictions a lot -- but they're fictions. And as far as fiction about AI goes, I prefer Asimov's robots/androids, who sometimes do us harm, but also do us a lot of good.
Final Reckoning has some powerful star power. Tom Cruise's Ethan Hall is a truly memorable character, because he's well written and as well as well acted. Same for the MI team, both in Final Reckoning and the previous MI movies. And I have to say Angela Bassett as US President was superb, as well all as all the other heroes and villains that play out a taut story in which millions if not billions of lives are at stake. (It was also great to see Tramell Tillman -- Severance! -- in charge of a crucial vessel at sea.)
And the action scenes are first rate in every natural environment on Planet Earth, that is, land, sea, and air. In those scenes, Hunt is every bit as impressive as Bond.
I'll just also say that in the midst of all this action, Final Reckoning has a deep and impressive moral core.
If I have any disappointment, well, Cruise has made clear that this is his last Ethan Hunt story. I hope he changes his mind. And gets the recognition he -- and everyone associated with this movie -- amply deserve.
My wife and I saw Paul Anka: His Way, a 2024 documentary, last night on HBO. Why did we wait so long to see it? I don't know. Probably because we weren't paying enough attention.
I've been a fan of Anka since 1957, when I was in 5th grade in PS 96 in The Bronx, and Anka had a great hit, "Diana". Joel Iskowitz, Jordan Axelrod, Steven Auerbach, and Paul Gorman were in my class. I started an acapella group, Little Levi and the Emeralds. I don't think we sang much of "Diana" -- we were more into The Five Satins, The Harptones, and The Del Vikings -- but we sure loved it.
Anka explains and demonstrates at the beginning of the documentary that the ease of playing those 4-chord songs -- C, Am, F, G -- when he sat down at the piano was what drew him into singing and then writing. And he progressed in extraordinary ways, writing "My Way" for Sinatra, the Johnny Carson theme song, and even some songs with Michael Jackson. He also wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" for Buddy Holly and "She's a Lady" for Tom Jones, and those are just a fraction of the more than 900 songs Anka has written!
Of course, no documentary can play even small parts of most of that number of songs, but the question always arises (for me, at least) of what songs would I have liked to hear and see Paul Anka perform in His Way? And, yes, there is one, in particular. It's a song that played a crucial role in Amazon's adaptation (by Frank Spotnitz) of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which ran for four seasons (2015-2019) and helped establish streaming as the titan it is today, The first episode of the second season in 2016 opens with an extended mise-en-scène of protagonist John Smith's (Rufus Sewell brilliantly portrays Smith) young teenage son Thomas getting off the school bus and walking into class. Everything seems so normally, happily, suburban American, as Thomas Smith (good job Quinn Lord) looks at the girls and walks into school. We begin to get a disquieting taste of this alternate history in which the Nazis beat America in the Second World War when we see the Nazi insignia on Thomas's arm and then a kid in the class asks Thomas how many slaves George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had. Thomas Smith then looks at a girl in the class in that certain way, she looks back at him when he isn't looking, but the joy of that budding teenage romance is shattered to pieces for the TV viewer when Thomas is called up to the front of the class to give a Nazi pledge of allegiance that he does with pride.
Now, this is one of Spotnitz's best conceived and realized scenes, and he hammers it home playing Paul Anka's 1960 hit song, "My Home Town," loudly and softly in the background until Thomas begins the pledge. This is an upbeat, zestful song, brimming with the enthusiasm and pleasures of living that is a hallmark of Anka's music, especially his early recordings -- the perfect background for the unnerving perversion of American life that the Nazi conquest has wrought.
So, yeah, I missed "My Home Town" in Paul Anka: His Way -- especially given the steps to fascism our country is currently taking -- but the documentary is titled "His Way", that is, Paul's way, and/or the movie's director and writer John Maggio's way, not my way, and as I've been known to say to someone who tells me that they would have had a character in one of my novels do or say something different than what I had them do or say: hey, go write your own novel. :) And all in all, there's not much I would change in this rendition of Anka's incredible inspiring life and journey. At 84 years old, he's still going strong, hasn't reached the top of the mountain yet (as he says), and I'm looking forward to hearing and hearing about the rest of the climb.
My wife and I watched the renewed and expanded Beatles' Anthology on Disney+ the past three nights. I'd seen and heard bits and pieces of various lengths of the original eight episodes -- on YouTube, The Beatles Channel on Sirius XM, and everything in between -- which originally aired on ABC-TV in 1995, but we somehow had managed not to have seen that original on the unsmart TV in our family room. It was more than wonderful to see and hear what 2025 director Oliver Murray did with the 1995 eight episodes -- uncovering/discovering new footage as well as calling upon Peter Jackson and his elves to bring to current vibrant life what was done in 1995 (just as Jackson had done so miraculously with The Beatles: Get Back in 2021) -- but the real treat for me (treat is too weak a word) was seeing the new ninth episode.
I'll go over some of highlights of the first eight episodes, and then delve into the wonders of ninth episode, and the one problem I had with it.
About the first eight episodes:
It was great to see Murray the K get his due (just as he had in Martin Scorsese's Beatles '64 last year). I worked with Murray the K when he was at WNBC Radio in New York City in 1970s. He hired me after he read my article "Murray the K in Nostalgia's Noose" in The Village Voice in 1972 (my second-ever published work -- my first was "A Vote for McCartney" a year earlier, my response to dyspeptic critic Robert Christgau's attack on Paul and his early post-Beatles work). Murray never got the credit he deserved back then in ushering in The Beatles, and before then on WINS with Alan Freed, and after when he was on WOR-FM helping to invent the FM radio format. I had such a good time working with him on NBC, I even wrote and recorded a song about him -- "Murray the K's Back in Town" -- which he played on the air. (The late Pete Fornatale -- protagonist of my It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles -- played that song on his Mixed Bag on WFUV Radio in the early 2010s.)
Great shots that I hadn't seen before of The Beatles in their 1964 Washington, DC concert!
There was a spectre, a foreshading, of what would happen to John at the end of 1980. George worries throughout about the exposure of The Beatles in a country in which John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated. (The sick devotion to guns in this country is still claiming lives.) John himself notes after the DC concert that "some bloody animal cut Ringo's hair".
I was reminded again what a uniquely almost extraterrestrial person Ed Sullivan was. I mean, no one here on Earth had his accent or his delivery. Even in Japan, the Beatles are introduced in Japanese (of course), and the host concludes in English with "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Beatles!" -- delivered in a pretty good mimic of Ed.
I find it hard to believe that "Pennylane" didn't go to #1 in the UK. Beaten out by Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me"? Maybe if it was "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize" ...
John -- after The Beatles had broken up and at odds with Paul -- objects to Sgt Pepper being called a "concept" album, saying "Mr. Kite" and all the songs on the album other than the Peppers could easily have been on any other Beatles' LP. (George also critiques Sgt Pepper.) As far as I'm concerned, I think Sgt Pepper is indeed a concept album and what John says is also true. There's really no contradiction here, both are true. And I'll also say how happy I was to find the following poster in an antique shop my wife and I were in, must've been, the late 1970s. It's hanging on a wall outside our bedroom. Every time I walk by it, I smile. It reminds me of Sgt Pepper.
Now, about the new ninth episode:
It was not only heartwarming (to see the three surviving Beatles still making such superb music) and heartbreaking (because now George is gone), it was chock full of fascinating and important information. My favorite example: I had always heard, regarding the genesis of "Free As A Bird", "Real Love", and "Now and Then", that the transformation projects began when Yoko Ono gave Paul a tape with some of John's demo recordings from the 1970s. But in episode 9 of Anthology, George tells us about a crucial preface: When Roy Orbison died, The Traveling Wilburys were thinking of taking some of Elvis's demos and bringing them to life with the inimitable Wilbury voices. But they decided not to go in that direction, because (in George's words), it was "too gimmicky". (George didn't say, but rumor has it that the Wilburys were thinking of inducting Del Shannon into the group, but he took his life in 1990.)
But if I had to pick my favorite moment in the ninth episode, and therefore all nine episodes of this beautifully burnished Anthology, it would be Paul and George completing their incomparable three-part Beatles harmony with John's voice in the chorus of "Real Love". It's been one of my favorite Beatles songs since I first heard it in the mid-1990s. The song inspired me to write It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles (the video of Anne Reburn's cover of the song follows below -- she performed this in the radio play broadcast on Killerwatt Radio, adapted from the first chapter of my novel; "Real Life", by the way, was John's title for the song before he changed it to "Real Love"). Paul and George's voices being in such synch with John's recording, the harmony snapping into place, snapping into life, is a deeply acoustic proof to me that this uniquely satisfying sound will never die. At that instant, the former Beatles became The Beatles again, and gave evidence that The Beatles will always be with us.
Powers that be often miss the immortality of what is all around them. After Marshall McLuhan died in December 1980 (same year and month as John: their lives were intertwined: they both hit America big in 1964), I proposed a book about him to an editor at St. Martin's Press. He laughed and told me no one cared about McLuhan any more. That book became my Digital McLuhan, which Routledge published in 1999. I still receive royalties checks for sales of that book every year. In the 1970s, I told my doctoral thesis advisor Neil Postman that I thought The Beatles, like Shakespeare, would be known and enjoyed for as long as there were human beings. He laughed too.
Which brings me to the one criticism I have about episode 9. Paul and Ringo are still alive. Yes,The Beatles music including their harmonies will live forever. But not the mortals who made it. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have another hour, or even just a few minutes, to have Paul and Ringo look back at 1995 from their vantage point right now? Oliver Murray of course interviewed Paul and Ringo in the short film he made, Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song, that accompanied release of the single in 2023. I guess that could be considered a coda to Anthology 2025, but wouldn't a few additional or more words from Paul and Ringo looking back at what they accomplished in 1994 (when "Free As A Bird" was made) and 1995 (when "Real Love" was made) have been just the perfect cup of sencha tea after the marvel we just took in?
Chris Willman asks Oliver Murray in an excellent interview in Variety why there are no contemporary 2025 voices in Episode 9. Murray replies: "I didn’t really like the idea of Ringo [and Paul] in 2025 talking about an interview that he gave in 1995 about something that happened in 1965. It was all too nebulous to do that." I'm not sure I know what "too nebulous" means, in this context. "That is, I think I disagree".
I binged the first four episodes of the fifth season of Stranger Things up this week on Netflix -- we'll have to wait until Christmas Eve and New Years Eve to see the rest -- and these four were by far my favorite so far.
Here are the reasons (with no spoilers):
The action is nearly non-stop. Although I've enjoyed the previous seasons, I thought all of them, in comparison to these final episodes, developed the story two slowly, and had too much talking. I suppose this might have been a necessary build-up to this final season, but the action and pace of development in 5.1-5.4 was often breathtaking.
And these four episodes -- also billed as Season Five, Volume One -- also managed to fit in some standalone stories, which were captivating. My favorite was Max's, which brings in a touch of time travel, including a mention of Madeleine L'Engle's now classic A Wrinkle In Time.
It makes sense that A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962, would be known by Max and anyone with a vibrant mind in the 1980s, when Stranger Things takes place. Having characters spouting popular culture from the 1980s has always been one of the charms of the series, and it was also good to hear Bond and Magnum mentioned again in this finale season. I miss them both (well, maybe James Bond a little more).
Speaking of Max again, she also delivers my favorite line in this set of four episodes: "music has a way of finding you, even in the darkest places". True then, and so true in this world we're in today. (I say this as I'm beginning to binge the Beatles nine-episode Anthology. Review coming soon.)
It was good to see Linda Hamilton is this first volume of the final season. There always has been a Terminator flavor to Stranger Things, and it becomes especially prevalent in this rousing conclusion.
As a closing point -- and the closest I'll come to giving you spoiler -- the best action dramas, in science fiction and non-science fiction -- always feature ultimate heroes and villains of equal power. The first four episodes aka volume one of the fifth season of Stranger Things also does a great job of setting this up.
My wife and I just finished watching One to One: John and Yoko, the 2024 documentary, 141 minutes, comprised of never-seen-before and newly restored footage, of John and Yoko and others, singing and talking, now on HBO. It takes place mostly in New York City, in the early 1970s. For all kinds of reasons, I thought it was one of most powerful, effective documentaries I've ever seen.
Here are some of the reasons, in no particular order:
Yoko has a beautiful singing voice. I don't know why, but just about everything I've heard her sing up until One to One has Yoko wailing, often off-key. But that obviously was a deliberate performance. In fact, she was a fine, sensitive singer.
Speaking of performances, I always thought John and Yoko's interlacing campaigns for peace, justice, women's rights, and just plain decency were some combination of real commitment and performative art. I thought the real commitment was most of it, but after seeing One to One, I think it was all of it. John Lennon may have wanted to have hit records in the 1970s, but they were all on behalf of deeply worthy causes.
And Lennon's singing sounded better than ever. His performance at the One to One Concert put on to help kids at Willowbrook and kids with other disabilities was dynamite magic, at least as good as what he sounded like with The Beatles, with songs ranging from "Mother" to "Give Peace a Chance" and of course "Imagine" with lyrics that were more profound and important than anything The Beatles sang (as brilliant as so many of their songs are).
The documentary makes John and Yoko's love for New York palpable. It pulsates through the screen.
But that brings me to the end of the movie, which rolls with the joy that Lennon felt when he beat the deportation charges that Nixon brought against him (Nixon, the worst American President until he was usurped by the current holder of that office). But we who lived past the end of 1980 know that this celebration of a happy ending was tragically premature. The bullets that One to One showed crippling George Wallace in his Presidential campaign in 1972 would go on in 1980 to take the life of John Lennon. The same bullets, in as much as they shouldn't have gotten into the guns that got in the hands of the sicko psychos who pulled the triggers. This was America. It still is.
But that's another true story. For tonight, my advice is see this documentary, and learn who John Lennon and Yoko Ono really were.
