Rarely do I see a John Lennon film that deals with the last ten years of his life that I am impressed with, but Borrowed Time does that. This dvd is a clear exception to that observation. The Blu-ray 2 disc set features a 3 1/2 hour Director’s Cut of the film which contains numerous interviews and details that are not available on the 2 hour version of the film.
The story covers the last ten years of Lennon’s life when he and Yoko decided to move permanently from the UK to New York.
One of the reasons given for the departure of the two from the UK, according to some of the interviews on the discs seemed to be the intense hostility directed at Yoko Ono from both the UK press and fans. The attitude also became a staple belief in the US but it apparently was not as pronounced or as vicious. That is the theory. I do not know if there is any empirical support for that contention. It is ironic that many of the same people who loved John’s message of peace and love during the Beatles years, had trouble accepting John’s desire to be with the person he loved in a post-Beatles world.
They blamed Yoko for the breakup of the Beatles without having access to all of the information of the multiple internal band problems the band had. Those problems indicated that they were slowly crumbling from within. For example, George Harrison was emerging as a songwriter equal to and in some circumstances even occasionally superior to his mentors, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Yet the space on Beatles albums for George’s songs was still being severely limited and restricted. Business differences were an enormous factor as well in the disintegration.
There is a tendency to want to explain the disintegration of the group by blaming a single source or enemy like in the case of Allen Klein. He may have been the main culprit but there were other business issues in the group causing problems that are often ignored by the public and press discourse. I suspect this is due to the tendency for the public to have the need to explain all of the problems being attributable to a single source or villain. I am sure the reality of the situation was far more complex than that and we will never have the full perspective of what caused the band’s split to be irrevocable.
Life and fate can be fickle as the decision of the couple to move to America for a more critically acceptable environment was possibly a strong determining factor that led to John’s early death. Gun availability in the UK is certainly frowned upon there! Borrowed Time is not a film that portrays John Lennon as a saint. His weaknesses, his naivete and the parts of his personality that were disliked by others are discussed. In balance, we also see a man of tremendous talent and courage that was not afraid to go against outdated views of what is considered acceptable in a culture. He challenged many widely held accepted norms. Whether you agreed with him or his philosophy was not as important as the end result of him declaring his beliefs -“It made you think about them.”
The story is wisely told in this dvd set with interviews of many of the participants in the Lennon lives during those 10 years from 1970 through the year it all ended in 1980. I found the director’s cut-the longer film, to be superior to the other disc not only because it has significantly more content but the interviews in this disc are generally considerably longer. Many of the individuals that appear in the Director’s cut have fascinating tales to tell like Jay Bergen, John’s attorney during the Morris Levy trial.
(check out Jay Bergen’s wonderful book about his times with John)
The Borrowed Time disc reveals that in 1981 John Lennon and Yoko were planning to return to the UK and they were planning a limited concert tour. There are even details of the stage design for the tour that were being considered for the shows which would have been considered revolutionary for the time.
The interviews provided in this film will help the viewer understand why John Lennon was so important to so many people and why we miss him so much more than 40 years after his unnatural passing. Unlike portrayals of John as a saint following his passing, this film gives a far more accurate and balanced description of a man who had many faults but was always searching for the answer!
Beatles scholar Ken Womack contributes many astute comments and observations throughout this film, also lending credibility to the film’s quality. Check out Ken’s wonderful Lennon book:
Mark Cunningham who was a former member of my Facebook page Beatles in Print Together and Solo has written the original music in the film along with Steve Tilling. The high cost of the copyrights and charges for using the original Lennon material must have been extraordinary for an independently produced film with a finite budget. The two gentlemen, Cunningham and Tilling did an excellent job in providing a wonderful musical bed for the story.
Would like to provide a few YouTube interviews with Alan Parker where he discusses the film in far greater detail than this post:
BORROWED TIME – LENNON’S LAST DECADE Director, Alan G Parker
New John Lennon Documentary ‘Borrowed Time’ Review – YouTube
One of my favorite interviews is from the Ken Michaels’ Things We Said Today page:
Things We Said Today #434 – John Lennon “Borrowed Time” – A Talk with Alan G. Parker – YouTube
The flip side of the Blu-ray featuring the credits of the discs:
A PREVIOUS ALAN G. PARKER FILM
I find all of Alan Parker’s film work about the Beatles to be extremely interesting and informative. Here is a wonderful account of the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper with commentary and interviews about the creation of the classic LP.
You never get cheated by the content in any Parker Beatles film. Here is an Alan. G Parker interview about the Sgt. Pepper film: Please note that due to significant copyright charges to use the Beatles and Lennon musical material is so astronomical, it is a wonder and quite honestly a pleasant surprise that Mr. Parker has told two beautiful stories about the creation of the music without the astronomical cost of using the Beatles/Lennon music in the films. Shows that the man has imagination…
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! – Alan G. Parker interview – YouTube
The Sgt. Pepper DVD:
The reverse side of the Sgt. Pepper film with credits:
The Sgt Pepper film is available at both US and Amazon UK.
US
UK
BORROWED TIME DVD
Currently the Borrowed Time dvd is available at Amazon UK and a distribution deal for the US has apparently been completed and is scheduled/slated for August of 2025!
Borrowed Time UK Amazon link:
ENJOY!
BUZZ
OUR BOOK OF THE WEEK – THE CAVERN – THE INSIDE STORY
Cavern Club – The Inside Story
This first-hand account of Debbie’s teen years frequenting and eventually helping to run the original Cavern Club is the authentic inside story of the Beatles launch pad, full of triumphs and failures – and surprise celebrity encounters.
