“One to One: John & Yoko” Unearths a Rare Lennon Performance

(L-R) Kevin macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of “One to one: John & Yoko” at The Ray Theater on january 23, 2025, in Park City, UT. (photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)

By Shelby Shaw

“Is there really room for another film about The Beatles and John Lennon?” Kevin Macdonald had asked himself when brought on to direct One to One: John & yoko. But after seeing the footage of Lennon’s One to One concert, his only solo full-length performance post-Beatles, he realized that not directing this film would be “a ridiculous crying shame,” he tells the audience after the film’s first screening at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. “I should grasp this with both hands,” he recalls. And he was right,considering the crowd shoots several hands into the air to ask questions right away.

Having premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, One to One: John & Yoko brings a treasure trove of 1970s culture on tape, what Macdonald calls “the shards of things that are left behind.” Opening when former Beatles member john Lennon relocated from London to New York City with Yoko Ono in late 1971, One to One presents a detailed state