“In late 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono left London and moved to New York. For 18 months, they lived in a small apartment in Greenwich Village, where they mingled with artists and political radicals, and spent a lot of time watching TV. This transformational period in their lives resulted in the ‘One to One’ concert. The only full-length concert John gave after leaving The Beatles.”

This is the opening text to “One to One” – the music documentary about singer-songwriter John Lennon and his wife, avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. Released recently on HBO Max, the documentary delves into the lives of these two rock icons as they relocated and restarted their lives in New York City.

In the film, a tapestry was woven that intertwined Lennon-Ono’s personal and artistic lives with the cultural and political happenings of the day. The Vietnam War, Nixon’s presidency, civil and women’s rights, and other reforms were just some of the issues that Lennon and Ono found themselves in the middle of at the time.

It was intentional. Such were John and Yoko’s uninhibited tendencies to react to the issues they would see on television. During this era, a lot of Lennon’s material was about the issues that they felt strongly about. In the film, the acoustic-guitar-driven blues ditty “John Sinclair” about an activist who languished in jail for a decade, “for smoking a flower,” is a sample. Lennon-Ono performed the song at a protest rally that drew massive media attention. Two days later, the authorities released Sinclair.

In a key event in the film, in one of their TV media binges, Lennon-Ono’s attention to the plight of the mentally and physically challenged children led to the couple organizing the “One to One” benefit concert. Nobody knew it at the time, but this concert would be the only full-length live concert of John Lennon he would ever do in his post-Beatle career. Nevertheless, it’s one of those instances wherein the former popstar would utilize his fame to good use.

This concert would see Lennon perform some of his biggest hits. Rousing “Power to the People” rings anthemic as the opening song. Advocating for unity through music, Lennon would churn out the only live concert performance of a Beatle of “Come Together,” whose prescient lyrical hook “shoot me” still sends a shiver down one's spine, considering what was in store for Lennon in the not-so-distant future.

Live renderings of primal therapy-era classics such as “Cold Turkey” and “Mother” underscore why John Lennon will always be considered one of the greatest performers in rock. Ditto Lennon-Ono’s effortless take on utopian-inspired “Give Peace A Chance,” sublime “Imagine,” and the bouncy, doo-wop rock of “Instant Karma” make this film an important portrait of Lennon as an artist. Yoko Ono would shine as an effective communicator (albeit an acquired taste) on “Don’t Worry Kyoko.” And the couple’s grainy, home-video performance of “The Luck of the Irish” is simple yet endearing.

The director and producers took great lengths to recreate the Greenwich apartment where John and Yoko lived, giving the movie an immersive feel. However, it’s the participation of Sean Ono Lennon (as producer) that gave the film unprecedented access to the couple’s inner lives through audio recordings of phone conversations and home videos, which, alongside archival media footage, bring this brief moment in time from the early 1970s to light in 2025.

Asked in the film how they want to be remembered, Yoko said: ‘they lived, they loved and they died..’ to which John chimed in perfectly: ‘just as two lovers.’