Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade Review – Deeply Insightful, Emotional, A Must See

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Category: UK A&E, Lifestyle, Culture

Published on Monday, 14 April 2025 13:51

Written by Janet Walker

Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade, from Kaleidoscope Entertainment, reintroduces viewers to John Lennon through the memories of those who spent much of his last decade with him, after he left The Beatles, during his retirement years.

The documentary begins with memories from a different time in America, a paranoid President Nixon, and war that held nothing but injury for American sons, and the breakup of the most successful band in history, The Beatles.

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Borrowed Time, takes viewers behind the scenes of these post breakup days with John Lennon, and during these years, his on again, off again relationship with Yoko Ono. We also meet her though another lens, that of an artist looking for patronage.

Told through those who knew Lennon and were part of both an inner circle of confidents and others who were instrumental in recording the new album, Double Fantasy, and the tour he had been planning.

The documentary also includes journalists who had been covering him since Liverpool, and in the days before The Beatles were the hottest band in the world. Lennon had a loyalty to these journo's and when it was time to plug the new album, they were invited to America in the first week of December 1980, to meet him at his home in the Dakota, an imposing building at 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City.

And as the documentary reaches its conclusion we hear from Alan Weiss, the ABC journalist, who had been in a car accident and was lying in the emergency room when Lennon was rushed into the hospital.

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Borrowed Time also takes through his lost weekend, which many have dubbed this decade from 1970 to 1980, as John wanted to live in America, and in order to do so he needed a green card, hard to believe that he, one of the most recognized musicians in the world at that time, needed to wait, just like every other immigrant who came to America and want to make America their home.

Throughout this time, the world was experiencing political unrest. Outside of our current administration the most paranoid presidential administration in history was in office, and as Nixon was sure everyone had it out for him, John Lennon, an influencing voice was attending anti-Vietnam rallies in New York City, and telling America's youth, those of a generation who were influenced by him, to oppose the war, oppose Nixon, demand freedom. Lennon became a target of the administration, not simply because he was influencing but because in 1971 the voting age dropped from 21 to 18, and 18 year olds were listening to John Lennon and adapting their political ideologies from influencers at the time.

Throughout this decade, we begin to understand that he went from a touring musician to a stay at home dad, and the public seemed to have a difficult time understanding why one would give up being a free spirited, partying, globetrotting member of the most famous band in the world, and part of the British invasion, a cultural identity, to baking bread. And then, through one photo, we understand, the time with his son was more valuable.

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However, the urge to write poetry and lyrics took over, and as he explained inspired by his new found life, and we also understand Lennon's dad abandoned him as a child, he was raised by his mother, and when his first son with Ono was born, he didn't want to repeat that history, so he broke the pattern as best he could.

As the years draw closer to 1980, the documentary begins to weave in images of fans who would gather outside the Dakota, wanting Lennon to autograph their memorabilia. Most superfans were harmless, thrilled by simply the recognition, and the moment, others darker. A journalist explains her encounter with Lennon's assassin, he was so concerning to her, that she, to this, day carries guilt for not approaching the security booth, and explaining, that man is trouble.

John Lennon's final album, Double Fantasy, was released with "Staring Over," receiving high praise, and the album itself, receiving mediocre reviews, and after December 8, 1980, the album became an instant hit.

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As the film ends, Paul McCartney, is featured during a recent New York City march to end gun violence and in a taped interview Ringo Starr and George Harrison, also appear speaking about the senseless loss.

Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade revives John Lennon, humanizing him to a generation largely unaware of him as a person making him once again relevant, and an icon of the broader cultural implications of the failures of common sense gun laws.

A visionary new documentary exploring the final decade of John Lennon's life in extraordinary detail. Follow the legend as he evolves beyond The Beatles, creating revolutionary music and standing at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time.

Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade is an invitation to meet John Lennon, again, through previously unseen footage and unheard tapes. Deeply insightful, emotional. A must see.

Opens in UK and Irish cinemas May 2, 2025.  See it.

Country: UK.

Language: English.

Release Date: May 2, 2025.

Runtime: 134 minutes.

Directed By: Alan G. Parker. 

Writer: Alan G. Parker.

Producer: Alexa Morris.

Featuring: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Tony Bramwell (Apple Records CEO), Earl Slick (guitarist), Henry 'The Horse' Smith (1981 tour manager), Vinny Appice (drummer).

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.