In His Life: The John Lennon Story

Helped along by an unprecedented access to John Lennon's boyhood homes, schools, and sundry haunts, In His Life: The John Lennon Story has a ghostly appeal that makes one feel a bit like a voyeur on pop history. Focusing on eight years of Lennon's youth, from ages 16 to 24, In His Life stars Irish actor Philip McQuillan in the lead and dramatizes much of the familiar lore: John's abandonment by his father; the double loss of his mother, Julia (Blair Brown), first to another family and then to a random accident; his historic introduction to Paul McCartney (Daniel McGowan) at St. Peter's Church Hall; and his too-early marriage to his first wife, Cynthia (Gillian Kearney). As often happens in Lennon hagiographies, the arc of the Beatles' story and career feels weirdly imbalanced here, as if the other three were merely supporting players in the greatest rock & roll band of all time. That only means one needs to take this film with a pinch of salt. But it would have been nice if screenwriter and producer Michael O'Hara could have reflected better upon Lennon's intellectual complexity and not presumed that one would generally find him whining and narcissistic. Still, this is an enjoyable and insightful film (originally broadcast on NBC in 2000), well directed by David Carson (Star Trek: Generations).