Venice. The US vs John Lennon.

Having screened in Venice, The US vs John Lennon will move onto Toronto before opening on September 15 in NY and LA before expanding on September 29.

Martin A Grove, writing in the Hollywood Reporter, thinks the doc could be an Oscar contender. "It's a film that's likely to resonate with older Academy members, who lived through America's tragic involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as younger Academy members, who will view it in the context of today's tragic US involvement in the war in Iraq." Grove talks with directors David Leaf and John Scheinfeld.

"[B]y getting Yoko Ono to cooperate and open the vaults, the storyline follows the Ono-approved bio that posits Lennon as saint, excising his dark periods and their years apart, which could have enhanced the portrait," writes Phil Gallo for Variety.

Updated through 9/7.

Earlier: David Leaf at Toronto's Doc Blog.

Update: John Scheinfeld at the Doc Blog: "I do love gumshoeing my way into people's hearts, minds, data bases and closets in search of audio/visual material that has not been seen in a zillion other Lennon/Beatles-related documentaries."

Update, 9/2: Jeffrey Wells lays out a few points on which he disagrees with Gallo's review and adds a few of his own: "In short, Leaf and Scheinfeld's movie celebrates what a brave and commendable guy Lennon was when he got into a standoff with the government, but doesn't even acknowledge that his abrupt withdrawal from this activity, from occupying his persona as Lennon-the-bold-and-outspoken, is what ended his life. They could have spoken to some friend or biogrqapher who could have at least mentioned this (without giving Chapman's motive any respect, I mean)... but the irony never surfaces. It isn't even breathed upon."

Update, 9/6: "[S]nazzy, mawkish, and practically Pavlovian in recycling all requisite late-60s images," writes J Hoberman in the Voice. "Given its subject, though, this David Leaf-John Scheinfeld production is not only poignant but even topical."

Update, 9/7: Ed Gonzalez in Slant: "[T]he film is pure fluff, a competently detailed catalog of Lennon's political ambitions told in the visual shorthand of the VH1 rock-doc."

Posted by dwhudson at August 31, 2006 6:30 AM