I was a Beatlemaniac as a kid. I've seen many films about The Beatles, but I've never seen one that covers John Lennon's childhood in Liverpool and life up until Hamburg with the depth and honestly that Looking For Lennon does. Directed by Roger Appleton, this is one of the best music documentaries I've ever seen.
The narrative is led by historian David Bedford and Professor Paul Farle. John's childhood friends and band mates - including Nigel Walley, Pete Shotton, and Michael Hill - and his art school classmates, take us on a tour of his early life with great affection, humor, and surprising detail.
Born during WWII, John and his family lived through a blitz of Liverpool by Hitler that killed 4,000. We get a look - from the sites of John's old haunts and homes in Liverpool - of what shaped him as a person: his troubled, broken family life of being bounced around, mixed feelings about his vivacious, often vacant, mother, her tragic death, his charisma, antics as a young gang leader, early bloom of creative expression, and love for music that shaped his life and led to the forming of the skiffle/rock and roll band The Quarryman, (lads from Quarry Bank high school).
The film covers John's famous meeting with brother Beatle Paul McCartney from the very spot where it occurred and is filled with music that influenced John, which gives an overview of the culture that permeated the period. I can't for the life of me figure out why Looking For Lennon isn't more widely known. I highly recommend this wonderful film.
