Yoko Ono's Films Are Funny Buzz-Ness (1971)

 Yoko Ono's Films Are Funny Buzz-Ness

By Les Wedman

The Vancouver Sun

June 4, 1971

(Cannes)      John Lennon may be a better singer than Yoko Ono, but she makes better films than he does. His Apotheosis drew catcalls when it was shown at the film festival here, but her offbeat The Fly was greeted with applause. 

    Yoko claims she makes films in order to"change the world", but it seems hardly likely that The Fly will do that. Lennon obviously has nothing as lofty as that in mind. He says he was happy that the two short films were seen here during the festival, because "otherwise they'd only get shown at home, wouldn't they?"

     He admits he doesn't know much about filmmaking, and what he has learned so far he has picked up from Yoko, who, incidentally, looks better in the flesh than she photographs. Her idealism, however, is the same. 

    She said she doesn't believe that films should cost a lot of money to make, not when there are "so many starving children in the world". And she advises young filmmakers to cut expenses by using "out of date film and out moded equipment." She made The Fly for less than $150.

     "We don't all believe in the Hollywood type thing", Lennon said. And then his wife expressed interest in helping others to make movies. Lennon interjected with, " We're not a walking charity, though people should help themselves, and I only help people who appeal to me personally."

     Apotheosis describes the ascent of a balloon above an English village, and much of it is nothing but masses of white clouds. Said Lennon, "I couldn't direct it once they got way up there."

     Yoko's The Fly, shot mostly in close-ups, explores every-- but every --part of a nude woman asleep on a bed. Finally, the fly is joined by others, and they all take part in a tour of discovery. 

    How were the flies kept from flying away? And how could the girl remain perfectly immobile throughout what is actually a beautifully done, if meaningless, movie? 

    Yoko said they tried honey on the girl's body, along with sugar and water, but both were too visible, so they used a tranquilizing gas. "Both the flies and the girl were stoned," Lennon said.

     He said he has no plans for another film. The reaction to Apotheosis was what he expected: "half angry, half hysterical, and that's fine."  If he ever makes another film, Lennon said he probably won't use actors. "I don't know what actors are; that would be a lot of work, and I like to do things easily."

     Accepting a compliment on his own acting and Richard Lester's How I Won the War, Lennon said it was interesting to see how a director works, but having to perform is not rewarding enough. "It wasn't worth it. If Yoko asked me to be in a film, though, I would do it." He said he has a secret wish to be a comedian (actually, there's nothing secret about it), so he would like to do a comedy. 

    "This is the age of making films without money," said Yoko. "Let's go on making lots of films and changing the world with it," she concluded.

     Lennon had the last word. "Yoko made another movie called Bottoms, which had a cast of 200, and that only cost £50  to make." That wasn't a world-shaking film either,