The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie Review

"The Lost Weekend: A Love Story", Directed and Produced by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, and Stuart Samuels, arrives on Blu-ray from Universal and follows May Pang's 18-month relationship with John Lennon in the early 1970s. The film is filled with her personal account and punctuated with stills and clips of Lennon and the stars in his orbit including Mick Jagger, Elton John, Alice Cooper, and more. A Digital Copy is included.

On March 20, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married. Even the most casual fan of The Beatles and/or Lennon knows that. What they may not know is that for 18 months starting in late 1973 John left Yoko for a relationship with former assistant May Pang. The Lost Weekend: A Love Story tells the story of their time together from Pang's point of view. Pang's early life was challenging. A first-generation Chinese- American, Pang grew up in Spanish Harlem, unwanted by her abusive father, and attending Catholic school where she admits she fought with the nuns. At 19, on trip with her friend into the city, she found herself outside of a massive office building that just happened to house Apple Records, the label of her favorite band, The Beatles. Boldly, she went in, lied about her skillset, and was hired on the spot. Shortly thereafter, on June 1, 1971, when Ono and Lennon arrived in NYC to make two movies, Pang was assigned by the label to be their assistant. Once the films, Up Your Legs Forever and Fly (featuring a fly crawling around on the nude body of a woman high on heroin) were finished they returned to the UK. Surprisingly, two weeks later, the pair called and asked her to come and work for them there. She jumped at the chance and soon found herself at the historic Tittenhurst Park near Ascot. There she met Lennon's son Julian, by his first with Cynthia, and they became fast friends.

When they returned to New York City a short while later, Lennon and Ono asked her to leave the record label and work for them, which she did. At this point in time they were living at the Dakota off Central Park. Lennon, due to his anti-war stance, was considered to be a threat by Nixon and was targeted by the government for deportation, and other things started to go poorly for him as well. After Ono had evidence of Lennon's infidelity, she met with Pang and asked her to start an affair with him. According to Pang, Ono requested that she do this because Lennon clearly needed someone and she felt Pang was the answer. She wasn't necessarily comfortable with this situation for a multitude of reasons but over a short amount of time, her relationship with Lennon changed from friends to flirtations and beyond.

Pang then meticulously recounts their move to Los Angeles, helping John to open up and become less serious, and encouraging him trade his more political and serious persona for one that was more fun-loving and playful. He changed is approach toward the media, was seen around town, and started working with Phil Spector and host of other musicians. There were brushes with celebrities but Lennon also struggled with alcohol and was physically abusive toward Pang. As they worked through those issues there were other matters to attend to: repairing the relationship with first wife Cynthia and son Julian, as well as moving back to New York City, recording, and a return to the stage. These were very tumultuous times for Lennon and Pang, and the documentary doesn't shy away from anything.

One of the most incredible parts of the entire film is the relationship May Pang has with Julian. It's clear she has great affection for him, and when he appears on screen, it's obvious that those feelings are reciprocated. She was definitely instrumental in reuniting father and son and worked hard to help that bond grow. When they returned to New York they had a room for Julian so that he could stay with them. In the footage that is shared, the two Lennons are obviously very happy together. Also endearing is Pang's sense of wonder and amazement at being in the position she was in at such a young age. She's more than a little starstruck as she recounts meeting Jagger, Bowie, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Pam Grier, and a veritable who's who of musicians and actors of the era.

If there's a villain in the picture, it's definitely Yoko Ono. After all, it was she who had endeavored to keep Julian away from John. Yoko was also the one who took the unusual step of asking Pang to have an affair with her husband - presumably so that she could control what was happening between the two. She called 10 to 15 times a day in an effort to remain present while the two were together. Seemingly at almost every turn, Yoko Ono was behind the scenes pulling the strings, influencing and guiding the course and nature of their relationship for better or for worse. Pang's sense of heartache at the relationship's end is gut- wrenching. Her entire world was lost.

Not content to simply be composed of talking heads, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story fills the majority of its runtime with archival footage and stills of Lennon, Pang, and others. There is also a fair bit of "Lennonesque" animation thrown into the mix to help flesh out certain parts of the narrative. In fact, only Julian Lennon routinely appears on camera as he recounts key elements of his life with his father during this brief window of time. Other people from the story, such as Alice Cooper, only participate via voice-over paired with photos and video clips. While it would have been wonderful to have them on camera, in the end, it is Pang's story and the images from that time are much more fitting and relevant. In turn fascinating, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, Pang's love story with John Lennon is amazing and poignant.

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal's encode for The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is a strong one, considering the materials with which it had to work. As we move through the film and are treated to different video footage, we are definitely beholden to the limitations of the source material. Old home movie footage fares the worst tending to look grainy and washed out. Television footage is generally better though can appear a bit hot at times. Photographic images likewise run the gamut between shaky to great depending on the source material, which is hardly surprising. The animated segments look fantastic and are crisp and sharp. Also, the on-camera shots of Julian Lennon and May Pang feature excellent color saturation and natural skin tones and a high level of fine detail. In my opinion, the variances in quality actually work in the feature's favor, creating a very intimate feel; it's almost as if Pang is sitting there with you flipping through photo albums and playing video clips as she recounts her story.

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The English DTS-HD 5.1 audio track is terrific. Much of what it has to handle is dialogue, predominantly from Pang and Julian, and it does so without any difficulty or issue keeping it mostly in the center channel. But this is also the story of a musician. Happily, when called upon to kick out live performances or studio recordings, the track does so with aplomb. Typically, the highs are crisp and clear as are the vocals, and the bottom end is handled well also. The surround channels fire up nicely during these musical interludes to immerse the viewer. Notable exceptions to this rule are Lennon's home recordings which naturally sound a bit rougher with some hiss and sibilance issues due to the source materials. But even so, it's a treat to hear them. On the other end of the spectrum, the clip of him seated at the piano playing "Imagine" during Pang's early days with Lennon and Ono is pristine and powerful. English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplemental features on this disc.

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Honest and heartfelt, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story tells the tale of an unlikely young woman and her famous flame. Her courage and tenacity in some very difficult situations is as remarkable as her heart and compassion. A complicated story and a sad one, it also functions well as a time capsule of one of Lennon's most creatively interesting periods. With excellent technical merits and packed to the brim with vintage video clips and photos, it transports us back to the early 1970s, a time that was not much simpler or less complicated than today. Whether one is a fan of The Beatles and John Lennon or not, Pang's story is absolutely worth seeing, though music fans are sure to approach this one with some added excitement due to all of the archival and behind-the-scenes footage. Highly Recommended.