Cindy Prascik's Review of Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade

 

Release date May 2, 2025 (United Kingdom)

My dear reader(s): Recently the documentary Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade was brought to my attention, and my little Beatle brain couldn’t wait to have a look!

No real spoilers here, as pretty much every aspect of John Lennon’s life has long been part of public lore.

Borrowed Time looks at John’s sometimes tumultuous final decade, mostly through anecdotal accounts from Lennon-adjacent individuals. The documentary is loaded with new interviews, and 45 years after John’s untimely passing, any new material feels very much like bonus content.

 Unfortunately, there is a sensationalized quality to much of this footage, as if those interviewed share more to enhance their own profiles than out of any real desire to provide useful insights on John’s life. There’s also an undercurrent of the tired idea that Yoko Ono was somehow to blame for everything negative, a gross misconception that continues to rear its ugly head no matter how often it’s proved to be false.

Fifty-five years after the breakup of the Fab Four, we Beatlemaniacs find ourselves in the midst of an unlikely Beatles renaissance. A sanctioned John and Yoko film (“One to One”) was released not long ago. Four new Beatles biopics are in the works as I write this. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney (84 and 82 years old, respectively) continue to tour and make new music, and Sean Lennon, Dhani Harrison, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison join them in keeping the Beatles’ legacy at the forefront of today’s cultural landscape. It’s hard to fault anyone for wanting to strike while that iron remains hot, but there’s a self-serving air to this content that makes me think of a great line from Jersey Boys, “Everybody remembers it how they need to.”

Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade runs 134 minutes and is unrated.

Borrowed Time is well paced, and the anecdotes are interesting, even if some – particularly those relating to the night of Lennon’s murder - are a bit distasteful. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade gets five.

Until next time…

Cindy Prascik's Review of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

 

My dearest reader(s), it's been quite a long while again, hasn't it? I hope everyone is enjoying the close of Spooky Season and the start of Santa Season!

It's been a busy month for this ghoulish gal, but this week I made time to watch the new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Bruce Springsteen assembled the E Street band more than 50 years ago, and while the film touches on history and offers little tributes to members lost (Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, RIP), the main focus is on the ongoing world tour, from the first rehearsals through some of this past summer's European dates. The movie runs about half the duration of a real Springsteen concert, but there's plenty of live footage to hold you over 'til your next E Street show.

Bruce provides some narration to these proceedings, turning on his best teacher voice to impart viewers with wisdom earned in five decades on the road. Interviews with band members, old and new, seem less formal. Tone of the discussion swings from happy relief and gratitude for being able to return to touring post Covid, to somber acknowledgement that nobody gets to do this forever. The live footage, though, that is pure joy, for band and fans alike.

As documentaries go, this one won't set the world on fire. If you're a fan of the subject matter you'll enjoy it, and certainly the music is always good enough to earn new fans, but the film itself is a bit pedestrian.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band clocks in at a quick 99 minutes and is unrated. These are rock n' roll people, but I don't recall too much in the way of adult content.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band is a good watch thanks to its legendary subject, and I'm a real sucker for "back onstage after Covid" stories. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Road Diary gets seven.

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is now streaming on Hulu amd Disney+.

Until next time...