In 1973 and 1974, John Lennon lived apart from Yoko Ono during a licentious interlude that Lennon himself dubbed his “lost weekend.” His companion was May Pang, a Chinese-American woman who had become Lennon and Ono’s personal assistant sometime before the breakup. It’s fairly well known that Ono, in fact, engineered the affair as a means of keeping tabs on her husband, who had already strayed quite far sexually. In the years since Lennon’s death, Pang has exploited the affair by writing two books about it, and this documentary feels as if it’s her idea, since the story is told exclusively from her point of view, even if the narration’s jaunty, carefree tone feels highly mediated. And while she reveals things about both Lennon and Ono that make them look like future members of co-dependents anonymous, there’s also many factoids about the Lennons’ business arrangements and how John’s separation from Yoko spurred flights of creativity. Granted, one’s opinion of the fruits of that creativity may not be as enthusiastic as Pang’s, who boldly pats herself on the back for cultivating it, but you can hardly blame her for believing that that was the case.

It’s not surprising, then, that Ono comes across as the manipulating witch that some people have tried to portray her as. The narrative arc bends toward the disclosure that Lennon may, in fact, have been secretly in touch with his wife during the entire Pang affair without the latter’s knowing it, and when he finally returned to Ono, Pang describes his actions as that of an abused puppy. Though she took it as a betrayal at the time, in hindsight she felt it was inevitable because that’s the kind of people they were. Lennon was notoriously insecure, and Pang is frank about his violence, especially toward women. She takes credit for not only reuniting John with his first son, Julian, who provides plenty of on-screen character testimony to Pang’s positive effect on his father’s temperament, but also single-handedly elevates first wife Cynthia as an unfairly wronged woman. She also lends rare insight into several famous anecdotes, such as the infamous drunken tampon incident at a club in Los Angeles with the so-called Hollywood Vampires (which included Alice Cooper, Micky Dolenz, and Harry Nilsson) and the way Phil Spector ruined Lennon’s rock’n roll covers album. 

The press, perhaps at Ono’s orchestration, have mostly portrayed the lost weekend as a time when Lennon was out of control, but Pang claims, without a hint of irony, that Lennon was “the most himself” during her time with him. My initial reaction to this intelligence was doubt mixed with a certain degree of awe, because with Yoko now well into her tenth decade on the planet, Pang could end up getting in the last word on the matter. 

Opens May 10 in Tokyo at Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho (03-6268-0015), Cine Quinto Shibuya (03-3477-5905), Cinema Qualite Shinjuku (03-3352-5645).

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