AN INTIMATE EXPERIENCE ON FILM.

It faced a lot of skepticism, this documentary that arrived at a time when The Beatles were winding down as a band, but has been reevaluated since and was treated to a Peter Jackson-supervised digital restoration in 2024.

We meet the band in 1969 as they are working on their final studio album and our role is to be a fly on the wall observing their work and interaction; there are no interviews or a narrator. Tension is tangible at times, but the film’s greatest value lies in watching the playfulness between these legendary figures – and listening to the music, of course, with the rooftop concert as a highlight.

As a feature, perhaps it is a little too bare bones, but it has a certain melancholy.

1970-U.K. 80 min. Color. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. 

Trivia: The making of the album and this film was covered in a miniseries, The Beatles: Get Back (2021).

Oscar: Best Original Song Score (awarded to The Beatles).