I Met the Walrus

John Lennon's death in 1980 remains for many a pivotal moment in their lives. For a certain generation they remember where they were when he was shot rather than, say, the JFK memories of an older generation.

Jerry Levitan was 14 in 1969 and somewhat braver than your average teenager. He managed to sneak in to the hotel in which Lennon was staying armed with his tape recorder (remember those big heavy almost suitcase sized ones?). This is the film of that moment in time - with the interview illuminated by a visual narrative, produced by the grown up Levitan in 2007. We think that Lennon would have approved.

At the time Lennon was working through his notorious 'bed in' stage where he and Yoko Ono took to their bed and maintained they would stay there until world peace had broken out. He was also having continuous trouble with US immigration policy and this is refleced in the film, directed by Josh Raskin.

The message is both caught in time and timeless - the marriage of the wonderful pen work of James Braithwaite with the digital illustrations of Alex Kurina come together in a magical way. Even if you are not a huge fan of Lennon you may want to watch this to the end just to see how many ways in which his words can be ingeniously animated. 

The movie was nominated for Best Animated Short Film in 2008 and while it didn't bag the Oscar it did receive many other prizes - which is not surprising.