Institute History
Description
Christopher Munch’s boldly original debut effort (1992 Sundance Film Festival) is a fictional account of what might have happened in April 1963, when John Lennon and Beatles manager Brian Epstein traveled to Barcelona for an extended weekend getaway. In the four days they spend together, the suave Epstein and the provocative Lennon reflect on their lives, both private and professional, as they explore the unique bond they share. Poised on the brink of Beatlemania, the young Lennon has just fathered his first son and is reckoning with family life, while Epstein is psychologically preparing for the whirlwind that lies ahead for both himself and the Beatles. Throughout the course of the trip, the two men engage in heavy discourse, charged with both intellectual and sexual tension.
Munch’s sparse and intimate narrative, captured with exquisite black-and-white cinematography, is a thoughtful meditation on friendship and sexuality, crafted around a brief moment in the lives of two extremely well-known pop figures. The perfectly subdued performances of Ian Hart as Lennon and David Angus as Epstein make The Hours and Times a beautifully convincing portrait.
Through a collaboration between Sundance Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Oscilloscope Laboratories, the film has been digitally restored from a new 35 mm preservation fine-grain positive created from the original picture negative.