The Hours and times

It is 1963, the Beatles are on their way to being the world’s most famous rock group, and John Lennon and their manager Brian Epstein decide to take a weekend off and relax in the romantic city of Barcelona. From this simple premise, Munch crafts a tender and insightful film on the nature of friendship and desire. The two men’s relationship is full of erotic tension as they discover that although one of them is working-class, married and heterosexual, and the other a wealthy Jewish homosexual sophisticate, they have in common a love for beauty and a shared outsider’s perspective on the world. Filmed in delicate black and white, “The Hours and Times” is, apart from a fine film about the possibilities and dangers of male friendship, also an intriguing glimpse into the recent past: the point when pop culture was about to explode and consume the world, that moment when it seemed possible that music could change the world. The film features remarkable performances by Ian Hart as Lennon and David Angus as Epstein. Winner of Special Prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival.