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A fly explores a woman's body in Ono's
Fly
(1970). By permission of Ono.
from the feet to the upper thighs of hundreds of men and women, as we listen to the sound of the panning apparatus and a variety of conversations about the project. Though
Up Your Legs Forever
has some interesting moments, it doesn't have the drama or the humor of
No. 4 (Bottoms)
.
Ono and Lennon also collaborated on two Lennon films (whether a film is a "Lennon film" or an "Ono film" depends on whose basic concept instigated the project).
Apotheosis
(1970) is one of the most ingenious single-shot films ever made. A camera pans up the cloaked bodies of Lennon and Ono, then on up into the sky above a village, higher and higher across snow-covered fields (the camera was mounted in a hot-air balloon, which we never seethough we hear the device that heats the air) and then up into the clouds; the screen remains completely white for several minutes, and finally, once many members of the audience have given up on the film, the camera rises out into the sunny skyscape above the clouds. The film is a test and reward of viewer patience and serenity. For
Erection,
a camera was mounted so that we can watch the construction of a building, in time-lapse dissolves from one image to another, several hours or days later. The film is not so much about the action of constructing a building (as a pixilated film