Chapter 27: The Murder of John Lennon - Movie Review

Film Review of JP Schaefer's Debut Starring Jared Leto

The film Chapter 27 is a vignette of how obsessions, psychosis and creativity crash into the world of celebrity; namely the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman. Starring as Chapman, Jared Leto devoured pints of microwaved ice cream, with soy sauce and olive oil to put the pounds into his role. Fortunately the bloating didn't go to his head and he stepped lightly, but with heavy eyes, carrying JP Schaefer's directorial debut in a rather touchy subject. The film follows Chapman's descent into deranged obsession three days before he shot John Lennon outside his home at the Dakota building in New York City. December 8th, 1980 was a tragic day for millions of people as John Lennon's cult of personality, became Mark David Chapman's effigy of celebrity.

Chapter 27 is a darkly artistic rendering, forcing one to watch from a cerebral state in search of meaning within Chapman's motives to kill Lennon. Though much like his inspiration for derangement, JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Chapman wandered New York City detaching himself from society and reality. His thought process, revealed through Jared Leto's voice-overs, are poetic ramblings that take shape in phonies, ducks, lions and tigers and bears (Wizard of OZ postcards). Mark David Chapman is a soul that took a wrong turn on the yellow brick road and started playing a fiddle way out of tune. Yet, here I am honoring his name with full pronouncement, as my Dad so rightfully pointed out; "why do we honor assassins and murderers into infamy with their full names?" With this we give murderers like Mark David Chapman more than just a supporting role in the story of their victims. There are elements of the film that show Chapman, like so many psychopaths, desiring infamy or in his mind, notoriety for slashing a mark in history.