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Chapter 27: The Murder of John Lennon - Movie Review
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. In the case of full names it does help to distinguish identities between common names, Mark Chapman being such a name. The actor that plays John Lennon in Chapter 27 is Mark Lindsay Chapman, but is of no relation to Mark David Chapman. The actor bears a striking resemblance to Lennon, but was prevented from playing Lennon in another film due to his name. It prompts one to wonder what differences can be considered between murderers and assassins, as well as if Chapman was just a murderer or some kind of cultural assassin. Either way, most would agree the act, no matter what its intent, is born from a morally deprived mind. With the film, it is difficult to tell whether Chapter 27 is J.P. Schaefer's attempt to understand the psychotic triggers within Chapman, or if it is a portrait of a mind gone awry. This gives Chapter 27 a touch of ambiguity that allows the audience to flex their own perceptions, rather than just be confronted by the story. While the murder of John Lennon is not new material for cinema, Chapter 27, seems to delve dangerously deep into the psyche of Chapman. We teeter on empathy and understanding of Chapman, while a vile disgust gargles into our realization that this man planned to kill a beautiful voice in the world. Chapman's journey, again under the influence of Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, is drawing from fuel that burns a distaste of the phonies, fakes and hypocrites of society. Chapman is from the Holden Caulfield school of social misfits, who play antithesis to the messages preached by the likes of John Lennon. The Holden Caulfields of the world sit beneath the shaded corners of nihilism in the strawberry fields of peace and altruism grown by Lennon. Though it's not a battle of good and evil, as politicians seem to be the most fitting target of a Holden Caulfield inspired killer. Politicians are the biggest phonies of society, and Lennon was highly political, as evidenced by another film about Lennon, The U.S. vs John Lennon. Before you rant on in the comment section below about how I dare call John Lennon a phony, let me disclaim my statement. It's more that I'm saying someone like Mark David Chapman would have thought John Lennon was a big political phony. In murdering John Lennon, Chapman was writing "Chapter 27" to JD Salinger's 26-chapter book, Catcher in the Rye, hence the inspiration for a another book on Lennon's last days and the film's title. A chapter with a footnote in another assassin, John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to kill President Reagan not long after Chapman shot Lennon. Hinckley was also noted for being obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye, and somewhere, some retired school board director who once voted to censor the book is saying, "I told you so." In fact, between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye, was one of the most censored titles in high school curriculum. The reasons behind this are much too speculative, controversial, and expansive for me to bore you into confusion with here. It is just important to note that the book has spoken to many in a time of teenage angst and apathy, just as Lennon spoke to the masses of a generation in cultural turmoil. John Lennon tried to show us that everything was love; a genuine manifestation of peaceful ideas and activity. Chapman manifested the essence of Holden Caulfield when he snapped into thinking Lennon was a phony and a hypocrite. At least that is where we see Holden's ghost possess (figuratively) Chapman in a scene in Chapter 27. Seated in a fancy New York Restaurant, Chapman is reading a magazine interview of John Lennon. His hand grips the table cloth as his knuckles whiten in disgust of Lennon's talk of French cigarettes and Sushi. At the risk of sounding empathetic, Chapman's thinking was a precursor to a decade of phonies and hypocrites; the 1980s. Lennon was the effigy to Chapman's thinking; the iconic global hippie gone upper-west side, Asian-infused Yuppie. Lennon saw the change happening and just evolved as an artist, adapted to survive, but Chapman was that tortured Beatles fan, who thought all he needed was love. Unfortunately Chapman came to a realization that Lennon was saying all you need is love, but was acting like all he needed was a penthouse and designer Sushi plates. Unfortunately, Chapman was also like an autistic Holden Caulfield doped up on PCP that boiled deeply rooted Freudian issues, while toting a loaded revolver during a bitterly cold New York December. Another scene that sticks is the cinematic reference to Martin Scorsese's vignette of another social misfit gone bad, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. In Chapter 27, Jared Leto (Chapman) stands before his hotel room mirror preparing for his moment of infamy, much like De Niro's classic, "you talking to me?" scene. Then, with that in retrospect, the final image and word of the film is Chapman seated in prison, seemingly breaking the fourth wall of cinema, saying "Here I am talking to you." Not that there is some abstract symbolism between Taxi Driver and Chapter 27, but both films explore themes about people without a voice who resort to extreme measures when they really believe they have something to say about society. Jared Leto's innocent-Emo eyes turn red with rage and confusion, giving us a few squirms in the chair, as he stomps on the edge of insanity. Leto, himself a rockstar (30 Seconds to Mars) and movie star (Requiem for a Dream, The Thin Red Line, Fight Cub, Alexander, Lord of War), could easily summon his worst fears as a celebrity and project them into the ravenous flight of an obsessed fan. Interestingly enough, Lindsay Lohan, another effigy of celebrity scrutiny, also stars as an adoring Lennon fan who briefly befriends Chapman. Having lived and wandered many nights in Manhattan, the film left me with a chilling thought. In a city where celebrity promises to walk around any corner, there is also a complete nutcase on every corner; what is that nutcase thinking? What is that deranged mind piecing together as he stares at the racks of celebrity fodder dressing hundreds of magazine stands? Who is the next victim of the ghost of Holden Caulfield? Maybe that's why I always listened to the angry rants on street corners; to let some nutcase blow off some steam and have a voice, before he/she writes the final chapter in someone's life. |
Chapter 27 Film Review of JP Schaefer's Debut Starring Jared Leto
| Official Movie Site for Chapter 27
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May, 2012
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