Chapter 27 Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 04.02.2008
Jared Leto portrays John Lennon’s murderer in this indie film, but can he and the writer capture Mark David Chapman’s true insanity?
My Story
I’m not a Beatles fan. As a person with a passion for music, I do appreciate what the Beatles did, and I even like several of their songs. But I’m not one of these people that think that John Lennon or the Beatles were the end-all, be-all of everything. Some people do. These are the kind of people who didn’t want this movie made, believing that to portray the story of John Lennon’s killer for a wide audience would somehow reward him for his actions.
Were Mark David Chapman’s actions horrendous? Yes. But, as the murderer of one of the most famous men to ever live, his story needs to be told. Will Chapter 27 do this adequately?
Behind The Movie
In 1980, a 25-year old man named Mark David Chapman left his home in Hawaii and flew to New York City. The purpose of his trip was to see famous musician John Lennon, once the chief member of The Beatles, who was staying in NYC’s storied Dakota. For three days, Chapman stood outside of the building, hoping to see Lennon arriving or leaving. On the third day, Chapman briefly met Lennon, who autographed a copy of his latest solo album for the self-proclaimed Beatles fan. Later that night, Lennon and his wife/musical partner Yoko Ono returned from a recording studio to the Dakota, where Champan was once again waiting on him. This time, the fan pulled out a .38 revolver and fired five shots at Lennon. One of the bullets pierced Lennon’s aorta, fatally wounding him. As police and emergency personnel rushed to the scene, Champan waited patiently, reading a copy of “The Catcher In The Rye”, a book that Chapman later claimed inspired him to go through with the killing of the “phony” celebrity. Chapman was arrested without incident and sentenced to a minimum of twenty years in New York’s Attica State Prison, where he remains to date.
In the early 90’s, crime journalist Jack Jones conducted several extensive interviews with Chapman from prison. This would be one of the few times Chapman has spoken publicly about the events surrounding the murder of John Lennon. The interviews were compiled and released in the book ”Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman” in 1992.
In the mid-2000’s, unknown J.P. Schaeffer set out to make his directorial debut with Chapter 27, a film based around the Lennon murder and “Let Me Take You Down”, told from Mark David Chapman’s perspective. The film’s title is drawn from “The Catcher In The Rye”, which has only 26 chapters. Jared Leto (Lord Of War and…holy shit, that was him in Fight Club???) was cast as Chapman and gained 60 pounds to play the roll. Lindsay Lohan was also cast to play a fellow fan. Schaeffer himself wrote the screenplay.
Chapter 27 debuted in 2007 at Sundance, where it drew mostly negative reviews. Later reviews, however, were mixed, with several positive. The film struggled to find a US distributor for much of the year, but finally joined forces with indie Peace Arch Entertainment Group. Chapter 27 won Schaeffer the “Debut Feature Prize” at the 2008 Zurich Film Awards (Schaeffer himself was born on a US Army base in Germany).
The Film
On March 28, 2008, Peace Arch Entertainment Group released Chapter 27 to limited theaters in the US. The film is running mainly in New York and Los Angeles.
The Credits
Directed by J.P. Schaeffer
Written by J.P. Schaeffer
Cast:
Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman
Lindsay Lohan as Jude
Judah Friedlander as Paul
Mark Lindsay Chapman as John Lennon
The Feature Chapter 27 is a very small film, which sort of fits Mark David Chapman’s view of himself as a small man. And he does seem to view himself as that, given his clear self-esteem issues. The scope of the film rarely leaves the area around the Dakota and Chapman’s hotel room. In fact, much of the dialog and even a few of the shots, occur within Chapman’s own mind. As a character, Schaeffer and Leto capture Chapman pretty well, showing him as a man struggling with insanity. They portray his awkward social interaction, too, through his chats with the Dakota doormen, as well as with photographer Paul (played solidly by “30 Rock”’s Judah Friedlander, known best as the guy giving out hugs in Dave Matthews Band’s “Everyday” video), Lennon himself (portrayed briefly by Mark Lindsay Chapman (no relation)) and with Lindsay Lohan’s fictional fellow fan character, predictably named Jude.
And here’s the beginning of Chapter 27’s numerous problems. Lohan’s character makes no sense. In nearly every interaction with Jude, Leto’s Chapman acts like a lunatic and Lohan’s Jude acts uncomfortable. So, why then, does she keep coming back to talk to him? So the sweet and hip Jude can set up the shot of Mark David Chapman shaking hands with a little kid version of Sean Lennon, that’s why. And since “Jude’ is fictional, this makes the strange relationship (complete with a ridiculous tinge of romance) all the more aggravating.
And if that doesn’t aggravate you, there’s plenty more in this movie to do it. As this flick wasn’t blessed with Yoko Ono’s seal of approval (Sean Lennon called it tacky), there isn’t a Beatles track to be found, other than the obvious rip-off that plays over the title track. Instead, we have a few Christmas tunes (which does help you remember the time of year, I guess) and a completely ridiculous score. Seriously, the score ranges from dull to interfering to just downright lazy. This comes to a head as Chapman struggles with the voices in his head in the closing act of the movie, as the soundtrack becomes a mix of disembodied bad voice actors and first year film school stock music.
Speaking of bad voice actors, did you know this flick was narrated by Forrest Gump? Well, it is. Or some reasonable impersonation, as Leto’s slow cadence and faux southern accent (Chapman was born in Decatur, Georgia) will have you wondering if John Lennon’s life was actually like a box of chocolates up until December 8th, 1980. While Leto really is great in this role, his narration (or most of it) would be best axed. It’s not like there aren’t enough other characters he could interact with. He has his wife, who makes a brief appearance on the phone, the doormen, Paul, Jude, a cab driver and a whole host of others who could get the story out in dialog rather than narration.
In the end, Chapter 27 brings little to the table other than a chilling glimpse at the EVENTS surrounding John Lennon’s murder. Nothing about Chapman is revealed through the script or performance, despite Leto’s playing it spot on. No great mystery is solved. You’re simply watching some people reenact an hour-by-hour account of those three days Mark Chapman spent in New York City. And seeing as how we already know the ending, that makes Chapter 27 pretty much a waste of time.
The 411: Only die-hard Beatles fans would enjoy Chapter 27, and die-hard Beatles fans are disgusted by its existence. The film offers no new insight into the murder of John Lennon and the man who pulled the trigger. While Jared Leto’s performance as Mark David Chapman is creepy and appropriately awkward, his narration of the story comes off as a lazy way of moving things along. The movie doesn’t even give us a reason to care about Lennon, other than the fact that he was famous and had a young son. Throw in a poor score and a useless second character in Lindsay Lohan’s Jude and you have a flick that just doesn’t hold water. Unless you want to simply know about Mark David Chapman and the murder of John Lennon and have 84 minutes to learn, there’s no reason to watch this one.
