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Jared Leto (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, ALEXANDER) takes us down the rabbit hole and into the mind of John Lennon murderer Mark David Chapman, in the effectively unsettling CHAPTER 27. Inspired by Jack Jones' sensationalist biography of Chapman, LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN, CHAPTER 27 dramatizes three fateful days leading up to the shooting. The year is 1980. Mark David Chapman arrives in wintry New York City, where he quickly assumes the identity of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE protagonist Holden Caulfield, eager to cleanse a world filled with "phonies." Chapman makes his way to the tony Dakota apartment building where Lennon lives, and strikes up a tentative friendship with a sweetly naive groupie named Jude (Lindsay Lohan). Chapman becomes increasingly torn by his avenging impulses, losing himself further and further in Holden Caulfield's character, until an initial encounter with Lennon seals the fates of both men. Leto, who gained more than 60 pounds for the part, immerses himself completely in the role of the mercurial Chapman, whose bulky exterior concealed a troubled soul and conflicted motivations towards the world. First-time director Jarrett Schaefer wisely forgoes any attempt to use the film as either a definitive explanation of the event or a stinging indictment of Chapman. Instead, CHAPTER 27 asks us to see how the source of tragedy can be more human than we realize, and how tragic acts so often hinge on the fragility of the human spirit.
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