The Killing of John Lennon Andrew Piddington UK 2006
This isn’t a film about John Lennon. He’s in it, but The Killing of John Lennon is really all about Mark Chapman the man who killed him outside his home in New York on December 8 1980. The distinction is important because in lesser hands than director Andrew Piddington it might not have been so clear much to the detriment of the resulting film.
Vitally the film masterfully punctures the assassination by following Chapman both before and after the main event. It’s a climax that any audience will know is coming even if they don’t know who John Lennon is - the title gives it away after all. The build-up, the inscrutable reasons why he actually did it you expect and they are duly presented. The aftermath one might not be expecting, through the mass mourning and the police paranoia that Chapman would become another Lee Harvey Oswald and might be killed in custody by an angry mob.
Allegedly, as the credits inform us, all the narration and Mark Chapman’s dialogue in the film comes from Chapman’s own writings or statements. As is revealed, high on J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, amongst other influences, he wanted to kill the rock star he viewed as a ‘phoney’ who sang of ‘no possessions’ whilst living very comfortably the celebrity lifestyle from his apartment in the Dakota Building in New York.
The film is a take on a celebrity obsessed world, where nothing can be better than killing someone who is famous to make yourself famous. Aside from documenting the death of a pop culture icon, the film uses its grungy video look to play with the celebrity themes using lots of archive footage of Lennon and news film.
Repeated zoom shots on Chapman’s face re-enforce that here is a man who wants to be the centre of attention whilst still leaving it unclear quite how he reached his momentous decision. Contrast with Chapman quoting Taxi Driver, and the amusement of his first trip to New York to kill Lennon dissolving after a double bill of Raging Bull and Ordinary People at the cinema! Or look at the way all these freeze-frames, close-ups of people he meets are used - the doorman, the photographer and then his mother, wife and friend at the end (as is traditional and as you might expect). This is myth making in progress and Chapman knows it. Or the take where he lays out chosen possessions at his hotel in anticipation of his potential status, exhibits even.
Apart from killing an ex-Beatle Chapman seems like an understandable intense but charismatic focus for the film, aided by Jonas Ball’s commanding performance. He’s unhinged of course so the charisma is suitable undermined by several scenes in the build up to the murder. One such moment is where his reaction to a photographer asking personal questions goes overboard as he goes on the defensive very suddenly during a seemingly normal conversation in the street. Another is his treatment of an escort he hires in New York. Having just arrived at his hotel room he tells her that he just wants company and isn’t interested in the sex, before dispassionately ordering her to undress.
Whilst not for everybody’s tastes, The Killing of John Lennon is a compelling look at celebrity culture.
