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Former Beatle John Lennon was by all accounts a likeable chap. It was therefore a great shame when the song writing genius was abruptly taken away from his millions of fans forever by a mentally challenged lunatic in the shape of Mark David Chapman. Director Andrew Piddington creates a gripping dramatization here of how a Hawaiian security guard took it upon himself to murder the Liverpudlian version of Jesus outside his Dakota Building apartment in Manhattan.
Jonas Ball would certainly not be a fixture on most "Best Of" lists of the year but this is because The Killing of John Lennon has hardly had the most widespread release. Concisely put, Ball's turn is career-defining. He encapsulates the paranoia of Chapman perfectly, emphasising the importance of J.D. Salinger's cult novel The Catcher in the Rye as a cause of his diminishing sanity. He may be a total wackjob but he does possess one ounce of fanatical logic: what better way to end international phoniness by murdering the biggest fraud of all? After all, in Chapman's eyes Lennon was a total hypocrite, acting in a complete opposite manner to the lifestyle he preaches about in his uber famous songs. To everyone else however, Chapman simply epitomised the meaning of Lennon's masterpiece "Jealous Guy".
Piddington flourishes, balancing an appropriate emotional distance between criminal and core narrative, allowing Ball to thrive with the extensive screen time he is given. Watching Chapman deteriorate should certainly not be an entertaining spectacle but the director and his star create it as such. The research homework by Piddington has been completed to doctoral standard - all Chapman's words are his own apparently and this adds perfectly to the authenticity. It's just a shame the time period couldn't have been given an enhanced degree of realism but then again, independent film budgets are certainly not anything spectacular and the director tries to partly compensate with a running time which is a tad overlong.
The summary
A fastidious rookie effort all round which evokes a pleasing awareness of hard work in the demanding craft. Watch this space for more quality from Ball and Piddington.
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