Tuesday 28 May 2013

Johnny Suede (1991)



Johnny Suede  (1991)  [US 92min.]  Written and directed by Tom Di Cillo

Comedy fantasy starring Brad Pitt. When a stylish pair of suede shoes falls into dreamer Johnny's lap, he begins cultivating his fantasy - to become a rock 'n' roll hero like his idol Ricky Nelson. But the road to stardom is paved with complications.




As Television never sang on their debut single "Little Johnny Suede/He's so cool".

There is a parallel world where Johnny Suede (the character) would be as famous as Riff Raff or Del Trotter or Edward Scissorhands. He is an immensely likeable character, an innocent torn out of time and thrown down in a world he can't hope to understand or cope with. In the end he's saved from a life of quiet desperation and miserable failure by the love of a good woman.

There's all sorts of magic and nonsense going on here - the plot is of little consequence as it's really nothing more than a bunch of scenes glued together with a sense of fun and adventure.

Johnny's trademark shoes appear from heaven; Nick Cave plays brilliantly with and against as his own image as Johnny's personal angel and/or devil, there's dream sequences worthy of Lynch and the charming conceit that Johnny would love to be a rock'n'roll star but rather than taking the easy route and setting out to be Elvis or Buddy or Gene he wants to be the reincarnation of Ricky Nelson.
That's Ricky Nelson - the American for Cliff Richard.

Two great performances - firstly from Brad Pitt , in his first real leading role, he's all wide eyes and gawky awkwardness and giant,enough hairspray to deplete the ozone layer on it's own, quiff. The second from Catherine Keener - just setting out on the road that leads to Being John Malkovich and beyond.

Nod of the head too for the soundtrack - handled in the most part by the rumbling guitar of Link Wray.

DiCillo seems to have had trouble finding much work off the back of it - I saw his name on the credits for rubbish TV cop show "Monk" recently - which is a shame as he's clearly got the eye and the talent to be a fine director of small scale films.

An utterly charming and unpretentious little film about innocence, hope ,desire and love. An absolute joy to watch.

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