Johnny Suede Review
JOHNNY SUEDE does what indie films do best. It presents an odd, unique vision that's tough to describe or market. (A similar oddball film is THE LAST BIG THING).
The film takes place in Brooklyn, but you wouldn't know it unless you read the credits. It's not the recognizable Brooklyn of Spike Lee, or Woody Allen, or John Travolta. With the sparse sets and anachronistic pop music costumes (of Darlette, Johnny, and Freak) I wasn't even sure about the time period. Sometimes it seems to be set in a surreal alternate realm (like STREETS OF FIRE).
Johnny is a musician who plays retro rock, but his huge pompadour hair is so buffonish, one wonders if he's not meant as a caricature, a joke that no one quite gets. Then one sees Freak Storm in the same hair, and one wonders again if we're in an alternate realm in which this is a common style. (We see the same bizarre hair in TROUBLE IN MIND, and that film was indeed set in the near future.)
Like STREETS OF FIRE, JOHNNY SUEDE draws you in. You can't try and figure out this film, you just have to accept it on its own terms and enjoy the ride.
The music is excellent. I wish they'd release a soundtrack, though it seems they never have.
I disagree with a comment that said that everyone takes advantage of Johnny. I see it as largely the other way. Johnny is a parasite and sloth. (1) Deek tries to help him with getting a real job, and even lends him money. Johnny shows no gratitude. (2) Johnny turns down a music gig because it goes against his artistic sensibility to perform without a bassist, even though the other band members are ready and willing to go ahead. Then Johnny complains that it's the others who are no help. (3) Not wanting to work, Johnny comes up with the idea of robbing a barber shop. Deek does the work of getting the gun, but Johnny flakes out. (4) Yvonne is a devoted girlfriend, cooking for Johnny, baking him a birthday cake, buying him a shirt, and Johnny only cheats on her in return. (5) Johnny is behind on his rent, so he's also taking advantage of his landlord. (6) And Johnny tries to take advantage of Darlette's music business mother. Sure, she also wants to bed him. But does that let Johnny off the hook?
Ultimately, JOHNNY SUEDE is fascinating to watch, occassionally funny (especially Freak Storm), with great music. But it's also a depressive film. These people do not live great lives, and there's no bright future ahead. All they have is their youth, which allows them to dream. What will happen when they're no longer young?
Johnny is happy only because he's too dense to know better, his vision of reality obscured by his dream world. However, there's a hint of hope at the end, in that he apologizes to Yvonne and loses his shoe (the latter perhaps symbolizing his budding maturity).
I've seen this film several times. Well worth a look for fans of oddball indie films.
Johnny Suede Overview
Johnny Suede is a young man with an attitude and an immense pompadour, who wants to be a rock n' roll star like his idol Ricky Nelson. He has all the stylistic accoutermentsexcept a pair of black suede shoes. One night, after leaving a nightclub a pair of black suede shoes falls at his feet. Soon afterwards, Johnny meets Darlette. In spite of Darlette's abusive boyfriend with a gun, Johnny begins to see Darlette everyday. When Johnny is forced to pawn his guitar for rent money, Darlette mysteriously leaves him. Depressed about Darlette's desertion, he wanders aimlessly, and he meets Yvonne, a woman much wiser than Johnny who teaches him that there are things in life much more important than a pair of black suede shoes.
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