JOHNNY DEPP - DER SENSIBLE DON JUAN
(Johnny Depp - the sensitive Don Juan)

The little book of 160 pages is divided into two parts:

The "soft rebel" illustrates in ten small expository chapters various aspects of Johnny Depp's enigmatic person. This part remains fairly superficial and, in my opinion, amounts to not much more than a compilation of colourful and trendy phrases describing JD's ambiguous nature. It also has one clear indication that the author may not be an expert on his topic in every way

In the second little chapter called "Hats" the author, in a metaphorical interpretation, enlarges on the bowler hat JD's character William Blake is wearing in the last (his dying) scene of DEAD MAN - fact is: this is the only scene in this film in which Blake no longer wears that hat but a beautiful Native Indian headdress (and clothes), indicating that he is leaving his former-physical existence behind. Has Heinzlmeier ever seen the film himself?

The second and much longer part of the book is entitled, "Johnny B. Good: The story of a career." This part comprises 18 fairly extensive chapters and is the more informative part. The first three chapters are about JD's childhood and family background, most of the other chapters are on his films. They contain extensive information on the films' contents, on some of the more influential directors JD worked with (especially John Waters and Tim Burton, also Emir Kusturica), occasionally a little bit about the making of the films, and, of course, on the women in his life. This last aspect is presented in a pleasantly unbiased way, quite different from the yellow press, and the author puts some stress on the impact the yellow press may have had on these relationships.Another positive point seems to me the fact that the famous hotel thrashing incident at the New York Mark Hotel is only mentioned in a half sentence in the first part of the book (however, other readers may want more neutral information on that much-exploited issue).

The films reviewed include Nick of Time, a report on Divine Rapture (not finished), a mentioning of the British production The Cull (?) and a preview of Donnie Brasco and The Brave.

The one major point that left me unsatisfied as a reader in general and a Depp fan in particular is the question of the sources the author draws on. We are not given any information, either on the author himself or on whether he ever got acquainted with the star he is writing about (my guess is that he didn't). There is no list of sources of the quotations from interviews etc., only excerpts from reviews in daily/weekly German papers and magazines with that information given in brackets after the quotes. But apart from that, the book can be regarded as an easy-to-read, enjoyable and quite informative little work for the unassuming reader.

Photos: More than 80, black and white; about 20 of those are candids or portraits (also of other people), the others are film stills. The portrait on the front cover and the still on the back are in colour.

Johnny Depp - Der sensible Don Juan
by Adolf Heinzlmeier Heyne Film Bibliothek Nr. 32/245
Copyright 1996 by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co.Kg, München
ISBN 3-453-11855-3

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