Review of Don Juan De Marco

Introduction

Johnny Depp playing Don Juan? Well, he plays who he thinks is Don Juan based on the character created by Lord Byron. Where we come in is where Depp wants to end his life at the hands of Don Francisco DeSilva, because of his love for the ultimate woman; this is the first time that Marlon Brando meets him as he talks him out of taking his own life. Now, just two weeks from retirement, Brando decides to handle one more case at the psychiatric hospital before leaving, to find out the root cause for Depp`s unhappiness. If you`ve not seen this before, then understand one thing; this is romanticism, pure and simple. The story is a charming fairy tale which I find to be quite appealing, it`s very easy to suspend disbelief if you feel you can play along and buy into the story.

As Brando delves more into Depp, we`re weaved into a romantic Mexican tale of love and passion and it becomes difficult to tell fact from fiction, from the films point of view that is. Where does Don Juan end and DeMarco begin? While having his sessions with Brando we`re spun the romantic story and fall into someplace else as we follow the moment of Jon Duan`s birth through to adolescence and adulthood charming the birds from the trees along the way.

Video

Presented with a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer the video quality is a bit grainy which I found to be a let down. Even though I was disappointed to begin with, as the movie played I managed to ignore it. For a disc which has absolutely nothing else to take up space, I have no idea why the transfer is as average as it is. There are some really nice locations used here which I would have loved to have seen properly, but alas not. This isn`t even an old film so there`s no excuse for a disc to look like this.

Audio

Nothing fancy here, just DD2.0. I have to say that it doesn`t really matter here since the film is mainly character/story driven so there`s no need to have a bombastic soundtrack. I do like Michael Kamen`s score which just sounds spot on.

Features

There are none. No trailer, no chapter selection, no subtitles...get the picture? Just a still picture on the menu which has `play`. Bryan Adams and Michael Kamen wrote the main theme and released a single too, though there`s no sign of a video promo. No effort went into this film at all, how disappointing.

Conclusion

I really like this film and I`ve always liked it because it`s very easy going, I guess I`m an old fashioned romantic at heart. The cast performances are good and the story is fairy tale like, whimsical and romantic. It isn`t like conventional romantic movies so I wouldn`t lump that dreaded term, `romcom`, with this film as I think it`s better than that. The vibe from this movie is a happy one and certainly leaves one feeling upbeat throughout its 90 minute running time.

From what I can tell of this film in other regions, there are more features on the R1 disc, including the music promo, trailers, production notes and director commentary, but does not come with the anamorphic transfer we have here. It`s a difficult decision to make since I`ve not seen the R1 DVD and can`t speak of the quality.

Jeremy Levin has written and directed a charming film and if this sounds like your cup of tea then it`s certainly worth having. Since you get Marlon Brando, Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp all for the bargain price of less than a tenner, I think it`s worth buying if you want to rekindle your romantic side.