Johan Primero (2010)

Directed by: Johan Kramer | 78 minutes | drama, comedy, romance | Actors: José Luis Adserías, Roger Príncep, Josep Maria Domènech, Cecile Heuer, Aurora Cayero, Susanna Garachana, Pau Miró

‘Johan Primero’ is a nice feel good, slightly road movie-like film about the life of Johan Puig (José Luis Adserias), who is convinced that his activities are the secret force behind the success of football club FC Barcelona. With football as the subject, it might be assumed that this will be a football film, but football as a game in itself does not appear in the film. ‘Johan Primero’ is simply a great feature film in which the encounters with a number of people in the neighborhood where he lives, but also the love life of Johan Puig plays a leading role.

Every day, this forty-something drives fifty laps around Nou Camp, the immense stadium of ‘Barça’, this will keep the club successful. His father started this tradition in 1974 with a ‘Duck’ (Citroën 2cv) painted in the club colors red and blue. He drove around the stadium and that night Barça won the away game against arch-enemy Real Madrid 0-5. During his rounds according to a fixed driving schedule, he repeatedly encounters a number of fixed characters. Mr. Suarez constantly hands him a wise life lesson or gives him a philosophical reflection, he does his shopping at the graceful shopkeeper Doris and he has a quick cup of coffee with a befriended restaurateur. Johan himself gives advice to a boy who dreams of playing for FC Barcelona one day. All this is done without leaving his car, after all, the sacred duty must not be neglected.

One day, his regular pattern is disrupted when he has to stop at a red light and a young woman, Paquita (Aurora Cayero), goes to wash his windshield without being asked. She is a cross-thinker and a jumper in the field, who, however, has also been damaged by her past. The short encounters with her (each time for the duration of the red traffic light on his round) begin to disrupt his life and his fixed patterns. He is in love, but is a nice, but also somewhat clumsy fat man who does not know how to approach her. Also in her non-conformist behavior lies the risk that he sees his big task – driving laps to secure Barça’s victory – jeopardized. How is he supposed to get out of this? Does the work go for the girl and the love for his club ultimately wins over the love for the girl?

Johan Puig named himself after his great hero: Johan Neeskens, who played for Barcelona with Johan Cruijff in the 1970s. Neeskens was then called Johan Segundo there, but for Puig Neeskens is and remains Johan Primero. A nice detail is that director Johan Kramer, at the age of 8, pronounced in front of the class (then still called Jan Jasper) that his first name would be Johan from now on, because he was a big fan of Johan Neeskens himself at the time.

The film derives its strength mainly from the beautiful warm colors and the warm atmosphere that the images evoke. The acting of the actors is convincing, the design is contemporary. The story is kept small without grand gestures but is full of small humor and flows nicely. The locations are highly supportive, the film cuts quickly, the repeated encounters with the regular characters on its ride are to the point. The camera work perfectly captures the atmosphere of the neighborhood around the stadium. ‘Johan Primero’ is a human film with a warm and humorous atmosphere. According to an ancient wisdom, the journey is the reward. For lovers of the road movie genre, this journey does not go over high mountains or wide plains, but through a Spanish working-class district. Fans of the genre will nevertheless be fully satisfied. Small and nice.