Johnny van Doorn always attracted attention, if only as a member of the mediagenic beatnik scene. So director Peter Scholten could draw from a large stock of archive footage for his portrait of this poet and performer, who passed away in 1991. The subtitle 'From Johnny the Selfkicker to elderly gentleman with soul' describes the steady development in Van Doorn's career. He became known with his frenzied imitations of firework, notorious with his creation of Johnny the Selfkicker, and eventually famous as a unique personality, author and character in the quaint cabaret series Herenleed. The documentary reconstructs Johnny van Doorn's life mainly in his own words, reciting from his work and telling stories about his childhood and family in TV interviews. The stylistically divergent excerpts, in colour and black-and-white, are easily held together by Van Doorn's unmistakable voice and apocalyptic diction.
