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Submitted by cinemascope on Sat, 2006-05-06 14:39. :: Cinemascope 5
Movie title:
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Starring:
Daniel Johnston, His Mom, His Dad, His Friends, Some Rock Stars
Directed by:
Jeff Feuerzeig
Written by:
Jeff Feuerzeig
Genre:
Documentary
Year:
2006
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Runtime:
110 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
A portrait of the musician and artist Daniel Johnston, whose problems with his mental health and stability have both helped and hindered his artistic development and career over the past twenty years.
A portrait of the musician and artist Daniel Johnston, whose problems with his mental health and stability have both helped and hindered his artistic development and career over the past twenty years.
Review
An entertaining and at times quite moving film that falls short of being a really satisfying documentary for two reasons: firstly, despite his constant ghostly presence through archive footage, and his wandering around in the background while his parents are interviewed, Daniel Johnston isn’t interviewed for this movie – why? We know so much about him through tapes he sent to friends in lieu of letters and through his artwork and his music, to be denied hearing his thoughts and feelings in a contemporary interview seems a shame. Secondly, the wealth of audio information seems to dictate the visual content, which doesn’t always make for riveting viewing. Watching a tape go round once while you hear its contents is fine, but it seems that for much of the movie we’re watching tape spool from one reel to another. Those criticisms aside, Johnston is certainly a fascinating subject and his naïve passage through the indie music world says much about how the artistic world views mental health and the links between madness and creativity.
An entertaining and at times quite moving film that falls short of being a really satisfying documentary for two reasons: firstly, despite his constant ghostly presence through archive footage, and his wandering around in the background while his parents are interviewed, Daniel Johnston isn’t interviewed for this movie – why? We know so much about him through tapes he sent to friends in lieu of letters and through his artwork and his music, to be denied hearing his thoughts and feelings in a contemporary interview seems a shame. Secondly, the wealth of audio information seems to dictate the visual content, which doesn’t always make for riveting viewing. Watching a tape go round once while you hear its contents is fine, but it seems that for much of the movie we’re watching tape spool from one reel to another. Those criticisms aside, Johnston is certainly a fascinating subject and his naïve passage through the indie music world says much about how the artistic world views mental health and the links between madness and creativity.
