The Devil and Daniel Johnston

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source: The Devil and Daniel Johnston

I don't know how to feel about this movie. A friend of mine recommended it and described as "life changing". She happens to a great musician and has similar challenges with life, as do I. I think there is a tendency to romanticize the mentally unbalanced artist. I couldn't help thinking of Kurt Cobain throughout this movie, even before I knew that Daniel influenced his music. Every decade is a reaction to the decade the preceded (or century, day, millennium, whatever) and the 90's was a reaction to the sickeningly sweet optimism and perkiness of the shiny 80's. The 90's was about angst and pain and suffering and ugliness. It seems Daniel was the poster child for these moping musicians. Now don't get me wrong, I've done my share of moping, and I am a musician but I fight it every single day, it is a useless state to be in, and yet people like Daniel and Kurt wallow in it every single day, they practically bathe in it. It's not healthy, as demonstrated by the death of Kurt and of Daniels many breakdowns. The people that glorify this pain are doing more harm than good. I think the ones that do have a romantic notion of emotional pain, they must not know it, truly know it, because unrequited love might make for good songs, but it's a shitty thing to happen, I can't actually think of anything worse emotionally. At least Daniel turned these feelings into somewhat happy music (which might be where the bittersweetness comes from, the sad lyrics over major chords). I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder (perhaps that is where the eye obsession comes from) and I agree that a lot of his lyrics are quite brilliant "following my broken dreams" is one hell of a line. I have to say though that his art work I don't understand, I suppose it's supposed to match the lo-fi music, but I don't think it's very good. I guess if you are a fan of Daniel, this movie must be like a wet dream, similar to the Dogtown and Z-boys doc, which had buckets of archival footage, this movie has more archival footage and audio tapes than you could possibly hope for. It's almost as if Daniel was anticipating a film being made about him and was documenting his life in preparation. I feel as though these filmmakers are also probably big Cobain fans and probably secretly hoped that had such a treasure trove of his life. After seeing this movie I suddenly feel bad that I don't have similar archival material of my early days, in fact I recently through out a whole bunch of my early tapes I used to mail to my friend who lived in another city. Then again, I saved the good stuff, most of it wasn't any good. Is Daniel Johnston a genius? Well the filmmakers and his fans obviously think so. I can only think of all the brilliant musicians I know that are 100 times better who are playing in bars or in their basement and never get to Scandanavia or have music execs battle over them and give them dream recording contracts. It seems that the myth of Daniel is stronger than the actual person, who actually seems quite sad really, much like Kurt was. I am happy that he was able to move out of parents basement though (as revealed in the commentary) and able to buy a house. And he is still playing music, which is important. Oh well, i've run out of things to say. Pain is pain.

Tuesday April 11, 7:00pm The Varsity "The best summer I ever had, I had a flat tire down memory lane." The final shot of Daniel Johnston in Jeff Feuerzig's bio-doc about the "cult hero and all- American weirdo" is of Johnston in a white sheet and Casper Halloween mask. The image is strongly reminiscent of a photographic series by the brilliant and tragic Diane Arbus. It leaves the viewer with a similar sense of the humorous and exotic that is ultimately unsettling. The film follows Johnston from his birth through childhood and adolescence as his creative talents blossom along with profound mental abnormalities. By his early adult years Johnston, occasionally institutionalized, develops a peculiar but compelling song writing style as well as the ability to create truly psychotic drawings. Today Daniel Johnston has become something of a folk legend, thanks to his unlikely survival, his unique abilities and his numerous fans. Funny but disturbing, The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a spectacle of humanity. As entertainment it is traumatizing but hypnotic.

When I saw this I tried to sit and comprehend why anyone thinks this music from this guy is good. The only thing I could come up with is they feel sorry for him. You know how someone shows you a drawing one of the family members did? Sitting on a fridge? Most say how nice it is and wow that's good but deep down you know it's terrible but you be nice and keep a positive vibe towards them to keep them happy. Being honest is not easy to some people. If someone would have been honest to Daniel Johnston a long time ago, he wouldn't be doing this stuff and passing it off as great music and great art. How this guy got on MTV and passed himself off as a great musician is a mystery. Maybe his oddness or tenacity did it but any A&R guy could hear this stuff he puts out and say..."uh...yeah...we pass". Case and Point? He got signed by a major label and sold only a little over 5,000 copies. Why? The music stinks...period. He has another fascinating hobby in that he fancies himself an artist. From what I see in this film a little over 80 to 90 percent of what he does is just copy Captain America Type cartoons and adds odd sayings to the paper. He does have a few pretty interesting self drawn things but not enough IMO to make him even be close to an artist. Again, I think people just placate him to make him happy and such. The crazy guy is a musician and artist. No he's not. The area of this film that really works and works big time is the depiction of a serious paranoid delusional character. Daniel Johnston should be in a textbook under that title. He should be the example...and this film shows you why. This is one guy who's parents should have seen a long time before that he wasn't carrying a full load. Of course the main problems start when, you might guess, he takes a bad trip on LSD and doesn't stop. This probably was the catalyst to do him in completely but you'll see he was a tad off before his fame started. I always believe in telling things like they are. In this film you'll see a lot of rambling lyrics that make no sense and chord changes that don't work and everyone around him saying..."this is great music". Problem is folks...it ain't. His art is marginal at best and again..."this stuff is great". The film hinges on his mental issues. Watch it for that and be aware of what true mental issues are. You'll then know what to look for in the people around you. This is a very cautionary tale.

My wife and I love docs of all sorts and this one did not disappoint. The story is fascinating, and thanks to Johnston's self-absorption there is plenty of material to make it such a true story. Johnston is an engaging character. His history is engrossing and his illness is tragic and curious. The trouble I have with this doc is how people perceive his product. His music is terrible. If I had seen him perform live I would swear he's making that garbage up as he goes along. I don't want to pick on him. Though I do want to pick on all those out there that saw Cobain wearing his shirt and suddenly regarded this poor troubled man as a musical genius. I have great respect for avant-garde and experimental music. I am a huge fan of Mike Patton and Morphine's The Night and many artists that challenge the listener. Johnston is not a genius but is surrounded by people who want him to be one. Everyone wants him to be Van Gogh and everyone wants credit for seeing the brilliance in his childish work. The truth is he is being exploited by his "fans" rather than supported by them. For all my criticism about his music and art I loved this film and if you get a chance see it.

Dang, that was a good film. I felt that it never really got boring or repetitive (maybe slightly toward the end when it seemed to lack a certain rhythm) ---Of course being a documentary there will not necessarily be a a rescue and redemption after a fiery explosion--- Dan Johnston seemed to have the life of a muse--- one that could have all the aforementioned events in his life--- but in general it seemed like a hard long struggle--- someone who continues to pay his dues to the 'art god'--- his pilgrimages and aquatic sermons prove that his level of practice is beyond a rational explanation other than the ordinary 'crazed genius' or 'unfunctional art freak' (possibly a combination of the 2)--- a definite voyage outside of yourself--- the content and cohesiveness of the film transports you out of your own--- and into the life of an very interesting person--- ---LSD may not always help you--- ---i think that was the Christian Right stepping in--- and sure enough --- it really didn't seem like it helped much. Enjoy the Dylanesque and W. Willis Fiasco of an unnerved emotional giant. peace

If, by some chance, you are not familiar with the old Hans Christian Anderson tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes", find a copy and read it before, during or after you view this film. As documentary film-making, I have no question that you have great effort, talent and craftsmanship here. The problem is that the infantile, artless work of the film's subject matter is unbelievably appalling and worthless. The real wonder of the show is the immense volume of praise and adulation that is heaped on the stuff by a great crowd of individuals of all imaginable types. This film strikes me as the most astounding portrait of some sort of mass psychosis ever made. How could all these people be so deluded. Perhaps poor Daniel Johnston would have fared better in life if his inartistic efforts had not been encouraged over the decades.

Biodoc about Daniel Johnston, a multitalented man, a compulsively prolific cartoon artist, song writer and performer, whose bipolar disorder and drug abuse led to episodes of severe mental illness and destructive behaviors, beginning in his early 20s, in the 1980s, problems that stifled his career for many years, until consistent psychiatric care and kindly parental oversight effected a more stable course for him more recently. Now approaching age 45, Johnston has made a comeback of sorts, reaching a level of artistic self control and productivity that has swept him toward unprecedented recognition. This film charts Johnston's life and family, ingeniously assimilating materials made by Johnston himself as a kid and young adult - super 8 and video footage; cassette audiotapes; still photos – as well as contemporary video interviews and stills. By mid-adolescence he was holed up in the basement of his family's home, staying up all hours, writing songs, drawing, making tapes almost nonstop. By his mid-20s he had run away to Austin, Texas, and made a splash on the pop music scene there. But within a year or two, abetted by lots of marijuana and LSD, he began a series of horrendous manic and depressive episodes that scuttled his career, even as he was beginning to receive recognition locally and on a national level. For much of the next 15 years Johnston was hospitalized frequently after extremely dangerous manic episodes (he seriously injured one acquaintance with a lead pipe, and later interfered with control of his father's small aircraft, leading to a crash landing that, luckily, both survived), zoned out on medications, and vegetating at the family home in Waller, Texas. But in the past few years his course has stabilized. He's obese, the result of his mood stabilizing medications and inactivity no doubt, and he's no longer the flamboyant, zany free spirit that titillated and frightened so many of his followers in the past. But the film shows us that he is now in better control of his drawing and singing performances than he ever was years earlier. He has been helped immensely by his parents, Bill and Mabel, now in their early 80s, his agent and owner of a small recording company, Jeff Tartakov, and an Austin music journalist, Louis Black, all of whom have worked hard to help sustain and enhance Johnston's reputation as a creative artist. Their loyal efforts have been well rewarded. The film demonstrates the success of a show of Johnston's more recent drawings at Gallery Zero One in Los Angeles, where over 90% of the works were sold to a single collector before the exhibition even opened. In 2003 Johnston sang before an audience in Sweden that obviously worshiped him. Cartoonist Matt Groening is a fan of Johnston's. Tom Waits and Beck, among many others, have covered his songs. And just a few weeks ago (subsequent to the film) the Whitney Museum in Manhattan announced that Johnston's works would be included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. From a psychiatric perspective, a good case can be made that Johnston does suffer from bipolar disorder. But he was compulsively creating art years before his first episode of mood disorder. Like Vincent Van Gogh and some other compulsive artists, Johnston may also have Asperger's Syndrome. This film is very well crafted until near the end. Actually it seems as if the filmmakers really didn't know how or when to end it. There are a half dozen moments in the last 20 minutes when they could have done so. See more, including examples of Johnston's art work, at these websites: www.museumoflove.com and www.rejectedunknown.com/feature.htm. My grade: B+ 8/10.

I watched this knowing that I am not a big fan of the music of Daniel Johnston, but found it ceaselessly moving and fascinating. No just because of Daniel's unstoppable creativity and heartbreaking slump into ever increasing circles of mental illness, but because of the honesty of people around him. Saying that they were scared, that they just wanted him to go to hospital and get better, the truth... I really thought this film would be a bog standard "worship the romantic tortured genius" thing, but it actually gave you a really authentic feeling of how terrifying and uncontrollable mental illness truly is. Also, let's see more Daniel Johnston cartoons, the bit with the eye ball flying out of the head on the stack of comic books was absolute genius.