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THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Singer-songwriter-artist Daniel Johnston is observed in this documentary examining his history of mental problems and his problems of dealing with his own success. I viewed this as an outsider to his subculture and the film offered me little. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
Daniel Johnston's art and music is an acquired taste. I have not acquired it. His style of music and his artwork undeniably has fans and they are the people for whom this film is intended. I had never heard of him on seeing the film and I have to say I cannot judge him because the value of his accomplishments are lost on me. People who see this movie having some idea who Johnston is and what his importance is will have different attitudes. Outside of that subculture the viewer may well be led to assume, like I did, that this is a man who has wrecked his life and who did not use his talents toward anything that impresses me as an outsider. The film covers his life as he suffers great emotional pain and causes others even more pain. Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary about Daniel Johnston is in some ways reminiscent of Terry Zwigoff's CRUMB. Daniel Johnston is not really someone it is pleasant to be around.
The film traces Johnston's development as a boy in New Cumberland, West Virginia, who made humorous amateur movies about his life and his art and cartooning. He meets and breaks up with Laurie whom he considers the love of his life. She ends up married to an undertaker, a turn of fate that strongly influenced his songs.
His style is to write songs inspired by his life's misfortunes and to hand-draw his label, lettering the song titles and drawing little cartoons to illustrate. His most famous is a frog with long eyestalks. His musical style is as raw as his cassette covers. The film covers chapters in his life when he worked at a carnival and at a McDonalds, gravitating toward the lowest skill tasks.
Finally his music gets featured on MTV. He has attained a sort of success, but he also falls deeply into mental illness. The film covers his honors, the excesses of his illness. His manager muses that hr always wondered how Vincent Van Gogh's family could institutionalize a man of Van Gogh's genius and now the manager found himself having to do something very similar. Johnston took LSD and became obsessed with the Devil and was convinced he is fighting against betrayal and Satanic influences all around him. At times he came near to killing people.
He was institutionalized on more than one occasion and record company officials would have negotiating sessions with him in mental institutions. Today his visual art has become as popular as his music. Both seem primitive in style. His music and art are of selective appeal. (That is a polite way of saying I did not know his art, and it does nothing for me.) I rate this documentary a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10. It gets the job done, but fails to ignite for me.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2006 Mark R. Leeper
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