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THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
In the middle of his long and strange career, Daniel Johnston found two major record companies furiously bidding over a contract with him, although one of the companies had never even heard his music. Up until that point, his work had been mainly self-distributed. Since he didn't have facilities to copy audio tapes, he would frequently just re-sing all of the songs on the cassette, so each recording was unique. That he had developed such a cult following is definitely a surprise since he can't carry a tune or sing a lick. And his song writing abilities are just as questionable. ("Oh, oh, oh, I'm staying home. I'm walking the cow," starts one of his ditties.) The winning record company dropped him after his first album sold less than six thousand copies. Why he keeps being a called a "musical genius" in the film is something my ears could never understand.
In THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON, a weird movie about a weird subject, we meet Daniel Johnston, a self-described "manic-depressive with grand illusions." A prolific artist who turns out large volumes of cartoon art and folk songs, his fame comes from his irrepressible, in-your-face energy. We follow his entire life story through some very bad quality, old film footage and lots of turning audio cassette tapes that he made earlier. Your reaction will probably be a mixture of why should you care and why is he such a cult icon. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain helped make Daniel famous by wearing a T-shirt with a drawing by Daniel on it
Spending much of his life in mental institutions and some time in jail for his violent behavior, Daniel does provide material for studying the effects of mental illness. Like many mental patients, he makes bad decisions. He stops taking his meds for all the wrong reasons -- he wanted to be able to give better concerts. And he dropped a lot of acid when he was in his twenties.
Early on we are told that his parents were "right-wing Christians" who pushed their religious beliefs on Daniel. Late in his life and in the film we find him obsessed with casting out demons.
When the film ends, the question still remains: Why should we care about this singer who can't sing?
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON runs a long 1:50. It is rated PG-13 for "thematic elements, drug content, and language including a sexual reference" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, March 31, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Century theaters.
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