The Devil & Daniel Johnston (Documentary)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Documentary: B+

 

 

It has been years now since the Documentary has broken its reputation for being boring.  In real life, many great documentaries had been made, theatrical and for television.  In the resent rush for gold in making money on them, some great works have surfaced, particularly in politics and music.  At a time when the Rock genre has been in decline and challenged by new, often post-modern forms, some have been interesting explorations of creativity and the culture.  One of the most striking yet is Jeff Feuerzeig’s remarkable The Devil & Daniel Johnston (2005).

 

The story begins as a look at a still often unknown writer who has had his music covered by great acts like Pearl Jam, Wilco, Sonic Youth and Beck.  A child prodigy from a religious background, whose imagination was exceptional and showed great early critical, artistic and commercial promise in his own right in his early years, Daniel loved visuals and loved sound.  Music and talking both had their own special dynamics and he also loved comic books.  The place he lived might not have been the most conducive for creativity and progress, but it seemed the world might just be coming to him.

 

Then, a few things happened.  He was having some emotional troubles, which were later discovered to be a severe form of Manic Depressive illness.  Finally, in the most fateful mistake of his life, he used LSD and he went over the edge.  From that time and decades later, he began to think the actual Satan was after him and it surfaced in the most profound ways in his life, work, personality and sometimes with near fatal results.

 

As one watches, we see how trivialized and stigmatized mental illness is to the point where it is hurting and even killing the most vulnerable.  So many of the hear misses and that he had to suffer and still does to this day is partly caused by this ignorance.  Even when one major mental hospital tells his parents he was on the wrong medication, it seems no one finds the right one, LSD notwithstanding.  Like many patients who do not want to face reality, they talk themselves into not taking their prescription(s) because “they feel fine” and drop it.

 

Yet through all this, he has somehow survived the highs and lows personally and in his oft-kilter career.  There is the most artist-friendly contract maybe of all time, the album release, the potential better tomorrows, the darkest hours, awful incidents and other struggles.  Forget the tired Van Gogh pop-psychology trips.  This is a powerful story about a struggling artist and struggling human being who in one sad way is forever trapped, yet has also found freedom ironically few will ever know.  A great singer once said we all have pain, that we all have our mortality and humanity.  American Pop Culture and angry media makes (especially since the 1980s) the invisible, insidious demand to ignore that, which becomes the root of a majority of our problems.  The Devil & Daniel Johnston reminds us of just how foolish that is and what can be lost.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image varies in quality with a variety of analog video formats, film types, stills and terrific new Super 16mm film footage.  This is edited very well and adds to the impact of the work.  There is a well-edited mix of stills, old and new video form other sources and Daniel’s extensive private film archive.  The new film looks great, but the other footage does not always holdup to it.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is decent for a documentary, with the new audio well recorded and insertion of music good.  The combination is pleasant enough.

 

Extras are many and include a very enthusiastic audio commentary track by director Feuerzeig & producer Henry S. Rosenthal, Daniel’s audio diaries form his extensive analog audio cassette tape collection, a segment of some of his films dubbed Cinema Of Daniel Johnston, Sundance World Premiere featurette, Daniel’s reunion with longtime lost love Laurie, Daniel’s legendary WFMU radio broadcast and a fine set of deleted scenes that often you will wish had stayed in the film.  This is a must-see work and one of the best of the year!

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo