The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) User Reviews

One of my favorite documentaries ever

[Hindinwood · 9/10 · 10 November 2005]

I had the opportunity to see this film several days ago while working at the American Film Market, and I have been telling everyone I know to see it. I'm not sure what the deal is with a wide release, but everyone who loves documentary should see this one when it comes out.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the title character, Daniel Johnston is a manic- depressive artist/musician who currently resides in Waller, Texas with his elderly parents. I had been a fan of his music for sometime, and also having lived in Austin, had been aware of his status as a local fixture, but there was so much fascinating information divulged in this film that I never knew about. The film spans the life (up to the present) of this incredibly complex person, who truly resides in a world of his own creation. It's clear that the filmmaker has a deep appreciation and love for Johnston's work, and his world is painstakingly brought to life through animation, recreation, and wonderfully edited home movies and audio cassette tapes. His friends and family also offer insight into the various events which were pivotal in Johnston's life.

The wealth of self-documentation that Johnston has created over his life, starting from childhood, is one of the things that makes this film truly magnificent. Over the years, we can literally see this person change before our eyes, as though gradually being claimed by a dark force. The "dark force" in this case is manic depression; metaphorically The Devil for Johnston, who is a devout Christian. Johnston's struggle to connect with people he loves through the fog of his illness is devastating. While this can be difficult to watch (at least for me), there is the powerful reward of the music and drawings that Johnston has produced throughout, both in spite of and as a direct result of this struggle. That something heartbreakingly beautiful in it's simplicity and honestly can come from such a terrible struggle, is what makes this story and this film remarkable.

Genius and Madness

[marobertson · 9/10 · 6 March 2006]

Many of the great artists of history have suffered from some form of mental disorder, and we often find ourselves fascinated both by their brilliance and their madness. Of course, as this documentary points out, none of us ever had to actually live with a Van Gogh or a Lord Byron and deal with the real world consequences of what went on in their heads.

In The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jeff Feuerzeig gives us a rare glimpse into the tortured mind of just such brilliant artist by effectively combining interviews from those who have known Daniel Johnston best with Johnston's own internal monologue. Feuerzeig achieves the latter because, apart from recording hundreds of songs on cassette tapes, Daniel recorded much of his life; from his mother screaming at him as a teenager to his arrest by park officials for painting Jesus fish on the Statue of Liberty to Johnston reading aloud about his own mental illness from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Many people came to know Daniel Johnston's work in the early 90s when Kurt Cobain famously called him the "greatest songwriter on Earth" and wore a t-shirt with an image from one of Johnston's hand-drawn album covers on the MTV Video Music Awards. Johnston's raw and introspective songs were subsequently covered by Nirvana, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, Beck, and many others. Sadly, just as his music was making inroads into the popular consciousness Johnston's mental illness worsened (possibly accelerated by heavy LSD use), and his career and life entered increasingly troubled waters.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston works as a documentary about music, art, and mental illness all at the same time. It grants you unusual access to what's going on inside a the mind of a human being bursting with creative talent while simultaneously struggling to control the demons that haunt him. After watching this, don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to hear more of Daniel Johnston's work.

Troubling story but superb documentary technique

[Chris Knipp · 9/10 · 31 March 2006]

For a crazy person, Daniel Johnston – a manic-depressive from West Virginia in his forties now an obese chain-smoker on heavy meds and in the care of his parents, has had a wonderful life and a very creative one as an artist, songwriter and performer who's become a cult figure admired and performed by the likes of Tom Waits, Sonic Youth, and Kurt Cobain. Jeff Feuerzeig, whose title refers to Daniel's constant mental battles with Satan, has provided a rich and sympathetic external portrait; and Johnson's own endless cassette tapes, songs, and drawings (which, used as important sources, can't help bringing to mind such influential recent documentaries as Andrew Jareaki's Capturing the Friedmans and Jonathan Caouette's Tarnation), provide as good a picture of what's going on inside Johnston's head as we're going to get.

Johnston has been celebrated by a long string of artists and become a cult figure to his fans for his purity, innocence, honesty, and raw pain. Like Caouette, he was unappreciated by his parents and particularly his mother, who thought he spent too much time writing songs and drawing pictures when he was young, and called him a "lazy bum" for not doing his chores around the house. His compulsive creativity was never really appreciated by his fundamentalist Christian family, though since thousands of admirers have applauded him at concerts, surely they begin to appreciate it now.

The many films and tapes of him show Daniel was a charming if unstable young man, buoyant, full of fun, uncooperative, laughing – in a teenage film he plays both himself and his abusive mom – and beginning to compose the songs that others have said sum up the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other pop greats, though his voice is tuneless and whiny and his piano playing jangly and when he switched to guitar, that was worse. His parents took him out of college because he wasn't doing well, and put him to work. He didn't like that, so they farmed him out to siblings. Luck brought him to Austin in the early Eighties where he worked in a Macdonald's for a surprising length of time considering that he wasn't good at any of the jobs there (he cleared tables) and he was discovered by music writers, an editor, and a man who became his manager and almost his slave (Jeff Tartakov, the manager he fired, who still devotes his life to distributing copies of his tapes).

Johnston had repeated bouts in mental institutions and became increasingly delusional. A period of heavy LSD use clearly led to one of his worst crises: and yet he can recount all this himself, and his mind seems astonishingly lucid. (This is one of the saddest things about madness: that the mad know they're mad, but can do nothing about it.) For all his crises, the Austin public embraced Johnston and he got top awards for folk singing and song writing – an event that sat ill with some professional musicians at the time, but satisfied the lust for fame that motivated Johnston, who'd been on MTV, and knew how to grab the spotlight better than he knew how to play his guitar.

I can't see the virtue of Johnston's music and drawings, or rather I can, but I disagree with those in the film who insist he's not an outsider artist. He fits that category well; he's just come along at a time when plaintive whining, alienation, and musical primitivism are the rage, and he was taken up by some admirable champions. However, when he finally got a recording contract – drawn up initially when he was in a mental institution – his first album issued by Atlantic Records sold only a few thousand copies and he was dropped in two years, showing that despite stars' covers of his songs, he himself has no mainstream appeal, or ability to work in a professional format either as a musician or a visual artist. Nonetheless Johnston's open nature, his clarity, his sense of the redeeming artistic value of love, and his ceaseless artistic productivity are unmistakable and justify the attention that has been lavished upon him. This doesn't stop his story from being ultimately a sad one. For all his parents' caring in latter years, for all his championing by editors and managers, he cannot function on his own. Since his meds stifle his creativity, he has tended to give them up for two weeks before a public performance, and after one of the biggest ones, when his dad was flying the two of them home in his little plane, he overpowered him and took the controls and they crashed into some trees, barely surviving. Well, I guess all artists are a bit reckless, but it's just a matter of degree.

Making full use of films, tapes, and recent interviews, Jeff Feuerzeig has produced a wonderful film that is as good a document of a man as modern techniques allow. And the enduring popular notions of artistic life as train wreck and artistic genius as mental derangement remain unchallenged.

(Feted at fests in mid to late 2005, The Devil and Daniel Johnston went into limited US release March 31, 2006.)

The right to madness and imagination.

[come2whereimfrom · 8/10 · 18 June 2006]

Surely this is the most moving piece of film about not just a musician but also a portrait of someone who suffers, copes and lives with depression. Cut together with home movies, family photos, concert footage and interviews old and new it tells the extraordinary life of this very talented but tortured artist. There has always been a link between madness and creativity; artists are slightly different, outsiders, free thinkers, they must be a bit mad to make the work they do. But the story of Daniel is one of actual mania, real madness, deep depression and an immense body of work from, films to music to paintings and sketches. It tells it like it is, it shows him at all times falling apart, going in and out of mental hospitals and still working prolifically. The interviews with his parents are very moving as they at times are reduced to tears and lost for words. Seeing Daniel now how he is as apposed to how he was is also a lump in the throat moment. He sits hunched over his piano, staring into space, banging out song after song and smoking cigarette after cigarette it is heartbreakingly fascinating. But putting his mental health to one side for the moment lets focus on the work, Daniel has amassed literally thousands of tapes full of songs and spoken word, he used to make so many films and has an equally large collection of drawings and art. This amount of work is what makes this documentary so good. You can tell the whole story when it has been so well documented like this from the very beginning right up to the present day every part of Daniels journey is either on tape or film whether it was documented by himself or the likes of MTV. So this portrayal is fascinating, heart-warming and sad but it shows the real genius behind Daniels music that has not only sold records on its own merit but has been covered by over 150 of the worlds top recording artists. If you don't know about Daniel Johnston isn't it about time you found out?

Gifted but troubled artist makes a comeback with the aid of loving parents and good psychiatric care

[roland-104 · 8/10 · 1 June 2006]

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.

Documentary Masterpeace

[hareck · 9/10 · 16 February 2005]

I saw this little gem at the Berlinale film festival in Berlin, with the director and the producer present. It is about the life and work of Daniel Johnston, a US singer/songwriter/painter with a manic depressive condition. In opposite to the director and many of the people participating in the movie, I do not regard Daniel Johnston as a genius, but he still is a very interesting character, and some of his songs and paintings are very moving. The film is very well done, quite uplifting and entertaining, with a big love for the main character and at the same time a nice and unoffensive sense of humor. I definitely recommend it, whether you are a fan of Daniel Johnstion or not. 9 out of 10.

One of the best Documentary Films

[lokidog · 10/10 · 7 February 2005]

This film take you on a journey into a creative genius' struggle with life. Daniel Johnston recorded his entire life on cassette tape and his early life on film. Later he appeared on MTV, and in venues in Austin, TX on film and video. These provide the film-maker with a wide array of media for telling this story.

Jeff Feuerzeig weaves this material seamlessly into what is one of the most emotionally wrenching films I've seen in the last year and one of my favorite documentaries ever. It is hard to compare this film with documentaries like those of Michael Moore which are comedic and topical, or those of Errol Morris, which tend to focus on issues and facts. This documentary brings emotional threads and creativity into play in a way that dissolves the usual harsh contrast between a story and it's telling. You forget you are watching a documentary film, and become immersed in Daniel's life. Daniel's effect on those around him is interwoven with his own recordings. His family and friend are there to add to his story to show how his life is reflected upon them. Feuerzeig use of Daniel's parents narrative is simply masterful - it provides important information, and at the same time illustrates the the emotional turmoil his illness causes in the lives of those that love him. Daniel's family is portrayed from the early period of his illness when they have no idea what mental illness really means, to the present time when they become his supporters and advocates. Eventually, family and friend's are shown coming to terms with Daniel's mental illness, and experience their own emotional growth as well.

It deservedly won the Directors Award at Sundance 2005, and I think it would have won the audience award if it had a different play schedule.

disturbed artist

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 19 December 2015]

Daniel Johnston is a singer, songwriter and artist from Austin, Texas. He is brought up in a religious family. He starts getting notice. When MTV comes to town, he barges his way onto the scene. He becomes a known underground artist and then discovered to be manic depressive as his disturbing behavior gets more noticeable.

This documentary uses a lot of home videos and personal testimony from Johnston. It gives a slice of a mad mind. It's a little sad no matter how one feels about Johnston's work. It's too straight forward structurally. In the beginning, it's his childhood but the movie doesn't explain who he is. There is no real drama here. He's a disturbed man with loving parents, fans and some talent.

Legendary song-writer's battles with his manic depression which gives him delusions of the devil that haunts his life.

[stompuhchomp · 10/10 · 27 March 2005]

I saw this at the SXSW movie festival. This movie portrays the legendary song-writer (fans of his consist of: Sonic Youth, Curt Cobain, Beck, etc.), Daniel Johnston's roller-coaster life: through his early recordings in his basement to being on MTV to his battles with manic depression(which caused him to have delusions) to his art and comics and ending up in mental hospitals. Throughout the movie the film looks at Daniel's life through friends and family. Honestly, even if you aren't a fan you'd enjoy it. Even the way it was filmed and put together is so unique it was amazing to watch. A must see for any Daniel Johnston fan.

The Emperor's New Clothes

[david-greene5 · 7/10 · 22 September 2007]

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.

fantastic study of mental illness, and our desire to romanticise

[chrissyresides · 9/10 · 11 January 2007]

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.

romanticizing pain and mental imbalance

[vincent-27 · 7/10 · 14 April 2007]

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.

What???

[BrandtSponseller · 5/10 · 27 November 2006]

Anyone who reads me regularly will probably know that I prefer watching films without knowing anything about them beforehand. Ideally, I don't want to have even the slightest idea about the plot or subject, the cast, or even who the director was. Of course, that's sometimes difficult to do, but as much as possible, I avoid reading or seeing anything about a film before I watch. I want to be a blank slate at the start of a film, without preconceptions.

I had never heard of Daniel Johnston before. So I watched this film for an hour before I finally realized, to my shock, that it's not some kind of Spinal Tap-like joke, which it seemed to be. When I thought it was a joke, I was enjoying it quite a bit. It appeared to be a mockumentary about a fat, dumpy, mentally ill guy whom people were calling a musical genius--"the best singer-songwriter of his generation", even though as we see in some concert footage, he can't really sing, play an instrument or write songs very well. At all.

In further explication of his "genius", we learn that he also did visual art--which were more or less the standard drawings of a kid obsessed with comic books and possessing some natural talent that could be developed. And we learn that he was an aspiring filmmaker. We see the standard young film fanatic kinda home movies--the kid could hold a camera steady and very rudimentarily frame a shot and do some editing. Nothing extraordinary, but again, maybe some talent there that could be developed. But the film kept focusing on his music, which the main character was maybe the most obsessed with, but for which he had absolutely no natural talent. Seemed funny to me, although maybe a bit too subtly executed to be as hilarious as Spinal Tap.

As it went on, however, it seemed to be less funny, and there were an increasing number of scenes that would have cost a fortune to fake. There were people I knew showing up in the film in historical shots, with Daniel inserted in what I thought was a Forrest Gump way. This was happening more and more, so finally, at the hour mark, I had to run to the computer and check the "All Music Guide" to see if maybe there really was a Daniel Johnston, and this wasn't a joke.

What had been mildly amusing and very quirky suddenly became perplexing. It's hard to believe that I'm not being put on. Now, I'm no objectivist on aesthetic value, but it's very difficult--and pretty frustrating--to see what anyone would find attractive about Daniel's music. He seems to only know a couple chords and very stereotypical chord progressions on both piano and guitar, and he can barely change from one chord to the next. His melodies are arbitrary--they're just whatever pitches happen to squeak out of his mouth as he recites his banal lyrics, which utilize "spoon-moon-June"-styled rhyme schemes. He barely understands rhythm. Yes, he's passionate about what he's doing, but so are the vast majority of people who can actually play an instrument, sing and write interesting songs. Johnston is no Syd Barrett. I'm a musician, too, and I could very literally teach anyone, and I mean anyone--learning disabilities and mental disorders or not--who has never touched a musical instrument before to do something comparable to what Daniel does within a week to a month. Why wouldn't they be considered geniuses? Why wouldn't they be well known, be offered record contracts, etc.? For that matter, why am I not considered a genius?

When it comes to Daniel's mental illness (or illnesses, maybe), the film is much more interesting to me, although I haven't known many people with a serious mental illness, so probably there's not that much very unusual about Daniel on that end, either. I did get to know Jaco Pastorius towards the end of his life, and there were some similar problems there behavior-wise (as well as similar problems for the people around him, including trying to have him institutionalized against his will). However, Jaco actually was a musical genius.

On technical terms, The Devil and Daniel Johnston isn't exactly a bad film. Director Jeff Feuerzeig probably didn't have an easy time of it, because he had to piece together a history of Daniel primarily by relying on home movies of poor quality. There are too many shots of cassette tapes and empty locations, but the film is pieced together competently and tells its story well enough. If you're at all a fan of Johnston, you should like The Devil and Daniel Johnston quite a bit.

But this is not the film that I want to see. The film that I want to see is one that explores the psychological and cultural phenomena of how someone like Johnston can come to be considered a genius, how he can come to work with so many artists who truly are gifted, especially when he continually does things to sabotage himself, and especially when not only do many other gifted artists not ever get a break, but any arbitrary person could do what Johnston does. I doubt I'll ever be able to quite figure it out.

(Edit:) Out of curiosity, I later listened to a few tracks from Daniel Johnston's albums--a couple from the early homemade tapes, and a couple from the later more heavily produced stuff. Oddly, the songs I heard, while not great in my view, showed at least some skill musically and vocally. That makes me wonder why Feuerzeig chose the songs that he did for the film, as they show Johnston as completely incompetent musically.

Brian Who?

[Adam_Finkler · 8/10 · 17 May 2006]

"I guess I lean towards the excessive, but that's the way it is when you're a manic depressive." Daniel Johnston In the 80's MTV played music, albeit mostly terrible. There was however, one really good monthly show called "The Cutting Edge." It was not produced by the MTV, but rather by an adventurous music company called IRS. One month they had a special show from Austin, TX. On it, was a live performance from a wonderful singer/songwriter named Daniel Johnston. He had a creaky voice, played guitar amateurishly, and conveyed a real sense of vulnerability. I remember thinking, if I could sing, this is the way I would like to sound.

In Jeff Feuerzeig's (Take that spell check) documentary "The Devil And Daniel Johnston," we get a history of the man. There is only one very short piece interview footage with Daniel, but we get many audio clips of tapes he has taken over the years. We also get interviews with the musicians who admire him, and with his parents, now in their 80's, He is a manic depressive, probably schizophrenic, usually lives with his family, and has been in and out of mental hospitals all his life. His symptoms have occasionally been violent, such as causing the crash of a piloted by his father.

Johnston's parents were very religious. When he got into high school, he was considered an art star. In his 20's, he started playing organ and guitar brother's basement, beginning to record songs independently. Through a series of strange circumstances, he ended up in Austin where he developed a cult following for his homemade tapes and performances.

Then he ended up on MTV. While he never became a big ole' rock star, he did acquire fans such as Sonic Youth, The Butthole Surfers, Glass Eye, Half Japanese, and most notably Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. When Nirvana exploded in the early 90's, Cobain was frequently seen wearing a T-shirt with artwork by Johnston. This affiliation led to a recording contract with Atlantic, which released the album "Fun" in 1994. The album flopped, and he was soon dropped from the label.

One interesting side story in the film is the relationship with Johnston's one time manager. He frequently helped Johnston when he was in trouble, and remained devoted to his music, even after Johnston fired him. He is compared to the title character in Woody Allen's "Broadway Danny Rose," a talent manager who handles hopeless acts and is deserted by any of them who become successful. He is still involved in getting Johnston's music out to the public.

Cut to the present. Johnston meets a local band that admire him and they start jamming together. The lead guitarist is seen wearing a shirt that says "F**k Satan." (This is probably the only reason for the film's PG13 rating.) Johnston's old recordings that were previously only available on cassettes and vinyl are now finally being released on CD, and he has a new album coming out. His artwork is wildly successful. Unfortunately he is now morbidly obese, diabetic, and smokes three packs of cigarettes a day.

My only criticism of the film is that there weren't enough musical performances. Also, there could have been more interviews with the title subject. However, these are minor quibbles. Hopefully the film will expose his music to a much larger audience.

The Story Of An Artist Or Frankenstien Vs. The World

[loganx-2 · 10/10 · 30 July 2008]

Wasn't a fan, before this. I was coming in because I heard it was good movie, in of itself, and it is, it's a great, haunting and hilarious documentary. I don't think Daniel Johnston is the greatest living song-writer, but I can see a definite line of influences that can be traced back to his music and sensibilities, that are important enough.

Whether or not you like his music or art, isn't really the point, it's an amazing story, of love, fame, madness, art, religion, family, and community (it takes a village to raise a child, and an small army to keep Johnstn just alive and functioning, not to mention getting his work distributed).

Though in the end it's more bittersweet, than tragic, Jonston's still alive, living with his parents, writing songs to a girl he hasn't seen since college, jamming with kids off the street, and of course, fighting off the devil.

A fascinating look at mental illness

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 20 February 2008]

The first section of the film has to do with the early life of Daniel Johnston as well as his being discovered by the musical world in the 1980s. Most of this didn't interest me at all--especially because I hated his music. When the film tried to convince me of his genius, it completely lost me, as he sounded just awful and hurt my ears (though I do acknowledge that he does have a small cult following who see him as a great genius). He definitely is not nor ever has been "mainstream" and this section of the film was poor compared to the last 3/4 of the film. It just didn't do much to compel the average viewer.

However, when it talked about his descent into madness, then the film came to life and became much more compelling. This section of the film was much longer and seemed to be the most important point of this documentary. The impact on Daniel, his family and those around him was profound and very sad to watch.

Because of my background, I have additional insight into the psychiatric state of Daniel Johnston during the film. As I watched, I noticed that although the film mentions that Daniel had "Manic-Depressive Disorder" (i.e., Bipolar Disorder), there was compelling evidence that a more correct diagnosis might have been a Schizoaffective Disorder. In essence, this is Bipolar Disorder along with Schizophrenia, as Daniel's behaviors and thinking always have a bizarreness that isn't classic "mania"--where you'd typically see bizarreness mostly during manic stages. He was so disorganized, occasionally hostile and had such bizarre thinking that this seems like the correct diagnosis instead of Bipolar Disorder. His talking about demons and obsession with his own self-styled religion is just plain weird. Additionally, the hospital prescribing Haldol is indicative of a more severe thought disorder. Normally, with a Bipolar Disorder, they would prescribe antidepressants or Lithium--not a severe mind-altering drug like Haldol. Haldol is practically an elephant tranquilizer and patients on it often are somewhat zombie-like--and it's often given to violent and severely psychotic patients in emergency rooms.

Late in the film, there was an emphasis on Daniel's artwork--not just his music. Despite many declaring it to be great, I found it fascinating because it gave great insight into Daniel's twisted vision of the world--with drawings of devils, monsters and a man whose head is cut in half (a representation of himself). Did I think it was "great"? No--far from it, but the insight it gave was incredible. And, at times, the claims others made about his greatness seemed a bit like hyperbole (saying he was the equal to Brian Wilson for example).

A fascinating film that was well-constructed--using audio tapes, video, interviews and a few scenes of Daniel today. Well made and worth a look.

Lived = Devil

[thetvdirector · 9/10 · 28 December 2018]

When you can't decide if you're fighting your demons or you are the demon, you have the film "The Devil and Daniel Johnston".

Terrible music...average artist...schizophrenic...three is not a charm

[nomoons11 · 7/10 · 17 April 2012]

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.

Genius doc, not genius music/art

[markbgordon · 8/10 · 9 October 2006]

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.

religious right and the poet

[thelastonehere · 31 August 2005]

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

Good indie music doc

[DJJOEINC · 7/10 · 20 May 2007]

The Devil and Daniel Johnston -ok I have seen this movie before(Jandek/Wesley Willis promo reel/Rodney on the Roq)- but this movie about the creative outsider artist Daniel Johnston was well done and kept my interest the whole time.Mixing his drawings,home movies and cassette recordings with recollections by his friends and family.A lifelong Beatles fan -he started by writing songs and playing them on his piano- then he moved to Austin and switched to guitar- his approach to music is very stripped down- and not an easy listen at first- but when he is in the zone- there is a simple beauty to his pain-his voice while not conventionaly pretty or always pitch-perfect is so honest and bracing that it reeled me right in.The movie captured his brief glimpses into fame( hijacking a MTV BBQ and getting his name out) to his struggles with his manic depression - including a harrowing plane ride with his father.The DVD has some great extras also- including 3 of Daniel's early short films,his first meeting with his college muse in a decade and an broadcast on WFMU.A good documentary with tons of extras. B+

Wonderful

[shebegiko · 10/10 · 4 April 2006]

What a film!

FINALLY someone portrays severe manic depression as it truly occurs... This film shows it's connection to creativity, and misery.

Daniel Johnston has talent, although some reviewers here seem to think that reviewing this documentary is akin to critiquing his talent...and why that is may be reason for yet another film...just a need to be critical? I wonder what label that personality trait will get someday...

Anyway...Putting aside a discussion of whether or not the main character has talent or not...unfortunately, the best expressions of his song-writing talents occurred in his younger years, before mental illness took it's toll on his brain and body. So, to appease the excessively- critical amongst us, it would have been better to see some of the mainstream artists doing covers of his better stuff...perhaps in the DVD?

Well - He his actually now 'well-known' for his drawings, which have been shown internationally, and for good reasons - they are unique and fascinating.

Back to the film...

It's simple to critique this one!:

As has been said by an award-winning Director, "I go to the movies to laugh, to cry, and to be scared."

And, YES....This one did it all.

Appropriate, absorbing documentary chronicling one ill artist

[oneloveall · 7/10 · 15 September 2006]

Wheather or not you become a fan of mentally unstable, subconscious folk hero Daniel Johnston and his raw, unsettling take on pop is besides the point (which does have it's own interesting arguments and ramifications from the underground's embracing this man's music). What sets this documentary apart from other eccentric portraits of the (somewhat unstable)artist is the personal connection one makes with the misfiring neurons taking place underneath Johnston's skull in his spirited performances, both musically and verbally. Painstaking detail is brought forth to document this fascinating character's decline from eccentric Dylan-like folkster, to diluted Beatles/Jesus menace. Using an arsenal of home videos, interviews, and drawing from a wealth of material from Daniel's own music and art collection, Jeff Feuerzeig whips up the frenzied, fractured homage perfectly fitting for our tragic anti-hero, and safe enough for all of us viewing at home to merely gleam enough morbid romanticism without indulging the negativity inherent in such a story.

eh... really?

[GrossFlick21 · 5/10 · 27 November 2007]

Everyone I talked too about this documentary said it was one of the best and a must see. I however, strongly disagree.

First off. It's just OK. It's not like this incredible film thats worth rushing out and seeing. It's shot pretty plainly, and I actually thought the reenactments of what happened in Daniels life was kind of cheesy and took away from the film.

Secondly, how can people honestly believe that this guy is an incredible artist? He sings the same type of formulated love songs over and over, lyrically he's sub par (to even compare him to Brian Wilson is an insult), and overall is just very bland. To me thats like saying Wesley Willis was an innovative genius. I don't think anyone really had the heart to tell this "artist" he didn't really have an abundant amount of talent. His art was interesting but it was the same blasé bullshit of someone who is mental disturbed. They compare him in the film to some incredible artists such like Sylvia Plath. That was pretty insulting.

Overall the film is just OK. It doesn't really explain why Daniel is so crazy. He's defiantly someone struggling to become something he's not. It's not really worth a look unless your a die hard pretentious music snob. (ya know, "oh man the only good sonic youth album is day dream nation." Those kinds of folks.) Daniel Johnston WAS crazy. Big deal. It's not something worth glamorizing.

A great movie

[nmllover2003 · 10/10 · 9 June 2006]

I've never heard Daniel Johnston's name before seeing a trailer for this movie. My curiosity was piqued and I have to say, this movie was an incredible "accidental" find on my part. The story of his life, the way the movie was produced, are really touching and really makes one realize the artistic talent of this man and the impact of a mental illness (and it's treatment) can have on his life and his art. I am now a Daniel Johnston fan, as I think his music is fantastic - he isn't the best singer, but the songwriting is phenomenal. It is good to see some of the artists whom he has worked with and who have performed his songs. Because of his talent, I hope this movie helps build more fans of his songs and art and help his career skyrocket, as it should.