What is it about mental illness in documentaries? Why would it provide such a solid platform for entertainment? The character at the centre of this documentary is Daniel Johnston, who is now a globally recognised talent. He is a singer/songwriter, performer and artist who drags himself from obscurity to huge success despite, or perhaps because of, extreme mental illness. His manic depression gives him both destructive, violent episodes causing him to attack his manager with a metal pipe, force an old lady to jump from a 2nd storey window and crash a plane (no deaths!) and wildly creative periods where his drawings, paintings and songwriting flow naturally and easily. The marriage of breathtaking creativity with horrendous self-destruction is a common documentary topic, though this is the most extreme I have seen to date (I'm looking to find others so let me know if you have recommendations). What is interesting is that Daniel sits further into the psychosis side than you would expect of someone with this degree of success. He isn't just a bit crazy like Anton Newcombe in Dig! (2004), he has a very serious mental condition, more like the mother in Tarnation (2003). He has bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and manic depression. Of course being unhinged but talented isn't that unusual but its great to get this kind of view of it, rather than just reading later about the inevitable suicide.
Daniel began life as a relatively normal kid with a penchant for home filmmaking and slowly seemed to degrade. From the outside you can see a depressive sheen pulled over his eyes, from the inside it must have been very traumatic. We are treated to copious grainly home video footage and lots of bewildered talking heads, in particular his poor parents as his behaviour becomes more erratic. However, his creativity seems to spike, initially mainly through drawing and painting, and later through composition. Now its worth pointing out at this stage that I'm not a fan of the artwork or the music. I can respect his capabilities but I find the art a bit cartoon-ish and repetitive, and his singing voice too nasal and whiny to enjoy. Also his guitar playing isnt exactly Clapton. But he can certainly write, his lyrics have a self reflective and insightful quality.
He makes his first album and struck by a remarkable certainty and self confidence pushes it on everyone he can. He receives two massive bumps, firstly coverage on MTV and later Kurt Cobain wears a T-Shirt with his album cover. With these occurrences and his infectiously enthusiastic personality he becomes something of a local icon and hero. Unlike all true tortured artists, he is comfortably recognised in his own lifetime. In fact Dylan comparisons start flying around. I find that somewhat sad as Rodriguez in Searching for Sugarman as a similarly damaged artist, though for entirely different reasons, is much more comparable to Dylan. But passing that accolade around undermines it somewhat.
Someone gives him LSD and it all goes disastrously downhill. Demonic possession, launched via a fervent Christian upbringing, becomes his focus and it takes a grip on him entirely. He terrifies his family as he becomes more violent and volatile, leading to the attacks mentioned above. More grainy footage shows him grinning widely while walking away from the light aircraft crash as the police take him away. He feels like he won something...his father, the pilot, despairs. In treatment, while drugged, his creativity disappears. As one of his friends points out, its easy to condemn those who would stifle Van Gogh, but how do you live with someone who has the potential to kill you and everyone you love?
This is the best exposition I have seen of genius and madness as two sides of the same coin. The poor quality home VHS footage is what really makes it work as otherwise the film would be entirely of the selfish lunatic. For that alone its brilliant entertainment. Feuerzeig does Daniel perfect justice in his balanced portrayal; as he gets older its clear that Daniel is so self obsessed that he is a deeply unpleasant person to be around with extreme narcissism. But the overall presentation allows him to be understood for the person he has been through his entire life and therefore to be somewhat sympathetic. Now he is a big lad (as Peter Bradshaw puts it, he has moved on from Sam Rockwell to Jon Lovitz) and while medicated is able to perform, though his writing has tapered off. He just finished a European tour. I missed him in London unfortunately, but since I'm not a huge fan I guess thats ok!
7 / 10
Daniel began life as a relatively normal kid with a penchant for home filmmaking and slowly seemed to degrade. From the outside you can see a depressive sheen pulled over his eyes, from the inside it must have been very traumatic. We are treated to copious grainly home video footage and lots of bewildered talking heads, in particular his poor parents as his behaviour becomes more erratic. However, his creativity seems to spike, initially mainly through drawing and painting, and later through composition. Now its worth pointing out at this stage that I'm not a fan of the artwork or the music. I can respect his capabilities but I find the art a bit cartoon-ish and repetitive, and his singing voice too nasal and whiny to enjoy. Also his guitar playing isnt exactly Clapton. But he can certainly write, his lyrics have a self reflective and insightful quality.
He makes his first album and struck by a remarkable certainty and self confidence pushes it on everyone he can. He receives two massive bumps, firstly coverage on MTV and later Kurt Cobain wears a T-Shirt with his album cover. With these occurrences and his infectiously enthusiastic personality he becomes something of a local icon and hero. Unlike all true tortured artists, he is comfortably recognised in his own lifetime. In fact Dylan comparisons start flying around. I find that somewhat sad as Rodriguez in Searching for Sugarman as a similarly damaged artist, though for entirely different reasons, is much more comparable to Dylan. But passing that accolade around undermines it somewhat.
Someone gives him LSD and it all goes disastrously downhill. Demonic possession, launched via a fervent Christian upbringing, becomes his focus and it takes a grip on him entirely. He terrifies his family as he becomes more violent and volatile, leading to the attacks mentioned above. More grainy footage shows him grinning widely while walking away from the light aircraft crash as the police take him away. He feels like he won something...his father, the pilot, despairs. In treatment, while drugged, his creativity disappears. As one of his friends points out, its easy to condemn those who would stifle Van Gogh, but how do you live with someone who has the potential to kill you and everyone you love?
This is the best exposition I have seen of genius and madness as two sides of the same coin. The poor quality home VHS footage is what really makes it work as otherwise the film would be entirely of the selfish lunatic. For that alone its brilliant entertainment. Feuerzeig does Daniel perfect justice in his balanced portrayal; as he gets older its clear that Daniel is so self obsessed that he is a deeply unpleasant person to be around with extreme narcissism. But the overall presentation allows him to be understood for the person he has been through his entire life and therefore to be somewhat sympathetic. Now he is a big lad (as Peter Bradshaw puts it, he has moved on from Sam Rockwell to Jon Lovitz) and while medicated is able to perform, though his writing has tapered off. He just finished a European tour. I missed him in London unfortunately, but since I'm not a huge fan I guess thats ok!
7 / 10