Premier Rock Forum

Did you see it? You should.

It was very interesting...extremely disturbing at times, occasionally uplifting but really, really sad mostly.

Yeah, fuck you: I cried...

It was a well done documentary. Even if you're not a fan I would recommend seeing this film.

Not crap.

i would like to see this.

I added this to a C/NC on Johnston back on 4/14:

I went to go see the "Devil and Daniel Johnston" documentary tonight- well done, lots and lots of cooperation from all involved, thankfully, very few complete song performances to endure, as I am not in the "Daniel Johnston is a genius" camp.

He's a mess today. Drinks Mountain Dew by the gallon, chain smokes, at least 120 pounds overweight, and medicated into a very slow-moving state.

The biggest surprise was how creative his high school home movies were- more potential there than in music, in my opinion.

The stories of his behavior are pretty incredible. I had heard about the old woman who leaped from her window when Daniel tried to barge into her apartment, but not the story about how he wrestled the controls of his father's plane away from him and caused it to crash land into some trees.

The documentary also contains the most frightening scene in any movie I've seen this year- Gibby Haynes is interviewed during a dental check-up. His teeth make Steve Buscemi's look like Nick Lachey's.

simply wonderful. saw it last night, bought 2 records today. wonderfully sad and yet hopeful story. it's pretty amazing...his life.

His story from his parent's view is a very very sad one.... a life of fear of him doing harm to himself or others.... terribly sad.... that effected me the most.

Very interesting the likeness to Brian Wilson's life (his mom and dad talk about it in the movie as well) and also interesting the similarities of his art work and way of working is to Darger and Guston. You get the sense (as with Darger) that thankfully Daniel had these creative outlets.... a place he could let it all out.... I fear many who share his conditions do not have such a creative outlet to work some things out. That part seemed somewhat uplifting.

Thanks goodness Kathy McCarthy was a big part of the movie (and his life)... could have been so much more sad without her.

For many years people who care about Daniel have worried about what will happen to him if his very elderly parents were to pass on or unable to care for him. They did not address that in the movie.

It would have been a good movie even if Daniel's music was not as good as it is or even if it was not in it at all.... but the way he opens himself up and lets it all out in a very simple yet naturally artful way adds so much.... that he knows what is happening to him and still in most cases sings about such sad things with such hope.... very inspiring...

Very good movie... bring a hanky.

Sad film. I got the feeling that those hipsters Sonic Youth bit off more art than they could chew with Johnston. Very revealing.

Mayfair wrote:For many years people who care about Daniel have worried about what will happen to him if his very elderly parents were to pass on or unable to care for him. They did not address that in the movie.

Tacitly at least, I believe the film did allude to this. I certainly picked up on it by the time it wrapped up. Would referring to this directly have changed the nature of the film? I think it would have. I think the last thing that Johnston and the director would have wanted is to elicit the audience's pity, no?

Anyway, you should all go and watch it.

NOT CRAP.

I missed to see this movie a while ago over her.
I'm a crap !

Very affecting film. Having loved ones that have suffered through manic depression, it was interesting just to see how DJ has coped with it, certainly one of the most extreme cases imaginable.

I was disturbed by some of the people laughing at it/him. I suppose it comes with the territory, though. Mostly it was just very sad, but a few genuinely comic moments.

N/C, and a couple thoughts.

1. I really liked the materiality of the documentary--the piles of cassettes, the grainy super-8 footage, etc, kept things true to the materiality of Johnston's recordings, art, and its reproduction.

The extent of the archival super-8 footage and audio tapes, combined w/ the visual art, physical metamorphosis of Daniel Johnston, and the music were such that Johnston's story had to be told on screen. A book would never cut it: wrong medium. The decision to just shoot close-ups of the audio tapes as they played, eg--perfect.

I got a shiver when the footage of Johnston's recording area in his brother's garage was shown (the weight bench fitted with organ he recorded "chord organ blues" on).


2.

mattw wrote:Very affecting film. Having loved ones that have suffered through manic depression, it was interesting just to see how DJ has coped with it, certainly one of the most extreme cases imaginable.

Yeah, I'm guessing the diagnosis of manic depression Johnston reads (manically) was from an early edition of the DVM, but he seemed full-fledged schizophrenic to me.

3. If others recall, I'd like to hear what you think about the final scene of Johnston dancing around in stereotypical fat, slobbering crazy-guy mode (in his recording space in the stained blue T-shirt)? Upon a little reflection, I thought this was an okay decision and true to Johnston's own manner of letting it all hang out--no pretense. But my girlfriend thought it was kind of objectionable.

4. The Mountain Dew song and, more generally, the way corporate junk food figures in his mania was interesting.

Andrew L. wrote:I'm guessing the diagnosis of manic depression Johnston reads (manically) was from an early edition of the DVM, but he seemed full-fledged schizophrenic to me.

though i haven't seen the film, i will say that it's not uncommon for people with Bipolar Disorder to have delusional thoughts or even hallucinations (both of which, as you pointed out, are usually associated with Schizophrenia). for instance, i have a friend who suffers from bipolar disorder who had a delusional episode and drove from Chicago to St. Louis. for whatever reason, the diagnosis doesn't change. apparently you can have those symptoms, but the chemical imbalance (or is it excess fluid buildup?) isn't the same as it is in schizophrenia.

regarding the film directly: where might i be able to get ahold of a copy? any folks on the near north side (and by that i mean near to me: preferrably Lake County ) willing to lend one out?

thanks.