Some consider Daniel Johnston a genius. Director/writer Jeff Feuerzeig has created a film about the troubled musician and painter that believes so too. Johnston was a typical artistic teen, who made films, drew in notebooks and wrote songs. When he reached college, he started developing the first signs of manic depression, which would define the rest of his life.
Johnston believed at an early age that he was destined to become famous. In college, he became obsessed with a pretty girl named Laurie Allen. However, she was already dating a mortician student, who she would later marry. Two decades later, Johnston still writes songs about her today. Once his parents believed graduating from college was an impossible task for him, Johnston bounced from relative to relative, where he continued to write music. One day, Johnston ran away and joined the carnival. A bizarre incident would leave him stranded in Austin, where he quickly inserted himself into the local music scene. When MTV came to town, he inserted himself on the air too. He was on the rise, but his mental illness just knocked him down time and time again.
As a teen, Johnston had a love-hate relationship with his mother. The film shows us some of the films Johnston made where he would take audio recordings of his mother laying into him and he would film himself performing an exaggerated version of his mom. But his parents Bill and Mabel just want Daniel to be able to take care of himself, however, his mental illness demands that he have constant care. Bill says that the time in the morning before Daniel wakes up is the time of the day they most look forward to. Feuerzeig does good job of portraying how painful Daniel's illness is for his parents. Bill, who is a pilot, breaks down at one moment when he retells the tale of the time Daniel threw the keys of his plane out the window and took the wheel while they were still in the air.
Many famous bands admired Johnston's music. Sonic Youth found out first hand how troubled this man was when he came to New York. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana helped Johnston get a great deal of press by wearing his t-shirt for months. Jad Fair of Half Japanese recorded with Johnston. Johnston is quite excited when SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening turns up for one of his shows.
At one point, Johnston had the chance to sign one of the most artist-friendly record contracts in history… but once again his mental illness got in the way. We learn that it's not easy to be Johnston's manager. Johnston fears that his parents are going to send him to a mental institution. His friends try to understand him as a "tortured genius," but they even get to the point where they feel institutionalization is best.
Feuerzeig does a good job of painting a colorful portrait of this complex person. However, toward the end, he gets a bit too revelatory toward his subject. Johnston has talent. His lyrics are often deceptively poignant at times. There is a sad irony to the fact that when Johnston goes on meds, he has a harder time writing songs. However, his paranoia and delusions make it unsafe for him not to be on meds. Nonetheless, there is a glimmer of hope that emerges from his work. Now, it seems that he has made progress and is able to tour from time to time. When we see the smile on his face when he performs before a receptive live audience, you see a man who has attained his dreams. And that's not a sad thing at all.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
