The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)

August 7, 2023 10:49 AM

[TRAILER] Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love.

A film by Jeff Feuerzeig.

88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.


Justwatch.

box was kind enough to support MeFi with a donation. Their request was for six films about musicians, either biopics or doc. That was too easy, so I'm doing six of each. I'll be using the tag #MusicianStories

Donate $25 or more to MeFi and you can MeMail me a request for a themed day of your own. I'll fill up the sidebar on FF with six movies that fit your theme.

posted by DirtyOldTown (1 comment total)

Oh man, I saw this. I thought so much about it, about the kind of ableism that Johnson would face today -- and did face, of course, in his time. But in the world of TikTok and Instagram, how would an artist fare if he had a permanent stain on his shirt because of his saliva? (Or Wesley Willis with the permanent bruise from bumping his head?)

I also had complex feelings about the portrayal of his fixations on and occasional harassment of women. I don't remember that he did anything malicious to a woman, but it's been a few years since I saw this, and even if not, it must have been difficult to bear his obsession.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:52 PM on August 7, 2023 [1 favorite]