I first watched The Devil And Daniel Johnston on IFC late one night when I had to get up for work at 7:00 AM. I watched the documentary until 3:30 in the morning. It was one of the most memorable documentaries I have ever seen. Daniel Johnston is a singer/songwriter and artist and sometime filmmaker done made his name on the back of a series of self-produced, self-recorded, self-analyzing cassette tapes filled with beautiful, fragile, pop songs recorded on tape decks hung over chord organs in basements reeking of religious mania, loneliness and frustration.
He sings songs about King Kong and Casper The Friendly Ghost and of the unrequited love for an undertaker's wife (the near-mythic Laurie) informs his work to this very day. He sang in a high-pitched child-like voice wrapped round a series of gorgeous, disarmingly simple melodies, and dabbles in preoccupations like Satan, Christianity, lost love. Daniel is self-proclaimed very ill of the mind, living with his parents who care for him and make sure he stays on his medication and take him to the supermarket once a week, when he isn't off touring the art-galleries and music halls of the world. The documentary incorporates home movies, cassette tape recordings, animation, performance footage, fresh interview material and Johnston's own super-8 short films for to create a dazzling tapestry runs the very width and breadth of Daniel Johnston's life and work and illness.
Once you meet Daniel, you will never forget Daniel. I highly recommend letting him into your life.
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