The Devil and Daniel Johnston

A few weeks ago when I saw a trailer for the upcoming documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston I knew that it would be perfect material for the Clearinghouse blog. No matter what the film portrayed it would necessarily include footage of Daniel’s performances, plenty of his art and music, and would have to address his bipolar disorder. Like a lot of other documentaries about artists and musicians, mental illness was going to play a key role in this life story. I was very curious to see how Daniel, his life and his illness were portrayed in the film. I also really wanted to advertise it, regardless of my opinion of the film, just to support Daniel Johnston’s art and music, of which I’ve been a fan for some time.

The film opened March 31st and will be showing around the country. I’m not sure how wide of a release it will have, but you can check here to see where it’s playing. And there hasn’t been a lack of media coverage either. If you’d like to read a some reviews of the film, take a look at the reviews section of the film’s official website, or even check the New York Times or the Village Voice.

At first I tried to approach the film as a stigma buster, was it a good or bad portrayal of a person with a mental illness? But I found quickly that it’s much more complex than that and can’t quickly be categorized as positive or negative. Some things in this film are stigmatizing or disturbing, unnecessarily magnifying just how violent and out of control Daniel was at times. But many of the interviews show people in Daniel’s life as supportive and encouraging. In fact, everyone except his own family speaks with an enormous amount of respect for his art, his music and his undying urge to continue to create, and even they seem to come around in the end. One of the highlights of the film was learning about negotiations for a fairly large record contract that included unprecedented accommodations for his illness. It is unfortunate that the deal was never signed, could it have made that possible for other musicians?




An important criticism of the film however, is that not nearly enough commentary and footage with the present day Daniel Johnston was included. How does he feel about all that’s gone on in his life? How does he reflect on his success, or the very public nature of his hospitalizations and mental illness? So far I’ve only seen one article that addresses this, a very thoughtful piece on Pitchfork a highly visible music website. I would have liked to hear more from Daniel.

I found this film very different from other documentaries to which its been compared. Other than the filmmaking style, I wouldn’t make many comparisons to those of the past few years that depict mental illness as a main theme. I think this one shares a lot more with films about music history and biographies of bands, particularly last year’s Dig, which followed two bands along very different paths. As a film about the struggles of a musician and artist trying to just be a musician and an artist despite major difficulties, this one is really worth seeing.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

The official Daniel Johnston website


We’d love to read your comments too. Have you seen the film? What did you think?



posted by Jennifer Melinn