Waste of Money.

One of my all time favorites.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The struggle of an artist battling against his own demons has long been played out in both the movies and reality. Musicians such as Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and Jim Morrison fought against drug and alcohol addiction and led to their lives being played out on screen. They suffered for choices they made. Daniel Johnston, a cult figure and genius songwriter, battled with mental illness for most of his life. His art both benefited and suffered for his affliction. But Johnston was helpless of his fate. His mental instability deepened as his fame grew, and it's all captured in detail in this wonderful documentary.Daniel Johnston was always a strange child, growing up with a seemingly obsessive compulsion for art, and later to music. He was vastly creative, inspired and individual in his output. When he decided that he wanted to be a musician and be famous, his produced an album on tape, and advertised his work to producers and writers, and blew everyone away. Always influenced by his muse - a girl he fell in love with at college and never saw again - his songs were tortured and heart- rendering, yet joyous and upbeat. But his increasingly unstable mental state put his career on hold. After indulging in marijuana and LSD, he was submitted to a mental hospital after attacking his friend with a lead pipe. And so began Daniel Johnston's tragic public decline, as he alienated himself from his family and friends, and intensified his obsession with God, and ultimately, the Devil.I had never heard of Daniel Johnston's music before this film. His music is not for everyone's taste - his voice is high-pitched and unbalanced, and his techniques non-conformal and almost old-school - but no-one could deny the tortured genius behind it. Seeing him go on stage for the first time, all skinny and uncomfortable, glancing nervously at the camera every now and then, there was something awe-inspiring about him. It makes it all the heart-breaking to see him now, bloated and old, physically damaged by his mental illness. And yet his thirst for art remains.There are plenty of bio-documentaries and music documentaries out there that are capable of blowing you away (Gimme Shelter and The Last Waltz come immediately to mind), but although this is a great music documentary, it just as brilliant as a serious portrayal of the devastating effects of mental illness. As Johnston had the nack of recording practically everything he did on tape, we get to witness almost first hand his life and breakdown. There are early tapes of him arguing with his mother, and phone calls asking him to wash the graffiti he did on the Statue of Liberty. We also hear troubled calls from his loved ones and friends, and hear the effect it was having on them. One friend states that the troubled genius's of the past, like Van Gogh, are fascinating to read about and amplifies their God-like status. But no- one living has ever had to live with them, and witness it unfold before their eyes.An excellent documentary that really gets to the heart of it's subject. And I'll definitely be hunting down Daniel Johnston's work.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Everyone I talked too about this documentary said it was one of the best and a must see. I however, strongly disagree.First off. It's just OK. It's not like this incredible film thats worth rushing out and seeing. It's shot pretty plainly, and I actually thought the reenactments of what happened in Daniels life was kind of cheesy and took away from the film.Secondly, how can people honestly believe that this guy is an incredible artist? He sings the same type of formulated love songs over and over, lyrically he's sub par (to even compare him to Brian Wilson is an insult), and overall is just very bland. To me thats like saying Wesley Willis was an innovative genius. I don't think anyone really had the heart to tell this "artist" he didn't really have an abundant amount of talent. His art was interesting but it was the same blasé bullshit of someone who is mental disturbed. They compare him in the film to some incredible artists such like Sylvia Plath. That was pretty insulting.Overall the film is just OK. It doesn't really explain why Daniel is so crazy. He's defiantly someone struggling to become something he's not. It's not really worth a look unless your a die hard pretentious music snob. (ya know, "oh man the only good sonic youth album is day dream nation." Those kinds of folks.) Daniel Johnston WAS crazy. Big deal. It's not something worth glamorizing.

Sorry folks there is no genius in Daniel Johnston. As an illustrator he's got some talent. Genius no. There was one or more of those in the colleges I attended. Even better. Musically he's a hack. His writing is immature at best. And his singing is uncontrolled noise. To subject an audience to this kind of mumble jumble and try to pull it off as genius in insulting. By the end I didn't even feel sorry for him. I'm glad he has parents that are supportive and caring. But lets call it what it is. A bi-polar uncontrolled somewhat talented man who may have been a good artist if he were stable enough to be disciplined. Just because you cut off your ear doesn't make you a Van Gogh.

I watched this knowing that I am not a big fan of the music of Daniel Johnston, but found it ceaselessly moving and fascinating. No just because of Daniel's unstoppable creativity and heartbreaking slump into ever increasing circles of mental illness, but because of the honesty of people around him. Saying that they were scared, that they just wanted him to go to hospital and get better, the truth... I really thought this film would be a bog standard "worship the romantic tortured genius" thing, but it actually gave you a really authentic feeling of how terrifying and uncontrollable mental illness truly is. Also, let's see more Daniel Johnston cartoons, the bit with the eye ball flying out of the head on the stack of comic books was absolute genius.