I finally got to see The Devil and Daniel Johnston yesterday- Jeff Feuerzeig's excellent documentary about the Austin singer-songwriter, his struggles with manic depression, his prolific output of artwork, and his strange personal mythology- both his internal world of comic book characters and demonic forces and the dumbfounding way he stumbled into turning himself into a mythological character. I was amazed to hear a lifetime of dubious anecdotes I had absorbed about Daniel Johnston confirmed in the film- how he landed here during a brief stint as a carnival worker after running away from home; how through sheer persistence and a disarming sincerity he won people over to his music who might otherwise have found it unlistenable, making himself a cult celebrity while still working at McDonalds; how his breakdown into religious paranoia had him once intentionally crashing his fathers passenger plane and had Lee Renaldo and Thurston Moore desperately searching New York and New Jersey in an attempt to rescue him from himself.
Even if you are unfamiliar with, or not a fan of Daniel Johnston's work, this is a great, emotionally engaging film.
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