It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Folktales are comprised of legends and are seldom rooted in truth. Often, they deify men and make overcoming the impossible seem plausible. Daniel Johnston's life has been riddled with such extreme triumph and tribulations that most would relegate his story to myth, had his journey not been so well documented. It also makes the intrinsic value of his folk music and art that much more valuable. It's easy to write his extensive catalog off as simple work from a simple mind, but after watching the well-orchestrated documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) its evident that Johnstons brilliance is co-morbid with his disabilities. The rudimentary form his craft takes ties into his perceived understanding of the world and leaves his fans bewildered at the profoundness of his genius; especially because all other arenas of his life are plagued by his struggle with manic-depressive behavior and delusions of grandeur. The film, directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, serves as an instrument in helping audiences attain a better understanding of Daniel's disposition by utilizing post-production techniques to imbue the audience with same sense of mania that Johnston lives with from day to day. His disorder bore a neurosis that left behind an abundance of archival ephemera. The authenticity of his a visceral and auditory journaling, though music and other musings, create a first-person perspective through Johnston's eyes, which helps motivate the story when seamlessly woven into the narrative. It helps the audience understand the fantasticness of his irrationality by making them live through these severe circumstances. Presentation of the memorabilia through editing and Feuerzeig's direction also helms psychosis, as the each segment is ripe with strife to the point of cerebral saturation. However, the intensity of the segments are juxtaposed with stagnate close- ups of a tape recorder, where we just hear Daniels unnerving voice talking about the events as he experiences them. The paradox in pace creates the elusive mental-states of eccentricity and depravity in the audience. It's sort of like trying to describe to someone what it feels like to ride a roller-coaster; it's a lot easier just to let them ride themselves. Feuerzeig artfully captures Daniels essence as an unpredictable and mentally unstable individual, yet manages to garner adoration for the protagonist by surmising that Daniel is not the sum of his disorder. This film could have spun in any number of directions, exploiting the travesty's that ensued with Johnston's inherent proclivity toward the eccentric, but the director maintains tact and decency that gave the film a level of material that couldn't be created by any sort of misdirection. As style usually prevails over substance, The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) lags in neither; it's an articulate film about an unarticulable condition.

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

Daniel Johnston's life story is both moving and terrifying. It's so moving to see a person with such a terrible psychiatric condition to become sort of a music legend, to see how people everywhere has come to know him... But it's terrifying as well because all the horrible things he's been through (delusions, nervous breakdowns), he's been through a real hell, and at the end of the movie you barely can help to be moved.Feuerzeig has made a sensitive and respectful portrait of Daniel's life. He's showed us clearly the evolution of Daniel from the day he as born till today: his limitless artistic talent, his hallucinations, his fight against the devil... He also puts clear that there was some people (from the music industry) that tried to use Daniel and after that they threw him like a used plastic bag. Fortunately nowadays Dniel has a peaceful live at his parent's home and he even makes some tour to give his music to people everywhere.Thanks Daniel, and thanks Jeff for showing the world the lucidity of madness.*My rate: 8/10

i understand that the man is crazy but Jesus Christ. do people actually listen to his music? what i don't understand is that he received so much recognition for hideous music. i thought the movie itself was pretty cool, but to be completely honest i had to turn it off because daniel johnstons voice was so atrocious! it was like every 5 minutes you would hear him singing the chorus to one of his 'songs' and it almost drove me insane to hear his voice. how on earth do people listen to that? im sorry daniel johnston but you don't have the talent to be a singer. the artwork isn't bad but believe me, singing is not your best talent....