mini review of The Devil and Daniel Johnston

[urbpan]

An eccentric and possibly brilliant songwriter insists on being a celebrity, despite falling somewhere between awkward and unbearable as a performer. Above all, Daniel Johnston's story is remarkable for the many times that it could have ended in tragedy, but did not--yet. His mental illness may drive his art, but it takes him from parent's basement to carnival to mental hospital to street to jail to plane crash back to mental hospital and, finally, parents' basement. Unfortunately the filmmakers have done an inadequate job of convincing us of their subject's genius. That job will have to be undertaken by those singers and bands who perform his songs in the decades to come.

(3 stars on netflix)
(3 1/2 stars on movielens)