The Devil & Daniel Johnston

Coincidentally I watched this the same day that the new issue of Focus reported it was Images Cinema’s lowest grossing film of last year, but confirmed their bold judgment in showing it. Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary is exceptionally well-made and should be of interest even to those like myself, who have not even heard of the alt-indie icon who is its subject -- a reedy-voiced, off-key singer-songwriter and outsider artist, who happens to be crazy as a loon but has still managed to achieve a measure of fame and recognition, while shuttling between mental hospitals and the care of his parents and siblings. Reminiscent of Crumb in its depiction of artistic mania, and of Capturing the Friedmans in its canny use of obsessively recorded family life, this film is continuously unsettling and engrossing, a case study that opens out to larger questions of the creative mentality even if one doesn’t buy into the exaggerated claims for Daniel Johnston’s genius. (2006, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-77.)