Review of The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2006) by Kyle J — 20 Mar 2011

I'd never heard of Daniel Johnston before seeing this film. As it turned out there were some of his songs I recognized, but the enjoyment of this project does not really stem from a love of his music (which is odd and not exactly for mainstream consumption) but rather from the fact that this is an amazing story.

Daniel Johnston is a very disturbed, unique and perhaps brilliant person. His entire life has been documented, mostly by himself on cassette tapes and the director of this film has put it all together into a portrait of a manic genius, or just a disturbed, paranoid man.

It's up to you to decide what you ultimately think of Daniel. But I can guarantee you've never heard a story like this.