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Reviews Counted:102
Fresh:90
Rotten:12
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Whether you think this mentally ill cult musician is worthy of being called a "genius," this document of his life is crafted with sincere respect and is fascinating to watch.
Theatrical Release:Mar 31, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Although his appeal barely stretches beyond a small band of obsessives in the tight-knit indie-rock community, the turbulent career of singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston has had more highs and lows... [More]
[The film] may be a paean to a lost 'genius,' but it is also a gritty, involving, warts-and-all tale of celebrity and psychosis that leaves a likely unanswerable question: Were the naive songs of Johnston's youth a window into his soul, or his disease?
Top CriticA delicious character study that attracts and repels.
Demonic and riveting, but I'm still not a fan.
A documentary with all the suspense, comedy, pathos and surprise of a great narrative film...
Feuerzeig recounts it all with clear-eyed candor, turning to Johnston's battered friends and family for insight and empathy and to Johnston's tapes and drawings for an inside look at his illness.
Top CriticA searing, compassionate portrait of chronic mental illness.
Top CriticThe troubled singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston is the subject of an entertaining documentary.
Both riveting and disturbing to watch.
[Johnston's] story opens a window on the nature of art and the power of myth.
This astonishingly well-made movie stubbornly refuses to ask some important questions. Are we watching mental illness as performance art?
Feuerzeig's film is as good a portrait of the artist as a beloved basket case as you'll see, but it's kept from greatness by the questions it refuses to ask itself.
Top CriticWhat makes Devil fascinating is the harrowing arc of Johnston’s life. This is a story of youthful promise undermined by horrendous mental illness.
If Johnston is Joe Buck, Feuerzeig is his rambling, audacious Enrico Rizzo.
To share Feuerzeig’s loving investigation is to share an insightful study of the destructive and creative capabilities of the mind.
Resembles Crumb in its depiction of damaged souls whose only refuge is art.
It's little more than a decently-compiled, fan-inspired research project as opposed to something organically resonant or artful.
While Feuerzeig's film works as a discourse on the links between art and mental illness, his subject remains a head-scratcher...Daniel Johnston is obviously a legend in his own mind, but how did he garner musical legends as his fans?
The combination of Daniel's personal life and professional career makes for interesting viewing for the first 80 minutes.
Brilliantly illustrates how Johnston's innate musical genius was virtually inseparable from his illness.
You don't need to be Einstein to know that not all geniuses are mad. More to the relative point, not all madmen are geniuses.
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