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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]
Devil turns out to be too indulgent and worshipful a film to justify its length (one hour and 50 minutes, including an interminable section on Johnston in high school), much less hold our attention for the duration.
Top CriticAs for the serious fans of his work, well, maybe I'm not getting something, but they seem like the craziest people in the movie.
The cinematography and editing are often far more creative than the aptly utilitarian work frequently found in biographical documentaries...
'The Devil and Daniel Johnston' is a documentary that will haunt you all the way home, and into the night.
This mesmerizing documentary about the cult musician (his enthusiastic fans include indie-rock royalty like Sonic Youth) will do more to sway the uninitiated to Johnston's side than away from it.
[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 CriticJohnston's story may seem like another '80s cultural footnote, but just when you think ... you've seen it all, another fascinating chapter in his eventful life comes along.
Director Jeff Feuerzeig, extensively utilizing home movies, chronicles the eerie and oddly inspiring story of Johnston's ongoing battles to survive -- both as artist and human being.
The romantic cliche that all artists are a little bit mad is put through its paces (if never seriously questioned) in this documentary about the musician Daniel Johnston.
I can't tell if the movie means to leave us somewhat hopeful or utterly devastated by the way God treats his own geniuses.
It's the way Feuerzeig walks with him on the line between creativity and madness that digs this haunting and hypnotic film into your memory.
Top Critic[Johnston's] story opens a window on the nature of art and the power of myth.
Returns repeatedly to the tangled relationship between hipsters and the out-of-control oddballs they enable.
Why he keeps being a called a 'musical genius' in the film is something my ears could never understand.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is undoubtedly the best movie anyone could have made about this unwitting practitioner of 'outsider' art.
Top CriticThe Devil and Daniel Johnston is a fascinating and lovingly crafted musical documentary that nevertheless misunderstands its own subject.
Top CriticThornberry, a friend of Johnston, reminds us that we can appreciate the Van Goughs and Virginia Wolffs of the world, but it's hard to romanticize mental illness when we are forced to personally deal with the realities of broken bones, hospitals, and pain.
The documentary holds no illusions about insanity as a career move; there's a whiff of the freak show in Johnston's latter-day concerts but never in Feuerzeig's approach.
Daniel Johnson's 'musical genius' is overblown. His only similarity to Brian Wilson is his mental illness, which is the true focus of this fascinating documentary.
I viewed this as an outsider to his subculture and the film offered me little.
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