The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)

Location: Harris Theater
Seen Before: No
Rating: 5.0

I continue my unoffical marathon of documentaries concerning tortured artists, this time really hitting the pinnacle. The Devil and Daniel Johnston pulls your emotions every witch way without minipulating you, but instead keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Director Jeff Feuzereig doesn't break any ground in terms of presenting the material like Jessica Yu does with In The Realms of the Unreal, but he doesn't have to, either. Johnston's life has been so well documented through songs, audio letters, interviews, MTV (!), friends, and families that all he needed to do was assemble it all together. Granted, a huge amount of love and admiration is required for the film to really mesh, and that undoubtably shows.

Seeing The Devil and Daniel Johnston isn't just enjoying another documentary about an extroidanary man--it's falling in love with the man.