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If an eccentric artist makes difficult music, behaves strangely, and shows signs of mental illness, eventually someone's going to call him a genius.
The G-word gets bandied about quite a bit in "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," Jeff Feuerzeig's film about the revered manic-depressive songwriter who fits the bill to a T.
This is a documentary about a guitar-wielding visionary. Raised in a Christian home, Johnston gained acceptance in the indie-rock world despite an unfashionable predilection for singing about Jesus.
He sings with a childlike earnestness, a visual as well as musical artist who can count dead rock stars like Kurt Cobain among his fans.
Since Johnston is a compulsive chronicler of his artistic life, Feuerzeig has a wealth of material. Like "Capturing the Friedmans, "Devil" is loaded with revealing footage, rife with psychodrama, including a creepy home movie in which the teenage Johnston plays himself and his overbearing mother.
"Devil" follows Johnston from West Virginia as he meets Laurie, the love of his life, suffers his first mental breakdown, and becomes a celebrity when he appears on MTV - then spirals downward after dropping acid at a Butthole Surfers concert.
There are frightening moments, as when he attacks an elderly woman he thinks is possessed by devils. And revelatory, heartbreaking ones, which can make you think that maybe he is a genius, after all.
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THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON
3 1/2 stars
Directed by Jeff Feuerzeig. With Daniel Johnston, Jeff Tartakov, Mabel Johnston.
Running time: 1 hour, 49 mins.
Parent's guide: PG-13 (profanity, adult themes)
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(c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
