MOVIE · 2006

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Documentary110 min

Daniel Johnston is at the center of this documentary portrait, which follows the singer-songwriter and artist from childhood into adulthood while tracing the manic depression that shaped his life and work. Using home movies, archival footage, performances, and Johnston’s own drawings, the film shows how his music and art were bound up with religious fixation, infatuation, and what he described as demonic forces. Interviews with Johnston, his parents Bill and Mabel Johnston, and admirers including Matt Groening fill in the story around a figure whose imagination and illness were often inseparable.