It has always been an ambition of mine to create a music documentary, and one of the best of recent years must be Jeff Feuerzeig's 2005 film the Devil and Daniel Johnston. Early on in the film Feuerzeig uses family archive footage to great effect as it really portrays Johnston's adolescent personality as a massively creative person. The film describes how essentially the behaviour of Daniel throughout his life has ensured that he will forever be a intriguing figure and whose truths and facts are blurred with fiction and myth. The late introduction of Daniel himself also seemingly sets him up as myth, as the audience begins to question doubt if the main character will appear at all.
As a music documentary this film works brilliantly. Johnston is what I want in a character. Yes there is myth around his life, but the story is brilliantly executed. It is a story about a person, with problems, who is a incredible musician. Its fascinating.
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