Fri., Mar. 31, 2006 12:00 AM PST
To know about Daniel Johnston is to either be repelled by the weirdness of his singing voice or to fall in love with his haphazardly constructed but artful pop songs. There's very little wiggle room between considering him a Brian Wilson-level musical genius or just another sad case of mental illness. But 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.
It's a loving look at a man who struggles daily with mental illness, willfully allows himself to indulge in rock-star fantasies, worries his elderly parents and writes odd pop songs that keep his fans fiercely, protectively devoted. He may never become famous, but Daniel Johnston's life and work are the stuff of great drama all the same.
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