Daniel Johnston will forever be the only artist in the whole world to have such an impact on me. It’s so formative that I first discovered his work at such an important turning point in my life. All the weird tales my best friend would tell me about him; how he would make his first tapes one by one on some funky old tape machine and then hand it out telling everyone he’s the next big rock star. He embodies the truest form of ‘desperation to create’, of barrelling through everything that stood in his way just to make something that meant something. He was truly a burning soul in an icy world.
I watch this documentary almost religiously lately and I see so many parallels to my own life. And as I start to develop the same mental health problem Daniel had, I start to use his story as a guidebook on how to better navigate through the next few years.
RIP to the king of music. I hope I can live with the same eternal passion for my art while fighting the killer brain battles that are part of manic depression.
“When the sun shines down on me, I want to feel like I deserve it”
Ratatouille Films 