Casper The Friendly Ghost There is one big difficulty in writing a review of this film. This is not indifferent to my attitude towards Daniel Johnston and his work. But I know for sure that I am not alone in this sin, because all the narrators in this film sin more than me.
Who's Daniel Johnston? In a nutshell - musician and artist. In a word, artist. But these words say absolutely nothing about who he really is. The most accurate thing to say about him was his friend Katty McCarthy: He did many things, both good and bad. But they're all ... mythical. And all these actions, they can hardly be believed. But it's all true.
It is difficult for me to divide Daniel’s life path, it is difficult to rank in order of importance the events described in this film. There are some facts that are more or less known to a wide range of people. Kurt Cobain glorified Johnston, wearing a jersey with a print of the cover of his album Hi, How Are You. Daniel and his father nearly died in a plane crash caused by Daniel. His mental breakdown led to him mistaking himself for Casper, the Good Ghost, taking out the keys of the plane and throwing them overboard. His father was able to land the plane, and it ended up pretty well for them. Complications from his mental disorders were largely due to drug abuse. He took for servants of the devil almost all loved ones and not only people. He broke into an old woman's house, and you jumped out the window from the second floor and broke your ankles, but Johnston was forever convinced that she had been pushed from the window by demons who had invaded her. There were other shocks to him. And he remained forever in love with the girl Lori Allen, who married the undertaker.
But all these episodes remain in memory, and on the other side of the demons of Daniel Johnston are his close people who together were able to overcome it all. It is wrong to say that Johnston’s work has fallen into decline and he is aging alone in a small American town. As he sang, “True love will find you in the end,” she found him. It is the human love and care that this person is treated with. These are his caring parents, the manager who has always supported him, the friends, the public who are familiar with his work. And this is not loneliness for a person with severe mental disorders, it is a won struggle for life itself. And when a person of such talent does not fit into modern culture, it says a lot about modern culture, in which sincerity, honesty and loyalty are not paramount guidelines.
Most vividly, this film can describe one of the key scenes in it, which is repeated as if echoing more than once. At one of the concerts in New York, Daniel broke down in tears in the middle of the concert and continued to sing and play. All the listeners who were there felt uncomfortable in this situation. Be prepared to watch this movie, you will find yourself in their place many times.
8 out of 10