Rebels with (and without) a cause: 'outsiders' on DVD
In the commercial world pop idols are often encouraged to manufacture an
‘outsider’ image to appear "cool", sell more CDs/books/magazines etc, and to
appear more desirable to a particular "demographic". It seems that having the
image of an "outsider" is perceived as sexy and highly marketable. The history
of film shows otherwise: while more often than not artists are 'outsiders' in
society (ie "isolated or disconnected" from the community), rarely do they have
an easy time
of it
The Devil & Daniel Johnston is one of the best recent films about a
gifted artist who struggles with the demons of mental illness. This feature
length documentary is an extraordinary, intimate and achingly honest portrait
film about American musician and songwriter,
Daniel Johnston. It both celebrates his music – little known outside of
the ‘alternative’ folk rock community – and explores the schizophrenia that has
plagued him for over 40 years. Fans such as cartoonist
Matt Groening (The
Simpsons) and musician
Thurston Moore (Sonic
Youth) are interviewed alongside Johnston’s intimates, friends and
family, including his elderly parents Mabel and Bill. All speak candidly about
their relationships with Daniel and admiration for his talent. But none are
more moving than Mabel and Bill, whose own lives have suffered alongside their
son’s, as they struggled to understand and support him.
Daniel Johnston was hailed as “the greatest songwriter on earth” by the
late
Kurt Cobain, himself a gifted “outsider” who, unlike Johnston, was not
allowed to remain below the radar. Instead the
Nirvana guitarist/front man was jettisoned into the stratosphere in
1992 when the Seattle sound “went mainstream”, when their album
Nevermind shot to No. 1. When he landed Cobain had become an overnight
icon whether he liked it or not.
Clearly he didn’t if we are to believe the case put forward by two films about
Cobain’s life:
Nick Broomfield’s "who dunnit" documentary
Kurt & Courtney (1998), where he theorises that Cobain may have
actually been murdered - not committed suicide in 1994.
Gus Van Sant’s haunting fiction feature
Last Days (2005) was also visibly "inspired" by the spectre of Cobain,
an "imagining" of his last few days alive. Both are dramatically different
films. Broomfield’s is an often fast-moving and sensational pot-boiler while
Van Sant’s a slow-moving and ethereal meditation. Both however do contain a
palpable sense of loss and sadness, and reflect on what it might have been like
to be Cobain, an outsider painfully at odds with his fame and notoriety.
By comparison,
American Splendour (2003) is the happy shiny face ‘outsider’ film.
Underground cartoonist and writer
Harvey Pekar has to be one of the happiest misanthropes ever committed
to the screen. Styled somewhere between drama, animation and documentary, this
affectionate biographical film was nominated for an Oscar. Harvey is depicted
as a real-life ‘Oscar the Grouch’: always railing against life and complaining
about not fitting in… yet ultimately lovable. Which ironically makes American
Splendour a ‘feel-good’ film, with the most unlikely of romantic (anti) heroes
making us feel that way...
- Megan
Megan Spencer has spent way too much of her life in the dark, all for a good
cause though - watching movies as a professional film critic. For the last six
and a half years she has been serving the ever-increasing hunger for film and
DVD reviews as radio triple j's resident film critic, and a year ago joined the
new line up of long-running SBS-TV film review program, The Movie Show.
Every now and then she pops up into the light to make her own films,
documentaries (her latest is 'Fantastic Brutality', a documentary about an
obsessed wrestling fan, to be released next year). She has also written about
film for many publications including J-Mag, Limelight, Inside Film Magazine and
the Age Green Guide.
And the impossible question to ask a film critic: what's her favourite film?
"Blue Velvet would be at the top of the list, so would Fight Club... But then
again American In Paris makes me cry every time."
Megan has also been part of the Foxtel's Project Greenlight Australia as an
on-air panelist and judge.
