Two More Movies
Got in two more movies this past week. First was the wonderful comedy/drama of a dysfunctional family on a road trip, Little Miss Sunshine. It has already been garnering nominations and awards. It deserves them. Comedy with a dark edge with wonderful performances all around. Steve Carell, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin deliver at every turn. The closing beauty show act by Olive is a perfect ending to the whole crazy, wonderful, journey.

Then I ran across the movie, Devil and Daniel Johnston at the movie store. It looked interesting and was. It is a documentary that explores the life of Daniel Johnston, "manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist whose life is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love." [IMDB] I'm not sure I understand the power of Johnston's music or writing, which may be because I only know it through the bits in the movie. I do understand the power of his illness and its leading him into being sure the Devil himself is after him.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the movie, as a friend commented to me when I told him about it, is that it reinforces the stereotype of the crazy and the genius going hand in hand. Maybe in some people it does, and it most clearly does in Daniel Johnston. I just guess that non-crazy geniuses just grow up to be nerds. And their stories aren't all that interesting.