The Devil & Daniel Johnston/The Darjeeling Limited

I had two nextflix films, both with THE as the title. Spooky?

I decided to knock them both out on Monday in a fit of non-inspiration to do anything else. I have also fallen a smidge behind on schedule to keep up with my goal. So knocking two movies out in one day is a way to kick start the system. Of course I haven't watched anything else since then, so whatever. I did read a book for class in under two hours, so that was nice.

Anyway, we'll start with The Devil & Daniel Johnston. Daniel Johnston is a folk/indie artist who debuted on the Austin, TX scene in the early 80's. He was quickly accepted as a genius song writer and revered as almost royalty. He also was a severe manic depressive that had delusions of the devil infesting everything in his life. Raised as a Christian, these themes of angels and devils would continue to haunt him. He bounced around different mental hospitals all while recording an extensive catalog of his own music.

In one telling scene as Daniel prepares for his return to Austin after many years away, he decides to go off his medications because he knows that his performances will be more emotinal and raw if he is off of them. At this time his father is touring with him, acting as manager and giving Daniel his medicine. Daniel is secretly not taking them. On the plane ride back to their home, which was being piloted by Daniel's father in their small two seater plane, Daniel is delusional and thinks he is Casper. He takes the keys out of the plane and throws them out the window. He overpowers his father and forces the plane into a dive before letting go in time for dad to take back over the controls and crash into some trees. Both survived with minor injuries.

This was a very well put together doc about Daniel and his musical genius, but it also didn't try and hide or glamorize his condition. It talked and showed the many bad effects that mental illness can have on a person and their loved ones if it goes untreated.

Second up was Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. I am a big fan of all of Anderson's earlier works. I think he puts together stories with a real sense of heart and feeling along with an incredibly quirky sense of humor and timing.

This film though is my least favorite of his. It isn't a bad film, but I had higher expectations due to his previous work. Maybe a second viewing will help out, but it was hard to connect or see any subtlety in these charachters.

The three brothers are all emotionally stunted and it shows in the first half of the film. There are some funny moments, but overall it felt like I was being beaten over the head with the idea that these men had suffered something in their lives to stunt them emotionally. Over and over again I was hit with this, which is not subtle at all. About halfway there is the "climactic" scene where the brothers all endure a test of sorts and are instantly changed after.

It just seemed to obvious and forced of a point. It defiantly failed to charm me like Rushmore or Royal Tennenbaums. It is obviously an Anderson film, and I applaud him for shooting on location in India and working outside of his comfort zone. Unfortunatly by stepping out of that zone, the story suffered a bit because of it.

Quick note to all you readers out there. An update on the steps challenge As we enter the 4th month my step requirements have increased to 7500 3 times a week. I went yesterday to the Y and did 5000 steps as well as biking 4 miles. I'm counting that as meeting the requirement. k thx.