Sorry about the lack of posts lately. There's probably gonna be a flurry of them today, so try to keep up.
Today's documentary is perfect for anyone who has liked my other documentary choices that involved eccentric people. It's about a man named Henry Darger, of whom there are only three known photographs. Henry had a turbulent childhood and ended up living a solitary life in Chicago, working as a janitor for the Catholic church. Henry was always in his own little world, according to the few people that knew him. Actually, no one really knew him. After his death, his landlord discovered massive amounts of written material and artwork which included a biography and a 15,000 page epic novel. The movie is fascinating and weird and brings to life many of Darger's illustrations. I highly recommend this one. It was also cool to learn from the credits that an old school acquaintance, Marlene Haegele, was involved in the production.
7 comments:
I saw this when they showed on PBS and I was floored by it. That guy was a visionary, a bat shit crazy as a loon visionary, but a visionary nonetheless.
I'd love to see this film. A few years back I went to the Chicago Cultural Center to see an exhibit about something that interested me, the old I&M Canal.
At the same time, they just happened to have a large exhibit of this guy's writings and illustrations. It was really fascinating. I was really happy to have stumbled upon it.
I just put this at the top of my queue, thanks! Your last documentary recommendation--Okie Noodling--was such a hit, this one went straight to the top of the list.
And wasn't it nice of your girlfriend to recommend it?
I definitely want to see this. I ran across Darger at the Chicago MCA and was fascinated. You never know what kind of worlds are in someone's head.
I always like your documentary choices. I loved I Like Flies.
I'll be watching this shortly Chris as I just saw an exhibit of his at the Folk Art Museum in NYC and was fascinated. They had several of his large drawings and one of the huge volumes of his book. I bought a book about him and the dvd.
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