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Dir. Jessica Yu B- |
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This well-praised documentary of Henry Darger is an interesting look inside the reclusive life of probably the ultimate outsider artist. As the movie accurately presents him, Darger was an outcast his whole life, spending an early Illinois childhood in an asylum for the “feeble-minded” because of his socially awkward behavior in school. He spent seven years in the asylum, then successfully ran away to Chicago to carry out a secluded life as a janitor who few people knew. Only after his death in 1973 was it discovered that he’d created an elaborate 15,000 page illustrated novel that depicted an epic battle of a band of young girls against an army of sadistic men.
The story is compelling and Darger’s artwork is fascinating for its obsessiveness and attention to detail, but the film occasionally slips when it has multiple voices read from his novel and narrate the story. Maybe I’m a purist, but this technique sometimes muddles fact and fiction, but that seems to be the gist of Darger’s life. His artwork has toured the country and this documentary is a welcome supplement to his strange and mysterious life.—Kristopher Monroe
Dir. Robin Campillo
Wellspring Home Entertainment
A
Damn interesting riff on the back-from-the-dead genre. “They Came Back” is a French psychological thriller, I suppose, though I’d be tempted to put it in the straight-up horror category due to its creepiness factor. Millions of people return from the dead and society struggles to assimilate them back into “normal” life. The problem is, the recent returnees aren’t quite as normal as they were before they died. None of them are gruesome or decayed like your typical zombie, but they aren’t quite right.
The film deals interestingly with what would actually happen if someone you knew and loved suddenly came back from death. This is a bloodless kind of horror, but is no less unnerving because of it.—Kristopher Monroe