There was recent discussion in the Count Zero group about watching troubled artists in film. I watched this thinking I would see a troubled artist and I suppose you could say that Roky is deranged or damaged, but other than some paranoia, he seems remarkably untroubled by his mental illness. He seems downright content.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston is an obvious comparison, although Daniel is more firmly an outsider. Given the timing of the rise of pyschedelic rock, Roky seems to have come off as a more conventional hero of 60's culture. With everyone doing drugs in the scene, it seems easy to miss the history of mental illness in Roky's family. It seems pretty clear that a lot of heroin and LSD didn't help out his condition much, but the condition was established before the drugs. It seems clear to me that mom and siblings have their own issues and drugs are an all too convenient scapegoat.
I knew the music of 13th Floor Elevators before seeing this, but I had not made the connection. I remember a band called the Judybats had done a cover of "She lives in a time of her own" and hearing it in the film took me back. It made me want to dig up more music, that's for sure.
Documentraries these days seem to follow a formula established by Errol Morris: do your interviews, dig in with the subjects, wait for something interesting to happen, don't miss moments of metaphoric potential. Some shots are clearly staged. Roky's father walks out the front door of his youngest son's house and hobbles next door to his own home. Point taken. Relations are hinted at discretely, perhaps too discretely. I feel like the real story was missed perhaps.
When should a documentary end? Once the story gets told I suppose. So what is the story? Roky's mom is bad, but sympathetically so. Roky's brother is a bit of a kook, but sympathetically so. Roky? Along for the ride I guess. Just rolling with it all. I think the real story either comes after the movie or just got glossed while trying to be polite to the subjects.
Roky is a great creative talent. I can understand the temptation to lure him back to being functional. But happiness is relative. Roky's mom is a great subject, as is Roky, as is Roky's younger brother. Whatever is missing from the film is perhaps just chance. Reality gives you what it gives you. I enjoyed watching this, but I didn't feel like the story transcended its subject. Does that make sense? Worth watching.