Friday AUGUST 18
7:45 PM THEATER ONE
Danielson: A Family Movie
JL Aronson
Documentary Video 105:00 2006 Chicago Premiere
A documentary about unbridled creativity vs. accessibility, Christian
faith vs. popular culture, underground music vs. survival, and family vs.
individuality. The film follows Daniel Smith, an eccentric musician and
visual artist, as he leads his four siblings and best friend to
indie-rock stardom. Beginning in 1995 when the youngest band member was 11 years
old, the Danielson Famile performs in white, vintage nurse costumes to
symbolize the healing power of the Good News, a recurring subject matter. Though
tepidly received by the Christian music world, the South Jersey
farmland-bred clan is widely embraced by the mainstream independent
music community, written about in Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times and
elsewhere as an outsider curiosity backed up by innovative,
experimental music.
But as with other family acts, and particularly those that don't make
much money, members of the band begin to seek out their own paths as they go
through college and Daniel eventually faces the struggle to become
viable as a solo act. Along the way he mentors an unknown singer-songwriter named
Sufjan Stevens whose own subsequent success stands in stark contrast to
the music world's uneasy reception of Danielson just a few years prior.
With production starting in 2002, at a high water mark for the band, all the
drama is played out before the camera making Danielson: a Family Movie both
engaging and entertaining. Collage, direct cinema, animation and
memorable performances all contribute to this thoughtful and thought-provoking
spectacle. - Brian Mayer
