SF Indie Fest: Danielson: A Family Movie
Danielson: A Family Movie is a must see for any fan of adventurous music or artistic visionaries. You have two more chances to see it on tonight at 4:30pm at the Roxie and on 2/14 at 7pm.
We'd heard of the Danielson Famile throughout the last decade or so, but we'd never actually heard their music. We knew Jeff Buckley would urge people to go see them, we saw their crayoned album covers in Other Music, and we heard that many creative artists were influenced by them. But we went in to the screening of Danielson: A Family Movie hoping we would find out what all the fuss was about.
First, a quick note about Indiefest, which is truly indie. We arrived at the Women's Building right when the movie was scheduled to start (gotta love parking in the Mission!), only to be held up trying to receive our tickets from will call. After a confusing exchange with a man behind a card table who tried handing us the actual guest list instead of tickets, we ducked into the screening room, a large gymnasium-like space in which we'd previously taken a few dance classes. In the pitch black it was difficult to find a place to sit, but we settled in at the back of the room and adjusted our eyes just as the preceding short was ending.
Once the feature started, we forgot all about our creaky metal folding chair. Danielson: a Family Movie is a documentary about Daniel Smith and his religious and musical expressions. Daniel is a devout Christian from South Jersey who recruited his siblings to help him perform his senior thesis at Rutgers. From that performance, an indie rock phenomenon was born. Daniel and his siblings and a friend formed the Danielson Famile, a euphoric cacophony dedicated to spreading the Good Word, wearing nurse uniforms and channeling the Holy Spirit from the stages of church assembly halls and dank rock venues. Daniel is a charismatic leader and visionary; his conviction and faith inspired his siblings to tour the world to deliver his eccentric music, and influenced normally persnickety indie rock audiences to accept his spiritual message.
The story of Daniel Smith's life and music is interesting enough, but the way that filmmaker JL Aronson tells it is truly a tribute. Shot, produced and edited by Aronson, the film features footage on miniDV with some 16mm and super 8, with endearing animation interspersed throughout. Aronson's style of storytelling -- through his editing, animation, juxtaposition and different narrative voices -- is equally as informative and provocative as the raw documentary footage itself.
The film begins with the story of Daniel's Rutgers thesis, follows the band through a European tour including a stop at the Steve Albini-curated All Tomorrow's Parties, and continues as band/family members leave the band to pursue their adult lives. Siblings get married, get pregnant, move to California. Daniel keeps it together by finding new, honorary Famile members, including 2005's indie rock it-boy Sufjan Stevens, who becomes an interesting figure, almost a foil, in the film. Sufjan toured with the band as a drummer a few years back, and seeing him as a backing member, prior to the Illinois hysteria, is fascinating. You can almost watch him soaking in Daniel's influence, with the costumes, instrumental mayhem and family feel to his performances, which you would later see in Sufjan's own live shows. In fact, after you see this movie, a lot of bands are going to make more sense (we're looking at you, Polyphonic Spree).
Once Daniel loses the presence of his siblings and band members, he appears to struggle a bit as a solo artist. Toward the end of the film he's shown in long scenes alone, recording by himself in his studio or ruminating about his future plans. The film drags a bit during this portion; we weren't sure if that was just lazy editing or actually another savvy way to portray the inertia that Daniel himself might have been feeling.
This film is an intriguing meditation on religious missions vs. secular acclaim, artistic vision vs. realization (or, so many ideas, so little time) and the trials of being the unsung inspiration to your ultimately more successful peers. Though it left us with a few questions (Is Daniel a little crazy? Is Sufjan a bit of an opportunist?), it did quench our curiosity about what the fuss was all about. We've been inspired to buy Daniel's records and great comfort stuff, and do our part to make the fuss a little bit louder.
Find Daniel Smith at Sounds Familyre
Watch clips from the film