Henry Darger’s Realm of the Unreal
Drop what you’re doing this instant and buy a ticket to see the documentary In the Realms of the Unreal, a well-done film on the sad life and beautiful work of Henry Darger. The two major Philadelphia weakly… ahem, weekly papers panned writer/director Jessica Yu’s approach to her subject, and I was prepared to love the subject but hate the presentation. They couldn’t be more wrong; Yu showed a great deal of respect for Darger in using the man’s own words when possible to tell his story, and in literally animating a world that Darger struggled to produce.
I’m inspired now to see Darger’s work at The American Folk Art Museum and somehow get a copy of John MacGregor’s book for less than a fortnight’s rent…
April 26th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
About a year and a half ago, I was fortunate enough to have lunch with the architects (husband and wife) of the American Folk Art Museum (for which they received an architecture award for “best new building in the world”, talk about a melodramatic award). They’re incredibly nice folks, and have just designed a building being constructed here in West Philly.
They live five blocks from the museum and gave me their contact info and offered to give me a tour of it.
And people say New Yorkers aren’t friendly…
August 26th, 2005 at 10:44 am
The odds seem stacked aginst their being native New Yorkers I should think.