Seamus2829 With the recent focus on outsider art,somebody must have figured that Henry Darger was a natural. Darger was a janitor and well known introvert for years. What was not known (at least until after his death in 1973),was that Darger kept a series of stories & paintings, as a continuing account of a realm of fantasy that only Darger could relate to. Vast volumes of paintings & text were found in the cramped apartment that he lived in for years (he had little family & had less than no use for the company of other people). Jessica Yu's film attempts to tell Darger's story (with extracts of his writing read by the likes of Dakota Fanning,and others). This film is a "must see" for anybody with an interest in art (especially outsider art). As this film is independently produced,it carries no MPAA rating,but does contain a bit of mature subject matter (mainly in the way of some of his paintings depicted that has nudity).

MartinHafer Henry Darger was a profoundly mentally ill man. He was a recluse who disliked contact with others and spent all his non-working hours either writing his epic tomes (running to 18,000 plus pages!) or making primitive art. After his death, his lifelong obsession was discovered and since then his "art" has been embraced by those "in the know" (i.e., people who are so much smarter and enlightened than 99.9% of us, as the rest of us plebes would probably think Darger's art was crap).Frankly, there isn't that much more to the story than that. Now more insight into his tortured childhood (which is only explored in a cursory manner) might have been interesting but since it isn't, the film seemed very heavily padded--with some seemingly irrelevant information and too much time spent to his crazy stories. After all, what more is there to know other than he was a crazy crank who was probably a lot like the Unibomber (with his own manifesto--just like Darger) except that Darger didn't kill anyone.For a much more interesting story with many similar themes, try watching THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON. Like Darger, he is adored by insiders for his art. However, unlike Darger he is still alive and so many of the unanswered questions of IN THE REALMS are actually answered in the Daniel Johnston documentary. Seeing Johnston's progression to madness to public acceptance is very interesting--even if you don't love his art or music. This is what really sets this film apart from IN THE REALMS--a story that seems almost pointless if you don't love the "art" because there just isn't that much insight into Darger's twisted mind and too much time is spent making his rambling epic seem important.I know I'll get a bazillion "not helpfuls" for this, but this film isn't genius and the story and art of Darger aren't compelling except to a few people whose sanity I now have reason to question! This was especially apparent when one knucklehead said "...if there was anything wrong with this man..." and another said he "wasn't crazy". Yeah, right. He was a functional but severely delusional, obsessive and schizoid man (and perhaps more--it's hard to tell given that he's not here to interview)...and all that sure adds up to crazy to me.

DJJOEINC In The Realms of the Unreal:The Mystery of Henry Darger - a well made documentary about one of the most notorious and interesting outside artists.Henry Darger was a recluse who lived near poverty for most of his life in Chicago.An orphan or ward of the state for most of his youth Darger was an outsider even in the worst state institutions.Nobody knew that while Darger was at home he created an imaginative and enthralling universe of characters and stories mixing collage with his self-taught techniques and his unique world view.A good mix of biography and a re-telling of his epic paintings using the pics and animating some of them.Creative and entrancing.The DVD has a 30 minute interview with the director Jessica Yu and utilizes the voice-over talents of Dakota Fanning and Larry Pine. A

pwhitely The story of Henry Darger is one that could have been told on film using only his own words and images. Director Jessica Yu has instead decided to create her own work of "art" by animating Dargers' illustrations and adding special effects. When the viewer is given the chance to see the frightening, beautiful works of art they move and flow through their composition and design, without additional "direction". By the time this film was nearing its end I found myself listening to the audio only. Imagine your most tormented dreams and then think about a self important Vanity Fair editor adding their creative touch to them and I think you will know what I mean. It is sad that this is one of the few works documenting such a unique person.