Right off you will start to make judgments on what Roky Erickson suffers from. The one thing this documentary does well is divide the possibilities into the story telling. You will be guessing yourself to the very end.
I think it's pretty safe to say that Roky Erickson was probably the first rock star casualty of the 60's. He even beats Syd Barrett and Brian Jones of the Stones by a few years. This documentary does a fairly good job of depicting his life from start until the most recent point. Your job is to tell yourself...or make yourself believe what is his issue. For me it's a combination of all four possibilities I mention but one stands out from all others...just because of the time this story all starts.
IMO...Roky Erickson had a seriously bad acid trip that did him in. Why do I believe this? Mainly because it was very common in it's day and the behavior he exhibits is classic. I'll mention 1 group that had 3 go awry with one bad acid trip...The original line-up of the Fleetwood Mac. Their 3 front members all have the same problems to this day. All of it started with some bad acid. Another case? Syd Barrett. His is a little more difficult to pin down but it's common knowledge of his acid use and his behavior?.Well...he seemed a lot like Roky Erickson does to me.
Roky Erickson lived a pretty difficult/odd life. You gradually get to realize that his mother is the star of the family and she lets you know it in her own little odd way. The father was a drunk and he doesn't get much attention in this film but you know...he's an issue. After he trips bad on acid he gets stuck in a cruel mental institution for a few years that was not equipped to deal with is problem. They mention that the only reason he got put in there is because he kept escaping the institution he was in so the sheriff got fed up and put him in a maximum security facility. They complain and decide to tell you he didn't need to be in there for his crime...which was just possession of pot I believe. What was the sheriff suppose to do? Keep sticking him in the same facility so he could keep escaping? He did what most would have done...stuck him in a place he wouldn't get away from. Problem was, it was a horror story of a mental hospital.
I got the impression towards the end that youngest of his brothers was only trying to help for his own benefit. This guy was a "new age" typa guy who had to see therapists to get himself back to a sense of peace and he wanted to help Roky in the same way. It was plain the Roky was fine the way he was and was content with his dull life but his brother kept his persistence up. His enemy he thinks is his mother who he says keeps Roky from taking his meds or won't allow him to. She's obviously and odd one but she's sane enough. This is a classic case of 1 side of the family against the other. In the end we see Roky progress after a year and the "new age" therapist asks Roky what he wants to do when he goes home. His answer, judging from the frown in his face, doesn't please his little brother. "I wanna go talk to my mother". I just got the impression that he was in it to help him but with intent of some kind of gain because of who his brother is.
Good doc on an interesting subject. It's also good to see Roky still around. There needs to be more of these films to tell cautionary tales about these particular subjects. They're better than the evening news.
I think it's pretty safe to say that Roky Erickson was probably the first rock star casualty of the 60's. He even beats Syd Barrett and Brian Jones of the Stones by a few years. This documentary does a fairly good job of depicting his life from start until the most recent point. Your job is to tell yourself...or make yourself believe what is his issue. For me it's a combination of all four possibilities I mention but one stands out from all others...just because of the time this story all starts.
IMO...Roky Erickson had a seriously bad acid trip that did him in. Why do I believe this? Mainly because it was very common in it's day and the behavior he exhibits is classic. I'll mention 1 group that had 3 go awry with one bad acid trip...The original line-up of the Fleetwood Mac. Their 3 front members all have the same problems to this day. All of it started with some bad acid. Another case? Syd Barrett. His is a little more difficult to pin down but it's common knowledge of his acid use and his behavior?.Well...he seemed a lot like Roky Erickson does to me.
Roky Erickson lived a pretty difficult/odd life. You gradually get to realize that his mother is the star of the family and she lets you know it in her own little odd way. The father was a drunk and he doesn't get much attention in this film but you know...he's an issue. After he trips bad on acid he gets stuck in a cruel mental institution for a few years that was not equipped to deal with is problem. They mention that the only reason he got put in there is because he kept escaping the institution he was in so the sheriff got fed up and put him in a maximum security facility. They complain and decide to tell you he didn't need to be in there for his crime...which was just possession of pot I believe. What was the sheriff suppose to do? Keep sticking him in the same facility so he could keep escaping? He did what most would have done...stuck him in a place he wouldn't get away from. Problem was, it was a horror story of a mental hospital.
I got the impression towards the end that youngest of his brothers was only trying to help for his own benefit. This guy was a "new age" typa guy who had to see therapists to get himself back to a sense of peace and he wanted to help Roky in the same way. It was plain the Roky was fine the way he was and was content with his dull life but his brother kept his persistence up. His enemy he thinks is his mother who he says keeps Roky from taking his meds or won't allow him to. She's obviously and odd one but she's sane enough. This is a classic case of 1 side of the family against the other. In the end we see Roky progress after a year and the "new age" therapist asks Roky what he wants to do when he goes home. His answer, judging from the frown in his face, doesn't please his little brother. "I wanna go talk to my mother". I just got the impression that he was in it to help him but with intent of some kind of gain because of who his brother is.
Good doc on an interesting subject. It's also good to see Roky still around. There needs to be more of these films to tell cautionary tales about these particular subjects. They're better than the evening news.