In this living portrait of one recluse elderly man who surprised the
entire world with his stories, poetry, and artwork. In over forty
years one human being hid himself from the public eye entirely from
view. Henry's work was his own private haven secluded in his own
world of imagination and constant wonder. He lived a quiet, nearly
solitary existence from the outside world, his mind was explosive
filled with fantasy, and provocatively intense. This is the mystery
behind one of the most elusive self-taught artists in the world.

In this realm told the epic story of the virtuous Vivian Girls,
seven angelic sisters who lead a rebellion against godless, child-
enslaving men. In this world women are superior in every way to the
male counterparts they are warriors to fight the great battles on
the field. They were the heroes in this realm of great power and
overshadowed with mystery.

Sadly, nobody really knew Henry Darger this fragile man spent his
life behind closed doors. Years later, Jessica Yu created a filmic
triumph based upon the mystery behind Henry's lifelong work with In
The Realms of the Unreal from his 15,000 page novel. The outside
world didn't interest him especially people who he avoided daily. On
the outside nobody thought that this one isolated man was creating a
fantastic world of adventure, and excitement. In his stories nothing
was what it had seemed all pieces were scattered on old newspapers,
phonebooks, and remote pieces of garbage that he had consumed over
the years. Even though his life was solitary during the day but at
night he created another world. It's incredible this lonely janitor
painted pictures, some over 10 feet high, but then again who knew
about his art.

His influence came from classic children's books like The Wizard of
Oz amongst other memorable titles. His art came from the discovery
of drawing whatever he found tracing, painting, sketching, taking
what was in front of him and turning it into an easel of artistic
vision. It an absorbing story with exquisite taste and texture with
visual color and imaginary characters that whisk you away into his
untouched world. Other influential artists and writers like Harvey
Pekar (American Splendor) and the visionary works of Robert Crumb
redefined comic books with their stories. The skeleton's that were
roaming around Henry's head were an escape from people who let him
down during his long sad childhood. But in Henry's case he was
envisioning something far more complex, mythical, and we have yet to
discover its untold secrets.

Overall, this documentary is from another surreal out of this world
experience that is darkly but has a sincere truth that stands behind
it. In the realm itself we are outsiders looking in only Henry has
these answers to one of the greatest mysterious written novels ever
known. Increasingly we see far fewer films like this wondrous tale
that Jessica Yu has delivered brilliantly.

Daniel's Review **** stars