Barbara, a young woman consumed by despair, contemplates suicide, while a man she meets in a church and a married couple struggle to persuade her that life is still worth living. Mekas’s film weaves this intimate drama into a larger reflection on alienation, politics, and the turbulence of early 1960s America.
Directed by Jonas Mekas
new york city
suicide
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Letterboxd
3.8 / 5
Cast
Adolfas Mekas
Gregory
Sudie Bond
Sudie
George Maciunas
Man with Theorbo
Allen Ginsberg
Self (voice)
Crew
Jonas Mekas
Director
Jonas Mekas
Writer
Jonas Mekas
Editor
Jonas Mekas
Cinematography
Popular Reviews
8 reviews
polina
8.0★ · 03/12/25
I've wanted to get into Jonas Mekas for a long time since I thought he would be my kind of director, and now I'm definitely interested in seeing more of his work. I'm not sure I fully understood anything in this visual poem, but it was an excellent spiritual immersion into the life vision of someone with such an unusual viewpoint on art. all I knew about him was that he is a very personal director, and it certainly was.> It's a countercultural portrait of the 1960s that, to quote Mekas' own words, 'deals with the thoughts, feelings, and anguished strivings of my generation, faced with the moral perplexity of our times'. It is existential in its nature, exploring into subjects such as death and what motivates people to consider suicide in general. after this film, there are some healing, purifying feelings, which I was missing.> ‘the universe will eventually disappear. history will make this poem prophetic, and it's painful stupidness into hidden spiritual music. I have the moan of doves and the feather of ecstasy. a man cannot long endure the hunger of the cannibal abstract’.
I've wanted to get into Jonas Mekas for a long time since I thought he would be my kind of director, and now I'm definitely interested in seeing more of his work. I'm not sure I fully understood anything in this visual poem, but it was an excellent spiritual immersion into the life vision of someone with such an unusual viewpoint on art. all I knew about him was that he is a very personal director, and it certainly was.> It's a countercultural portrait of the 1960s that, to quote Mekas' own words, 'deals with the thoughts, feelings, and anguished strivings of my generation, faced with the moral perplexity of our times'. It is existential in its nature, exploring into subjects such as death and what motivates people to consider suicide in general. after this film, there are some healing, purifying feelings, which I was missing.> ‘the universe will eventually disappear. history will make this poem prophetic, and it's painful stupidness into hidden spiritual music. I have the moan of doves and the feather of ecstasy. a man cannot long endure the hunger of the cannibal abstract’.
