stickler-2 Left On Purpose is a heart-wrenching study of a man and the choices he makes. Over the progression of the sometimes surprisingly amusing subject the film also becomes a study of the choices a documentary filmmaker must at times make in order to see a project through and what happens when the filmmaker becomes personally intertwined with the subject. Highly recommended as a study of the complexities inherent in the human condition.

Terrance Swords The story of the Yippies is full of compelling and amusing characters, and someone will eventually make an entertaining film just revisiting the hi-jinks and hilarity, cutting away before the bummers start piling up. If wreckage is more to your taste, there's a film to be made of that as well.Left on Purpose isn't either film. It passes that low-hanging fruit for who-knows-what. Initially, it feels familiar, as Mayer reminisces about his youth and the Yippies in their heyday. Mayer is a character far, far removed from his glory days, and it's a bit perplexing at first when the film returns to his glamourless life and very uncertain future instead of lingering in his colorful past.The most compelling documentaries are those in which neither filmmaker, subject, not viewer knows where things are headed. That appears to have created a stressful situation for Schein, as Mayer maneuvers first for control of the film and then for control of the filmmaker. The partnership between the two makes for the great drama of the film. Schein clearly did not set out to make a film about a filmmaker's dilemma, and his discomfort is obvious. It was a stroke of freaking genius and a bold-ass move for Schein to let the film follow the story where it led instead of where he had planned.

jeff Mayer Vishner - chronic contrarian, man behind the scenes pulling the strings of the Yippie movement, and close friend and associate of Abby Hoffman - is the down and out subject of this documentary by filmmakers Justin Schein and David Mehlman. He's a 60's stalwart, tending a community garden and subsiding in his west village hovel amid decades of memorabilia and detritus, who agrees to have his life chronicled. Midway through the production though, Mayer decides the subject will be about ending his own life. He's an alcoholic, depressed, and lonely, but has passionate and poignant ideas for what a good life should be. His own outlook is bleak and joining the many colleagues who took their own lives seems an inevitability.Tension abounds as the filmmaker must step from behind the camera to increasingly care for Mayer and challenge his beliefs about his end. The film's sad arc is nevertheless well punctuated with ample hilarity and uplifting moments. Mayer is a genuine character bandying about witticisms both critical and self deprecating. His engagement with the camera and his cohort draws the viewer in, as does the film's pirouettes, challenging the conventional documentary format with unconventional features and quandary: Is the filmmaker directing the subject or is the subject coaxing the director to film him? What are the ethics of training a camera on an impending death? Is doc' film still doc' when the filmmaker becomes part of the story. How can an individual so perceptive about life's simple delights, remain so overly attuned to their impossible acquisition instead? Along the way the audience is treated to a healthy injection of fact-finding and history lesson, including run-ins with influential players of the 60's Anti-war movement. I attended a screening of Left on Purpose at the Doc NYC Festival with several of the film's protagonists and family and friends of Mayer Vishner in the audience. In the Q&A session that followed many contributed their own statements of overwhelming pride for Mayer's life and sublime gratitude for the sensitivity and grace with which the filmmakers told his story. This is a beautiful film about life, and lives, and peace and protest, and deserves to be enjoyed by all.

Dirk Johnston Saw this at DOC NYC last fall. Great documentary- the many ethical and academic questions raised through the shifting subject matter & relationship between director and subject when things take a darker & questionable turn are well explored and concisely addressed by the filmmaker. The subject matter & story are inherently very sad and moving, so don't watch if you aren't in the mood for such a film- but Vishner's quick and wry personality allows for some surprising moments of levity throughout. A good film to see for many of it's qualities, but possibly most of all for being a very well executed microcosm of many ethical issues that arise in the world of doc filmmaking, where anything of substance that strays too far from beyond being a vérité film in some respects is bound to cause some controversy in the academic world & beyond.