Left on Purpose

NYC filmmaker Justin Schein (co-directing with an offscreen David Mehlman) befriended Mayer Vishner, a key figure and prodigy during the 1960s "Yippie" left-wing protest movement. Vishner was comrade and partner-in-mischief to Abbie Hoffman, Phil Ochs, and Allen Ginsberg, working at the LA Weekly, among other jobs, but he fell victim to alcoholism and mental illness. Now a slovenly, dope-smoking Manhattan hoarder in his 60s—subsisting with the aid of social workers and friends in the urban-gardening community—Vishner tells Schein that he is desperately lonely, finished with life, and has plans to kill himself. He wants Schein to make this the subject of their docu-collaboration. While the filmmaker shares his apprehension with his producer-wife Eden Wurmfeld and others, the camera follows Vishner on visits to doctors and exasperated friends. Is Vishner's death wish the result of treatable depression or a rational decision? And is Schein guilty of enabling Vishner's mania? Left on Purpose raises a number of issues, ranging from free will and medical euthanasia to Occupy Wall Street, but never dictates what viewers should think while watching this emotional roller coaster. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)