Review of Left On Purpose (2015) by Lisa G — 30 Jan 2017

I was at the world premiere of LEFT ON PURPOSE at the Woodstock Film Festival and thrilled when it won the audience award there - the first of many! An indelible film about Mayer Vishner, one of the founders of Yippie movement of the 60s, LEFT ON PURPOSE follows Mayer as he looks back upon the earlier glory days of his life and meets up with many of the people he worked with in the peace movement.

Living alone with his cat in a tiny apartment in his beloved Greenwich Village, Mayer tends to his plot in the community garden while struggling with addiction, depression and isolation. It is his relationship with the film's director, Justin Schein, that gives Mayer a renewed sense of energy and purpose, and ultimately leads him to ask Justin to be complicit in his final life choice.

LEFT ON PURPOSE is a complex, poignant and often funny exploration of the peace movement of the 60s, mental illness, how society takes care of people who are struggling and the meaning, in the end, of what makes a life.