The Joy of Life

Top 2 Billed Cast

Harry Dodge
Harry Dodge

Voiceover (as Harriet Dodge)

Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Voiceover

Loading Trailer Videos...
  • HomePage

  • Overview

    A blending of documentary and experimental narrative strategies, combining stunning 16mm landscape cinematography with a bold, lyrical voice-over to share two San Francisco stories: the history of the Golden Gate Bridge as “suicide landmark,” and the story of a butch dyke in San Francisco searching for love and self-discovery. The Joy of Life is a film about landscapes, both physical and emotional.

  • Release Date

    2005-05-22

  • Average

    4.9

  • Rating:

    2.5 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    English
  • Keywords

Similar Movies

Utopia Ltd.
0%

Utopia Ltd.(en)

2011-05-12

Anton Spielmann (18) and his two younger friends Basti Muxfeldt and Jonas Hinnerkort are living in their family homes with their parents in an idyllic village close to Hamburg. The three of them founded the band 1000 Robota. The band has an ambitious aim: „We want to cause creation not to remind of it”, and they want to live up to their ideals. In a society affected by economic pressure 1000 Robota are questioning themselves and others and they don‘t want to meet other people‘s expectations. In a world of excessive supply they are looking for significance and want to unite with others to create a new way of youth culture. But soon they have to face some serious difficulties.

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty
67%

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty(de)

1938-06-02

Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.

Ulysse
69%

Ulysse(fr)

1986-01-29

At the sea shore, a goat, a child, and a naked man. This is a photograph taken in 1954 by Agnès Varda. The goat was dead, the child was named Ulysses, and the man was naked. Starting from this frozen image, the film explores the real and the imaginary.

Dream Land
66%

Dream Land(xx)

2004-11-05

There are places that we don’t want to know anything about, places that we would rather pretend don’t exist at all. One such place is a dumpsite. From the humans’ point of view, it is a ghastly place, a stinking desert of trash. But it’s a desert that is teaming with life.

The Human Experiment
65%

The Human Experiment(en)

2015-04-17

A documentary that explores the potential dangers of toxic chemicals in consumer products and the recent spike in unexplained health phenomena.

Is the Crown at war with us?
66%

Is the Crown at war with us?(en)

2003-09-13

In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.

Itinerary of Jean Bricard
58%

Itinerary of Jean Bricard(fr)

2008-05-19

The film is a commemoration of the lost livelihood of the earth, the lost lives of the War and to the work of two of the cinema’s greatest artists.

The Road to Fame
0%

The Road to Fame(en)

2013-06-12

China's top drama academy stages the American musical "Fame," China's first official collaboration with Broadway, as the graduation showcase for its senior class. During the eight-month rehearsal, five students compete for roles, struggle with pressure from family and authority, and prepare to graduate into China's corrupt entertainment industry.

City of Borders
10%

City of Borders(en)

2009-02-06

Interviews with the owners and diverse patrons of a Jerusalem gay bar called "Shushan."

My Own Breathing
55%

My Own Breathing(ko)

2000-03-18

"My Own Breathing" is the final documentary of the trilogy, The Murmuring about comfort women during the World War II directed by BYUN Young-joo. This is the completion of her seven years work. BYUN's first and second documentaries spoke of grandmothers' everyday life through the origin of their torment, while My Own Breathing goes back to their past from their everyday life. Deleting any device of narration or music, the camera lets grandmothers talk about themselves. Finally, the film revives their deep voices trampled by harsh history.

The Korean Wedding Chest
50%

The Korean Wedding Chest(de)

2009-10-01

Ulrike Ottinger’s provocative mélange of ethnography, stunning tableaux and baroque vignettes was inspired by what she calls the “well-stocked miracle” of Korean wedding chests, assembled according to time-honored customs. This exploration of love and marriage in South Korea looks closely at ancient and present-day rituals, revealing what is old in the new and new in the old. Her inquiry leads us from shamans, temples and priests, to the enchanted maze of 21st-century Seoul, where vendors of medicinal herbs co-exist with high-tech beauty salons for wedding couples and secular marriage palaces. Using film much like a canvas, Ottinger creates a modern fairytale flush with mythological heroes, traditional rites, ancestral symbolism, dreams of eternal love, and a whole lot of Western kitsch. One of her most acclaimed documentaries, it captures the amazing phenomenon of new mega-cities and their contradictory societies caught in a balancing act.

Dig!
67%

Dig!(en)

2004-05-14

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

Die Schule der Frauen
0%

Die Schule der Frauen(de)

2024-09-05

The five acting students have not seen each other for 36 years. Now they face each other again and look back on the past together. What experiences have they had? What were their successes? What would they rather have done without?

Motherland
64%

Motherland(en)

2017-01-21

The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
76%

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World(en)

2017-07-26

Documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history, a little-known story built around the incredible lives and careers of the some of the greatest music legends.

Winnie
66%

Winnie(en)

2017-07-07

While her husband served a life sentence, paradoxically kept safe and morally uncontaminated, Winnie Mandela rode the raw violence of apartheid, fighting on the front line and underground. This is the untold story of the mysterious forces that combined to take her down, labeling him a saint, her, a sinner.

Spies of Mississippi
73%

Spies of Mississippi(en)

2014-02-10

Spies of Mississippi tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain white supremacy. The anti-civil rights organization was hidden in plain sight in an unassuming office in the Mississippi State Capitol. Funded with taxpayer dollars and granted extraordinary latitude to carry out its mission, the Commission evolved from a propaganda machine into a full blown spy operation. How do we know this is true? The Commission itself tells us in more than 146,000 pages of files preserved by the State. This wealth of first person primary historical material guides us through one of the most fascinating and yet little known stories of America's quest for Civil Rights.

Prater
58%

Prater(de)

2007-02-10

Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the Prater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s film “Prater” transforms this place of sensations into a modern cinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the beginning to the present is told by its protagonists and those who have documented it, including contemporary cinematic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, commentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, film quotes, and photographic and written documentary materials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a place of technological innovation, and its role as a cultural medium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von Sternberg, Erich Kästner and Elias Canetti, as well as in music devoted to this amusement venue throughout the course of its history.

How to Cook Your Life
56%

How to Cook Your Life(de)

2007-05-10

A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.

In the Realms of the Unreal
72%

In the Realms of the Unreal(en)

2004-01-15

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Recommendations Movies

Heart of a Dog
65%

Heart of a Dog(en)

2015-10-21

Lyrical and powerfully personal essay film that reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.

To Be Takei
72%

To Be Takei(en)

2014-08-22

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

Naqoyqatsi
61%

Naqoyqatsi(en)

2002-09-02

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
77%

As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty(en)

2000-11-05

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?
75%

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?(en)

2018-02-19

In 1977, a book of photographs captured an awakening - women shedding the cultural restrictions of their childhoods and embracing their full humanity. This documentary revisits those photos, those women and those times and takes aim at our culture today that alarmingly shows the need for continued change.

Cameraperson
67%

Cameraperson(en)

2016-09-09

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

The Crash Reel
73%

The Crash Reel(en)

2013-06-10

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

Love, Gilda
72%

Love, Gilda(en)

2018-04-18

Diaries, audiotapes, videotapes and testimonials from friends and colleagues offer insight into the life and career of Gilda Radner -- the beloved comic and actress who became an icon on Saturday Night Live.

We Live in Public
69%

We Live in Public(en)

2009-08-28

In 1999, Internet entrepreneur Josh Harris recruits dozens of young men and women who agree to live in underground apartments for weeks at a time while their every movement is broadcast online. Soon, Harris and his girlfriend embark on their own subterranean adventure, with cameras streaming live footage of their meals, arguments, bedroom activities, and bathroom habits. This documentary explores the role of technology in our lives, as it charts the fragile nature of dot-com economy.

Love, Marilyn
66%

Love, Marilyn(en)

2013-05-30

Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.

In the Realms of the Unreal
72%

In the Realms of the Unreal(en)

2004-01-15

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream
79%

Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream(en)

2013-06-10

Life Is But a Dream is a HBO documentary about the life of US singer Beyoncé Knowles during the years 2011 and 2012 and on the recording of her fifth album. The film was directed by Beyoncé herself. The film shows Beyoncé from intimate moments of her pregnancy to behind the scenes and rehearsals of the main concerts of that time.

Halftime
68%

Halftime(en)

2022-06-08

Global superstar Jennifer Lopez reflects on her multifaceted career and the pressure of life in the spotlight in this intimate documentary.

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
70%

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing(en)

2004-10-12

Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return
68%

Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return(en)

2022-09-07

This special explores the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to the screen, as well as Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their classic roles. Director Deborah Chow leads the cast and crew as they create new heroes and villains that live alongside new incarnations of beloved Star Wars characters, and an epic story that dramatically bridges the saga films.

Public Speaking
70%

Public Speaking(en)

2011-02-23

Martin Scorsese’s portrait of writer and social commentator Fran Lebowitz, celebrated for her sharp wit and observations on modern life. Filmed at New York’s Waverly Inn and intercut with archival footage and interviews, the documentary captures Lebowitz’s distinctive worldview through her spontaneous monologues and public appearances.

Frida
67%

Frida(en)

2024-03-08

An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
69%

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction(en)

2013-09-11

An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.

Fuck
64%

Fuck(en)

2006-11-10

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me
60%

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me(en)

2023-05-16

From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.