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Review

In her first full-length feature film, talented filmmaker Jenni Olson's experimental homage to San Francisco engages us with gorgeous visual imagery interlaced with sublime storytelling about budding relationships and the Golden Gate Bridge. Harry Dodge's (By Hook or By Crook) sultry, throaty voice seductively leads us through this butch dyke's diary of past loves, awkward moments, intimacy, desire sex and multiple partners. Stark yet beautiful, the cinematography of empty streets and graffiti stained walls is palpable with reflections of loneliness and loss. Olson interjects a soothing poem about San Francisco's illustrious glowing light by the renowned Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. She then poetically draws the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge to convey how so many see this massive structure as their final destination.

Inspired by a dear friend's suicide, Olson handles the subject matter with care, sensitivity and sheer frankness. The Joy of Life instinctively evokes the feeling of love, death and rebirth, all while delivering this film as a love letter to the city by the bay.

 -- Kelly Burkhardt